The Outsider

My Life in Intrigue

By: Frederick Forsyth

Narrated by: Robert Powell

Frederick Forsyth has seen it all. And lived to tell the tale.

We all make mistakes, but starting the Third World War would have been a rather large one. To this day I still maintain it was not entirely my fault. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

During the course of my life, I've barely escaped the wrath of an arms dealer in Hamburg, been strafed by a MiG during the Nigerian civil war, and landed during a bloody coup in Guinea-Bissau.

The Stasi arrested me, the Israelis regaled me, the IRA prompted a quick move from Ireland to England, and a certain attractive Czech secret police agent - well, her actions were a bit more intimate. And that's just for starters. All of that I saw from the inside. But all that time I was, nonetheless, an outsider.

Trained first as a pilot then as a journalist, Frederick Forsyth finally turned to fiction and became one of the most lauded thriller writers of our time.

As exciting as his novels, Forsyth's autobiography is a candid look at an extraordinary life lived to the full - a life whose unique experiences have provided rich inspiration for 13 internationally best-selling thrillers.

©2015 Frederick Forsyth (P)2015 Random House AudioBooks (UK)

Riveting memoir

Forsyth writes in an intimate manner and made me feel as if I was sitting in his living room over a cup of tea discussing his life. The book is well written, concise with adventure, intrigue and humor.

The first part of the book he tells of his youth and his desire to fly planes. I was impressed that his father sent him to live with a family in France each summer when he was a child to learn French; then as a teen he sent him to live with a German family to learn German. Just before he went into the RAF he spent time in Spain living with a family to learn Spanish. He also learned Russian but via an academic method. A good part of the beginning of the book he discusses the techniques and importance of research to be a good author. He points out that a writer is an outsider as he is an observer of society and then works in solitude.

The remainder of the book is about his life as a journalist for the BBC, Reuters and as a free lance reporter. He discusses various wars in Africa and events such as the attempt to assassinate Charles de Gaulle that he covered as a reporter. Forsyth reveals how his ability to speak like a native helped him as an investigative reporter. He then details how these events and his investigative reporting provided the basic information that gave him the bases for his novels. I have read most of his books over the years and could relate to events in his life that he worked into his stories.

The book provides an insight into the mind of a writer. The story shows how much Forsyth liked to travel and enjoyed his desire for adventure. Robert Powell does a good job narrating the book.