Godliman and Bloggs, two men recruited by MI5 to catch German agents on English soil, illustrate their times perfectly. Citizens are taking on new duties and roles to keep their country and each other safe through the bombings and enemy attempts at sabotage. In fact, we’ve never ceased being interested in WWII stories.” One of the many memorable things in Eye of the Needle is its setting-London, and eventually the rest of England, and up into Scotland-during the war.

“The stories that came out of it, both big and small, were endlessly interesting, and we were still learning new things, as secrets came out. Nyren pointed out that you can’t really go wrong setting a novel in WWII. Ian Fleming, Jack Higgins, John Le Carre, Len Deighton, Frederick Forsyth-the market loved them and was always looking for more people like them. “The 60s and 70s were a glorious time for wonderful new espionage writers. What it did do was several things, all excellently,” said Nyren. “ Eye of the Needle didn’t do anything radically new or ground-breaking. In 2013, Nyren presented Follett with his MWA Grand Master Award at the Edgars Banquet. Neil Nyren was the book’s American editor (acquiring it from Follett’s agent) and continued to work with Follett over subsequent years. See More: Revisiting the Edgar Awardsīecause Eye of the Needle was such a hit with the general public, I wanted to discuss its impact, on thrillers and on the publishing industry, with someone who contributed to its international success.

It’s not only a near-perfect example of a thriller, but it’s also a novel that seems fresh and relevant over 40 years after it was written. Follett introduces complex protagonists, wraps the book around a real-life historical deception monumental in scale (the Allies’ efforts to deceive the Axis about the D-Day landing), paces the action carefully, then unleashes a real nail-biter of an ending. It’s also worth noting that the book is extremely good. The book sold at least 10 million copies by the author’s reckoning, was made into a film starring Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan and continues to engage readers today. Ken Follett published Eye of the Needle in 1978, and the book achieved a level of success that few other Edgar Award winners have matched I can only think of a small handful of Edgar winners that ascended to similar heights ( The Long Goodbye, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and The Day of the Jackal are probably the only other books on the list to reach the same level of sales and popularity).

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