The Outsider

By: Frederick Forsyth

Narrated by: Robert Powell

Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

From Frederick Forsyth, the grand master of international suspense, comes his most intriguing story ever - his own.

For more than 40 years, Frederick Forsyth has been writing extraordinary real-world novels of intrigue, from the groundbreaking The Day of the Jackal to the prescient The Kill List. Whether writing about the murky world of arms dealers, the shadowy Nazi underground movement, or the intricacies of worldwide drug cartels, every plot has been chillingly plausible because every detail has been minutely researched.

But what most people don't know is that some of his greatest stories of intrigue have been in his own life.

He was the RAF's youngest pilot at the age of 19, barely escaped the wrath of an arms dealer in Hamburg, got strafed by a MiG during the Nigerian civil war, and landed during a bloody coup in Guinea-Bissau (and was accused of helping fund a 1973 coup in Equatorial Guinea). The Stasi arrested him, the Israelis feted him, the IRA threatened him, and a certain attractive Czech secret police agent - well, her actions were a bit more intimate. And that's just for starters.

It is a memoir like no other - and a book of pure delight.

©2015 Frederick Forsyth (P)2015 Penguin Audio

"Have you been there?" Indeed he has.

As an avid reader of many of Frederick Forsyth's book, listening to (he +upside helps one understand that his renowned research ability is explained by his having "been there". The Outsider is brilliant because although it is a bit of an autobiography it explains his books and is brilliantly read.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Entertaining and surprising

Forsyth knows how to tell a story and the retelling of his life it's another example of his skills as a storyteller. His time as a journalist is fascinating, and how he came to be a writer. I wish he had talked more about his later books (he focuses on the first four), but it doesn't matter. I couldn't put it down and enjoyed his tone and humor. Excellent narrator.

Fantastic read

Amazing story telling. FF has had an incredible life and you can understand why his novels are so 'real'....also, perfect narration.

Extraordinary life and storytelling

What made the experience of listening to The Outsider the most enjoyable?

For me, this was the best Forsyth book yet. The storytelling is great, narrator did an excellent job modulating voice tone and pace with the stories. What a remarkable life. No wonder he is able to come up with the "novels" he has written.

What did you like best about this story?

Seeing how the early experiences of determination and willingness to do what it takes to achieve things paid off so well in so many ways. The book was also very well edited, with everything in it contributing to the overall life story. It is told in a series of many adventures/anecdotes. Some brief, some lengthy, but they are all pieces of what makes up this man and his life.

What does Robert Powell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I actually did start with the printed version from my local library to see if I wanted to purchase the audiobook. It was good enough that I knew I needed to hear it all to really appreciate it. This book really seems well written for the ear, and Powell did a great job of keeping it alive and moving along. One could easily imagine Powell as Forsyth experiencing all these things.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not really any extreme reaction per se, but I did really enjoy finding out a great deal more about the whole Biafra situation. I was in my teens when this was happening, and only remember it from the horrific images of starving children. It was good to find out much more about why this happened, and how it was allowed to happen by politicians.

Any additional comments?

The timing of reading this was interesting as I was just finishing the last few volumes of the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser. Forsyth's experience with school, RAF, BBC, and the Foreign Office/Commonwealth Office, then SIS seemed like an updated version of the earlier history as told by Harry Flashman, but with a much more honorable and stalwart protagonist.