Categories: Society & Culture

Book Review: The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth

The Shepherd is a book unlike all the other books written by Frederick Forsyth. 

 

For one thing, it is a very short story, with forty hauntingly outstanding illustrations by Lou Feck.

 

Frederick Forsyth wrote The Shepherd in 1975.  This book was a Christmas gift from Frederick Forsyth to his wife, Carole.  He was a really smart writer.  Instead of buying a gift, he used his talent to write a book.

 

I think this serves as a good example to all of us.  When we run out of budget to buy a gift, we can just write a short story!

 

The Shepherd was about a young pilot flying the Vampire to Lakenheath on Christmas Eve, 1957.  It was supposed to be just a routine flight.  However, with Frederick Forsyth as the author of the book, nothing was routine.

 

When our young hero was flying over the North Sea, Frederick Forsyth let fog closed in and the electrical circuits failed. 

 

The fear and loneliness of the young pilot was reflected in the following description:

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“It’s a very lonely place, the sky, and even more so the sky on a winter’s night.  And a single-seater jet fighter is a lonely home, a tiny steel box held aloft on stubby wings, hurled through the freezing emptiness by a blazing tube throwing out the strength of six thousand horses every second.”

 

Our young pilot was running out of fuel.  Just when he gave up hope of survival, The Shepherd appeared.  The Shepherd was, De Havilland Mosquito, a fighter bomber of the Second World War vintage.

 

At this point, you, the clever reader, would realize that you are reading a ghost story. 

 

Our young pilot suspected nothing.  The Shepherd directed our young hero to a storage depot, non-operational station.

 

Who was the mysterious pilot?  You have to read the Shepherd to find out.  Even when you can guess the rest of the story, the talent of Frederick Forsyth manages to keep you hook to the book right to the end of the story.

 

 

Personally I think when you read this book around Christmas time, and especially when you are working on Christmas Day, the book will leave a very deep impression in your mind.




  • scheng1

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    • This book sounds really good. I love a good ghost story and it sounds like it has some interesting twists to it. I am going to have to check this out and see if I can get it at my library. Thanks for sharing this book.

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