Birch Bay book club review: “Jackdaws” by Ken Follett

This World War ll spy thriller takes place a few weeks before D-Day. It centers around a group of women instrumental in helping the Allied war effort and the German officer pursuing them.  

Flick is a member of the French Resistance. Having one failed attempt to destroy the telephone exchange in Sainte-Cecile, France, she assembles the Jackdaws. Each member brings their own skill to the team: A telephone engineer, an explosives expert, an aristocrat, a markswoman, a tough prison inmate and a driver. These six women will pose as cleaners to infiltrate the exchange, taking it down before D-Day occurs. Flick creates her plan of attack, and their harrowing mission starts.   

Dieter is a German intelligence officer and skilled interrogator. Under field marshal Erwin Rommel’s command, his job is to learn about the French Resistance. Seeing Flick’s first failed attempt to destroy the exchange, Dieter is determined to gain more knowledge about the resistance. He hatches his own plan to infiltrate the French Resistance, stop the Jackdaws and capture Flick.  

As Flick starts sensing their mission might be in jeopardy, she changes plans to throw Dieter off their trail. As his obsession to capture Flick grows, our spy thriller picks up pace, with our main characters looking to outsmart each other and complete their mission, as they try and survive.  

This book is available at wcls.org or on our Libby app. Like audiobooks? I highly recommend listening to this book, which is narrated by Emilia Fox. 

“Jackdaws” is the September selection for the Friends of Birch Bay Library Book Club. The group meets 4-5:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month at the Bookmobile stop, 7948 Birch Bay Drive, and is open to all.  

Dianne Marrs-Smith is the Lynden Public Library manager and Friends of Birch Bay Library president. She reads and listens to a variety of different books, loves getting book recommendations and her favorite genre is horror.