Eye of the Needle

Prolific Welsh novelist Ken Follett’s psychological thriller novel Eye of the Needle (1978),  seminal in the spy genre, which heavily utilizes suspense, became highly popular in the decade it was published. Its title references the difficulty of the precise task of threading a needle. It also characterizes the British MI5’s struggle to capture the antagonist Henry Faber, who is aptly nicknamed “The Needle.” The novel uses real World War II-era events, places, and names, creating a blend of fact and fiction that passes as plausible in this era of unprecedented deception and international turmoil.

A foreword provides a historical background, describing Operation Fortitude, a counterintelligence measure taken by the Allied Powers during World War II to misinform the Germans about the location of D-Day’s attack site. The fictional FUSAG, or First United States Army Group, was created by the Allies; it used props to direct the Germans’ attention to Calais and away from Normandy, the intended point of attack. The success of this deception relied on the trust of every involved member of the FUSAG.

The plot rewinds to 1940. It introduces the antagonist Henry Faber, a notorious spy for Germany who uses a stiletto as his murder weapon. He is posing as a railway depot associate in London, observing the passage of troops through the city’s infrastructure in order to approximate Allied military decisions. When Faber goes to his lodging to relay what he has learned, his call is interrupted by his landlady, a lonely woman looking for company. Faber decides that he has no choice but to kill her. When she is dead, he finishes his radio call.



The story shifts to Royal Air Force pilot David. Newly married, he and Lucy leave for their honeymoon. Their trip is cut short by a gruesome car crash after which David requires the amputation of both of his legs. As the Battle of Britain wages on and is unable to defend his country, David turns into a malcontent. He and Lucy move to Storm Island on the Scottish coast.

Back at MI5, operatives have killed or converted every known German spy, except Faber. The intelligence think tank recruits an ex-cop, Bloggs, and a professor of history, Godliman, to find out where he is. They listen to his broadcast from his apartment in London, and learn that his code name is German for  “The Needle.” They proceed to interrogate the other inhabitants of the apartment building. One of them recognizes Faber in a photo and says that he is an army officer.

The Nazi regime in Berlin orders Faber to investigate the veracity of FUSAG. He finds out that it is a sham, going to the alleged site of the base, discovering that it is fashioned to look real from planes flying overhead. He takes photos. Eventually, he realizes that Normandy, not Calais, will be the site of the Allied troops’ attack on D-Day. Faber is intercepted by several officers, but kills them all using the stiletto and makes it to a secret location in Scotland where a U-boat is waiting to smuggle him to Germany.



Bloggs and Godliman closely follow Faber’s trail through England and Scotland. Though Faber is tripped up several times, he manages to kill each of his assailants. However, the trail of deaths allows MI5 to trace his path to the Scottish city of Aberdeen. Faber sets sail to the U-boat, but thrown off course by a storm, crashes on Storm Island, where David and Lucy remain. He coincidentally passes out at their house; Lucy tends to him while they try to learn where he came from. However, Lucy quickly falls for him, embittered by her tragic marriage to David. Learning of their relationship, David goes through Faber’s possessions, discovering his photos of the fake FUSAG site. In an ensuing struggle, Faber rolls David off a bluff on the island’s edge. He claims that it was a tragic accident, but Lucy soon finds David’s body and realizes the foul play.

Desperate for time, Faber radios to Germany to relay his knowledge of FUSAG in time for D-Day. Lucy destroys the cottage’s power system, stopping him. Faber moves to kill her, but fails, realizing he is in love. He clambers down the island’s cliff to swim the remaining distance to the U-boat. Lucy hurls a rock from atop the cliff, knocking him into the sea. Suddenly, a Royal Air Force plane fends off the U-boat. The Allies send a signal to Germany on behalf of Faber using his secret ID number. It states that the Allies intend to attack Calais. The novel’s end implies that the Allies have succeeded, as Bloggs consoles Lucy.

Eye of the Needle is not only a spy novel, but also a commentary on the opaqueness and contingency of history: it is impossible to know which individual triumphs and failures amounted to the key victories and losses we remember in history today. Taking advantage of World War II’s elliptical story, Follett suggests that its outcome could have come down to the most fundamental human accident: love.