The Hammer Of Eden Essay, Research Paper

The Hammer of Eden, written by Ken Follett, is a story of a hippie group in northern California, whose mountain home is in danger of becoming a lake. The group takes extraordinary measures to make sure this doesn’t happen. Under the leadership of the main character Richard Granger, better known as Priest the group steals a seismic vibrator to cause earthquakes to make sure their valley doesn’t become a lake. The story takes a step in the different direction than most Ken Follett books by not using the historical background for the book and reverting to his old style of present times.

Follett tries to bring out a realistic scenario in The Hammer of Eden by using the earthquake prone California as a realistic location for a place to cause an earthquake. The group lives on a plot of land in a valley that is on the verge of being dammed up. Since no one knows of their existence they have to remain discreet to not be tracked by the FBI. The group decides the easiest way to stop the government from damming the valley is to threaten to cause an earthquake if their demands are not met. Led by Priest they steal a seismic vibrator from a company in Texas.

The group’s demands are not met and finally the group is forced to cause an earthquake. The group causes three earthquakes before they finally cut it too close and they don’t make it away in time. Most of the group is apprehended except priest who somehow slips away. Finally in the end the damn is built and the members of the group realize that they were going way too deep when they decided to cause the earthquakes.

Priest, the main character is a very persuasive man. His real name is Richard Granger. This name he sometimes uses as an alias. Priest is a tall good-looking man, with eyes that are very penetrating. Follett continuously reverts back to priest’s eyes. They are his most protruding, noticeable feature. He uses his eyes, good looks and sex to get his way with people. Priest is also not afraid to use violence to get his way either.

Follett uses 2 different writing styles in his literary pieces. His technique in this book is the use of present day setting action type of book. His newer style, which he did not use this time was the use of old England as a setting. His styles seem to mix together with his characters. Follett is typical of having a woman hero in his story. He seems to always have a significant woman figure that is just as important as the male character. In this book’s case she is the FBI agent who is able to stop Priest from causing anymore earthquakes.

Follett always uses long attention grabbing descriptions in his stories. He seems to describe everything in this way. This style makes his books worth reading. The text and descriptive words keep the reader peeled to the book.

The books theme although it was probably not meant was that all good terrorism ideas go bad. Except for mine. The book is fast paced the action parts come one right after the other. This makes the book impossible to put down, it is like an eye magnet.

Once again Follett provides an excellent piece in his book The Hammer of Eden.