Ice Station Zebra

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MacLean moved to Switzerland in 1970 as a tax exile. [38] That year, he said, "there's Harold Robbins, Agatha Christie, Georges Simenon, and me." He added, "I'm a storyteller, that's all. There's no art in it, no mystique. It's a job like any other. The secret, if there is one, is speed. That's why there's so little sex in my books – it holds up the action." He said he enjoyed the plotting "but the rest is a pain." [37] First comes a horrific firefight. Then comes a plunge into a drowning pool filled with killer whales. Next comes the hard part, as a handful of survivors begin an electrifying, red-hot, non-stop battle of survival across the continent and against wave after wave of elite military assassins-who've all come for one thing: a secret buried deep beneath the ice... Plot wise the pace starts fast and gets faster then settles down to regroup for another round of BOHICA (Navay Rehtoric for "Bend over, here it comes again). The action is very fun and the lulls are necessary to gather the frayed ends the last hair raising segment left laying all over the place. Trevor Barnaby - Brigadier of the Special Air Service who has never failed a mission. Killed by Schofield when he shoots out one of the windows of the diving bell, causing the diving bell to implode and crush Barnaby. Message Merchant on the Run". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-06-05 . Retrieved 2020-08-07.

I fell in love with MacLean's books when I was about 9, and this is one of my all-time faves of his. The settings --in the sub and at the Arctic camp-- provide a tight, suspenseful framework for the story, which is itself tight & suspenseful; this is MacLean at his best. I think his most effective books are in nearly claustrophobic settings --this, the ship in "HMS Ulysses" (my vote for #1), the eponymous Bear Island, the harsh sea & barren islands in "When Eight Bells Toll." Augustine 'Samurai' Lau - At the start of the book, Samurai is mortally injured by the French, and later is suffocated by Snake while in a coma. There are surprises and of course there are people who aren't what they appear, aka spies, which drives the final half of the novel to a very satisfying conclusion. Particularly frightening was a fire on the sub.So, why the 4 stars? So much potential. WOnderfully worked plot. Superb pace and, though I found some of it creative, the obstacles that Rielly dropped in front of Scarecrow and his team made for some exciting edge of your seat ride. Rielly also does everything the genre asks. Short of some gratuitus sex, it's all there.

And the moral of this non-review is: YES, this book is on the OTT side and takes suspension of disbelief to a whole new level. But man, it is the most roller-coaster ridish (yes, there is such a thing), delightfully exhausting, unputdownable, entertaining book I've read in a looooonnnggggg time. In 1978, MacLean said he "just can't understand" why people bought his novels. "It's not as if I write that well: I do feel my English isn't very good. In fact, I'd rather write in Gaelic or Spanish than English." [5]

But this is escapism and it’s not going to feel like real life. It’s manic, exciting and all set in a landscape that’s just ideal for an adventure of this kind. For fans of action adventure tales this will be right up your street. I went along for the ride and a very enjoyable one I found it to be. In the final analysis I’m not sure it’s quite my thing, but I’m glad I gave it a go.