The Shepherd: The thrilling number one bestseller from the master of storytelling Paperback – 2 Nov. 2023

A truly brilliant read, almost believable and really well detailed. Thank you for an excellent short story from a great author.

Good Story

Written as a Christmas story by Frederick Forsyth for his wife, this story is best enjoyed with a stiff drink or two in front of the fire of a winter's evening. It relates a journey home from Germany to England for Christmas Eve 1957 by a young RAF Vampire pilot. When his jet fighter has an electrical systems failure over the North Sea, a routine journey becomes a nightmare as, with fog over eastern England, he cannot find his way down to land without radio communication. With fuel running out, the pilot flies triangles hoping an alert radar operator will realise his plight.The Shepherd captures the loneliness of the skies and shows how, despite enormous technological progress, adverse circumstances can reduce everything to a struggle of the human spirit against the forces of nature. The story also evokes the feeling of fellowship amongst aviators in the face of common danger.Crisply written with Forsyth's characteristic attention to detail, The Shepherd is a delight to read. Forsyth was himself a RAF pilot, and the story has an authentic feel.While The Shepherd is more akin to a short story than a novel, and can be read in a couple of hours, it is nonetheless a superb tale which I remembered from my childhood and found on Amazon as a Christmas treat to myself. Early editions have illustrations which add to the experience.Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a classic, tautly-written yarn.

A very short story

I'm at a loss as to why this story was read by anyone other than a British voice artist... However, with regard to the story itself, it portrays one of those situations that most of us manage to avoid but is compelling to listen to others who have found themselves with this dilemma. Pure fiction, of course, but nevertheless great to listen to, especially on Christmas Eve. I have my own recollections of trying to get home from an RAF station in Germany for Christmas but they were nowhere near as challenging as our young pilot's predicament was in 1957.

*4.5 stars*It’s Christmas Eve 1957, and a young RAF pilot is on his way home from West Germany, back to ‘Blighty’ and a reunion with his family.Being the pilot in a single seater jet fighter is a very lonely place to be. The dark starry night sky, although beautiful) can make it appear as if there’s only you in the universe, and when our pilot discovers he can no longer make contact with the Control Tower or expect to see the welcome sight of the runway lights that means home is not too far away - well, that is a very frightening situation to find oneself in!Unable to make contact is dangerous enough, but then a thick white fog begins to cover the land below, and not unnaturally, he becomes panic stricken and begins to pray for someone to save him. His prayers are answered when a rescue pilot appears alongside him and guides him to safety, and just as the wheels of his fighter jet touch the runway, his fuel cuts out. But as our pilot begins to ask questions about his rescuer, things become very strange!Absolutely loved this, it was extremely atmospheric and the tension was palpable.

This was a good read not to complicate

Well-crafted writing, beautifully descriptive, draws the reader in. Perfect short-story length with an unusual subject. Expresses comprehensive knowledge of the RAF.