Considering that Frederick Forsyth, has a fan following among MSians, and he is one of my favorite writers, just felt like comming up with this series on Forsyth’s works. I had already reviewed Day of the Jackal some time back, though I would rate that as one of my worst reviews, certainly not a proper tribute to one of the finest thrillers of all time. Now one reason why I like Forsyth’s novels more than Ludlum’s novels is the fact that the conspiracy theories in most of Forsyth’s novels are more true to life. Where Ludlum deals with pretty vague stuff like global cartels trying to take over the world, more like one of the numerous Bond movies, Forsyth actually sets his novels against the backdrop of real life political events, and that makes them chillingly true.
In 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and that sparked off a global crisis, inviting the ire of US and its allies. Even the Arab nations turned against Saddam, who however claimed that he had the power to beat back US. Now question was did he or did he not have the bomb? It is a well known fact that Saddam was developing a nuclear weapon, but since he was the Western World’s blue eyed boy during the Iran-Iraq War, they turned a blind eye to his clandestine trade. And when Israel found it out and went ahead and blasted the nuclear facility, the West was unanimous in its condemnation of Israel’s act. But did Saddam really have the nuke? Why was he so confident of handling the might of the US Allied power? Why did the US desperately rein in Israel, when Scud missiles fell on Tel Aviv? Frederick Forsyth takes a look at all these in Fist of God.
The Fist of God here is the super gun developed by Canadian scientist Dr. Gerard Bull, for the Iraqis. Dr. Bull imagines it to be of not much use except launching satellites into space, but as soon as he discovers the truth, he is assasinated. Saddam Hussein occupies Iraq, and the US & Britian, immediately swing into action. Major Mike Martin of the SAS, is recruited to gather ground level intelligence for the Allied forces in tandem with the Kuwaiti resistance. There is a good reason for doing so. Major Martin has been born and bought up in Baghdad, he can speak Arabic as fluently as any Arab, and his dark brown skin, makes him look like an Arab. His brother Terry Martin is an expert in Arab military studies, and the Joint Anglo-US committe seeks his help on Saddam’s possible weapons of mass destruction.
The US requests Israel for intelligence gathering. Mossad however denies they have any there, not exactly true, as they do have a source in Saddam’s Government, simply code named Jericho. Mossad however does not know the real identity of Jericho, the only contact they have with him is the 2 Million USD paid into his bank account in Vienna. The Americans arm twist Israel into letting them handle Jericho, as well as keeping Israel out of the war for political reasons-not to alienate their Arab pals. The head of the Mossad furious about the American arm twisiting, launches his own secret operation to uncover Jericho and find out the truth about the Fist of the God.
Though initial reports suggest that Iraq does not have the know how to make an atomic bomb, a botched up bombing mission, by a US fighter pilot, reveals the presence of Calutrons, a kind of low tech solution for making the nuclear bomb. And now begins the hunt for Jericho, the only person who knows the details of the bomb. And there is a parallel operation carried out by Mossad, to find out the true identity of Jericho.
Who is Jericho? That is what the novel revolves around. And in true Forsyth style, we get an incisive look into Saddam’s regime. His torture cells, his notorious secret police AMAM, its sadistic head. The way Forsyth details the preparation of the Iraq Army for the Gulf War, and the brutal occupation of Kuwait is just spell binding. The novel covers 5 main angles- The Iraqis, the Kuwaitis, the British, the CIA and Mossad. Not all of Saddam’s soldiers were as brutal and thuggish like him. There is the English educated Colonel, who hates the thuggish tactics of his counterparts, and later pays a terrible price, when his father, is brutally tortured and killed by the AMAM on trumped up charges. The passages describing the torture tactics really send a chill up one’s spine.
The Kuwaitis fight a lonely resistance, abandoned by their pleasure loving rulers, and up against the might of Saddam’s army, they fight a heroic, if often unequal battle. And then we have the Mossad who come up with their own operation to uncover Jericho. It is to Forsyth’s credit, that he does not let these threads run into each other. Though the character of Mike Martin is fictional, most of the events described in the book are chillingly true. For eg the character of Dr. Gerard Bull is based on a real life Canadian scientist of the same name, who was also assasinated.
In effect this works as a political thriller, and my reccomendation would be to go for this novel. It works on both levels, as a thriller and a political novel. Gripping, informative and totally spell binding. Not a novel to be missed at all.