As I mentioned in the previous post, my most favorite fiction genre is Suspense Thriller. And IMHO, no-one can beat Alistair McLean, when it comes to thrillers. I can state this with a fair degree of confidence, having read 28 of his titles. Many of his books have been made into famous films, eg, The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra, Where Eagles Dare, Fear is The Key, and many more. Of all these movies, I have only watched The Guns Of Navarone, and I strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone :-)
Generally speaking, what I like about McLean's stories is fast pace, witty style, underlying technical details, and characters who are not superior in physical strength, but in mental strength and dndurance. And then there is drama, twists, and treason. In this way, 'The Dark Crusader' is typical McLean, and thoroughly enjoyable. The 'hero', John Bentall, is a solid-fuel specialist, who is recruited by the Brtish secret agency. He has just returned from a long, dangerous mission, when he is sent on another, with a beautiful female agent, who poses as his wife. Eight top scientists and their wives have gone missing, after they accpted lucrative jobs in Australia. After a while, advertisement for a ninth position appears, and Bentall is volunteered by the agency for the position, under the obvious conclusion that one of the the scientists has befallen a tragedy. He goes on to encounter an eccentric archaeologist and his chinese henchmen, find out what is 'The Dark Crusader', and finally come to a realization that he has been double-crossed! And that is all I'll say for now, to avoid spoiling the suspense in case someone intends to read it. :-)
Generally speaking, what I like about McLean's stories is fast pace, witty style, underlying technical details, and characters who are not superior in physical strength, but in mental strength and dndurance. And then there is drama, twists, and treason. In this way, 'The Dark Crusader' is typical McLean, and thoroughly enjoyable. The 'hero', John Bentall, is a solid-fuel specialist, who is recruited by the Brtish secret agency. He has just returned from a long, dangerous mission, when he is sent on another, with a beautiful female agent, who poses as his wife. Eight top scientists and their wives have gone missing, after they accpted lucrative jobs in Australia. After a while, advertisement for a ninth position appears, and Bentall is volunteered by the agency for the position, under the obvious conclusion that one of the the scientists has befallen a tragedy. He goes on to encounter an eccentric archaeologist and his chinese henchmen, find out what is 'The Dark Crusader', and finally come to a realization that he has been double-crossed! And that is all I'll say for now, to avoid spoiling the suspense in case someone intends to read it. :-)
5 comments:
Good review. "The Guns Of Navarone" is associated with Greece, so its interesting for me.
thx for the recommendation. i was jus looking to explore another author's work. his work is surely my next.
@Pijush: That is right! And I think so is his 'Santorini' :-)
@Maverick: As I said, he is my most favorite author in the genre, followed by Desmond Bagley.
As I have said earlier suspense thrillers are one of my favourites. I have not read Alistair McLean still so would definitely try to pick one of those books and go through it...Thanks for the recommendations.
@kalyan: Yes, I'll definitely recommend McLean. And I'll also recommend to start with one of these (if you can lay your hands on them, of course):
- The Guns of Navarone
- Ice Station Zebra
- The Satan Bug
- Fear is the Key
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