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Post by ripper on Nov 30, 2017 20:19:46 GMT
Mention of Maclean's first novel, HMS Ulysses, on the Douglas Reeman thread has made me wonder if there are VoE posters who enjoy his books. By no means have I read his whole output, but I have enjoyed all the ones I have read: HMS Ulysses, The Guns of Navarone, Fear is the Key, The Satan Bug, Ice Station Zebra, Where Eagles Dare, When Eight Bells Toll, Force 10 from Navarone and Puppet on a Chain. They are all rollocking good reads, full of action and characters who are not all that they seem to be.
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Post by andydecker on Nov 30, 2017 21:00:20 GMT
I only read Where Eagles Dare ages ago. I quite liked it, even if I liked the dumb movie better. But Clint Eastwood shooting Nazis, what's not to like ?
Maclean has become one of those forgotten writers, I think. There used to be a lot like him, Gavin Lyall, Colin Forbes (his early novels), Morris L West.
Are there any of the current thriller writers who are as memorable?
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Post by ripper on Nov 30, 2017 22:00:30 GMT
Where Eagles Dare is probably one of his best-known books, doubtless due to the popularity of the film version. I also like When Eight Bells Toll and think it is a shame that MacLean did not bring back the main character in future books--I would recommend the film version with Anthony Hopkins and Jack Hawkins in one of his last roles, dubbed by Charles Grey because of his voicebox having been removed.
I have read a few Colin Forbes novels. His two WW2 books, The Heights of Zervos and The Palermo Ambush, are rather MacLeanesque. I also like Target 5, a thriller set on a drifting research station in the Arctic. Forbes also wrote the espionage series featuring Tweed, but I have not gotten into those too heavily.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 1, 2017 9:11:58 GMT
Mention of Maclean's first novel, HMS Ulysses, on the Douglas Reeman thread has made me wonder if there are VoE posters who enjoy his books. By no means have I read his whole output, but I have enjoyed all the ones I have read: HMS Ulysses, The Guns of Navarone, Fear is the Key, The Satan Bug, Ice Station Zebra, Where Eagles Dare, When Eight Bells Toll, Force 10 from Navarone and Puppet on a Chain. They are all rollocking good reads, full of action and characters who are not all that they seem to be. About those characters: MacLean developed this irritating device with narrators who artificially withhold crucial information from the reader. I feel his work has not aged well. Desmond Bagley, my other childhood favorite, still holds up, however.
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Post by andydecker on Dec 1, 2017 9:52:44 GMT
Where Eagles Dare is probably one of his best-known books, doubtless due to the popularity of the film version. I also like When Eight Bells Toll and think it is a shame that MacLean did not bring back the main character in future books--I would recommend the film version with Anthony Hopkins and Jack Hawkins in one of his last roles, dubbed by Charles Grey because of his voicebox having been removed. I have read a few Colin Forbes novels. His two WW2 books, The Heights of Zervos and The Palermo Ambush, are rather MacLeanesque. I also like Target 5, a thriller set on a drifting research station in the Arctic. Forbes also wrote the espionage series featuring Tweed, but I have not gotten into those too heavily. I have still fond memories of Forbes' The Stone Leopard and of course Avalanche Express. (Don't know how they agedYears later I tried one of his Tweed novels, but thought it rather boring. But he was also very successful in Germany, the Tweed series got the hardcover treatment. So what do I know. I am more the Allbury or Freemantle fan when it gets to modern spy novels. Lovely covers, though, at least at Pan Books.
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Post by andydecker on Dec 1, 2017 9:58:49 GMT
Mention of Maclean's first novel, HMS Ulysses, on the Douglas Reeman thread has made me wonder if there are VoE posters who enjoy his books. By no means have I read his whole output, but I have enjoyed all the ones I have read: HMS Ulysses, The Guns of Navarone, Fear is the Key, The Satan Bug, Ice Station Zebra, Where Eagles Dare, When Eight Bells Toll, Force 10 from Navarone and Puppet on a Chain. They are all rollocking good reads, full of action and characters who are not all that they seem to be. About those characters: MacLean developed this irritating device with narrators who artificially withhold crucial information from the reader. I feel his work has not aged well. Desmond Bagley, my other childhood favorite, still holds up, however. Bagley, of course. I knew I had forgotten one when I wrote the names down yesterday, but the name escaped me.
I really have to re-read Where Eagles Dare. Still can't remember if MacLelan put "Broadsword calling Danny Boy" into it
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Post by ripper on Dec 1, 2017 10:21:07 GMT
Mention of Maclean's first novel, HMS Ulysses, on the Douglas Reeman thread has made me wonder if there are VoE posters who enjoy his books. By no means have I read his whole output, but I have enjoyed all the ones I have read: HMS Ulysses, The Guns of Navarone, Fear is the Key, The Satan Bug, Ice Station Zebra, Where Eagles Dare, When Eight Bells Toll, Force 10 from Navarone and Puppet on a Chain. They are all rollocking good reads, full of action and characters who are not all that they seem to be. About those characters: MacLean developed this irritating device with narrators who artificially withhold crucial information from the reader. I feel his work has not aged well. Desmond Bagley, my other childhood favorite, still holds up, however. There's no denying that MacLean uses the withheld information ploy quite regularly, though personally I don't mind it too much. As for Bagley, I think I have only read one of his books and remember virtually nothing about it, so I shall have to take another look at him.
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Post by ripper on Dec 1, 2017 10:28:29 GMT
Where Eagles Dare is probably one of his best-known books, doubtless due to the popularity of the film version. I also like When Eight Bells Toll and think it is a shame that MacLean did not bring back the main character in future books--I would recommend the film version with Anthony Hopkins and Jack Hawkins in one of his last roles, dubbed by Charles Grey because of his voicebox having been removed. I have read a few Colin Forbes novels. His two WW2 books, The Heights of Zervos and The Palermo Ambush, are rather MacLeanesque. I also like Target 5, a thriller set on a drifting research station in the Arctic. Forbes also wrote the espionage series featuring Tweed, but I have not gotten into those too heavily. I have still fond memories of Forbes' The Stone Leopard and of course Avalanche Express. (Don't know how they agedYears later I tried one of his Tweed novels, but thought it rather boring. But he was also very successful in Germany, the Tweed series got the hardcover treatment. So what do I know. I am more the Allbury or Freemantle fan when it gets to modern spy novels. Lovely covers, though, at least at Pan Books.
I agree about the Tweed series. They are not the most exciting from my limited exposure to them, though there are quite a few in the series so must have found a readership. Avalanche Express I really must read. I saw the film version when it was released in the UK in early 1980.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 1, 2017 10:40:36 GMT
Where Eagles Dare is probably one of his best-known books, doubtless due to the popularity of the film version. I also like When Eight Bells Toll and think it is a shame that MacLean did not bring back the main character in future books--I would recommend the film version with Anthony Hopkins and Jack Hawkins in one of his last roles, dubbed by Charles Grey because of his voicebox having been removed. I have read a few Colin Forbes novels. His two WW2 books, The Heights of Zervos and The Palermo Ambush, are rather MacLeanesque. I also like Target 5, a thriller set on a drifting research station in the Arctic. Forbes also wrote the espionage series featuring Tweed, but I have not gotten into those too heavily. I have still fond memories of Forbes' The Stone Leopard and of course Avalanche Express. (Don't know how they agedYears later I tried one of his Tweed novels, but thought it rather boring. But he was also very successful in Germany, the Tweed series got the hardcover treatment. So what do I know. I am more the Allbury or Freemantle fan when it gets to modern spy novels. Lovely covers, though, at least at Pan Books.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Dec 1, 2017 11:14:16 GMT
I have still fond memories of Forbes' The Stone Leopard and of course Avalanche Express. (Don't know how they agedYears later I tried one of his Tweed novels, but thought it rather boring. But he was also very successful in Germany, the Tweed series got the hardcover treatment. So what do I know. I am more the Allbury or Freemantle fan when it gets to modern spy novels. Lovely covers, though, at least at Pan Books.
That looks to me as if I posted it. But I did not. Something is seriously wrong. Edit: Actually, my phone probably accidentally posted that for me. Sorry!
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Post by andydecker on Dec 1, 2017 12:01:32 GMT
I remember actually looking forward to the movie version, of which I remember nothing except being thoroughly disappointed. Years later I read that it was a difficult shoot, both the director and Robert Shaw dying within weeks after the ending of the actual photography. So maybe it couldn't be better.
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Post by ripper on Dec 1, 2017 13:01:17 GMT
I remember actually looking forward to the movie version, of which I remember nothing except being thoroughly disappointed. Years later I read that it was a difficult shoot, both the director and Robert Shaw dying within weeks after the ending of the actual photography. So maybe it couldn't be better.
It had a pretty decent cast, but, as you say, the director and star dying made it very difficult. Also, according to Wikipedia, Shaw's dialogue was re-voiced, so that probably didn't help. Still, I will have to read the book.
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 1, 2017 15:21:07 GMT
I read a few when I was a kid, before getting into sci-fi and horror, but never went back to them. There was a load of these paperbacks around the house, either belonging originally to my Dad or my older brother. The one I remember best is Ice Station Zebra, which I read when I was in primary school - I had a bit of an obsession with submarines when I was a kid. The other name that I always immediately associate with Maclean is Hammond Innes (mainly because we also had loads of those) - but I'm not sure if I ever actually read anything by him.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Dec 1, 2017 18:45:11 GMT
Yay! Alistair Maclean was one of those writers (along with Ian Fleming, Agatha Christie and Dennis Wheatley) handed down from my dad/grandfather/uncle whose work was de rigeur until NEL and the prurient side of adolescence took him away (until my 20s when the old firm would make a nostalgic comeback). Not necessarily a great writer, his output varied wildly ( I would almost swear The Last Frontier was written by someone else) and the later books fell well short of his glory days, but I'd never be without a copy of Puppet On A Chain, my first Maclean, and one of the first books I read that (so I thought) let me peek in the adult world. Sexist drivel nowadays methinks it would be dismissed as, but I'll never tire of it. The Hay Dance is weirdly sinister and unfortunately never made it into the film (cut to make an AA certifcate so, like Caravan To Vaccares beyond my reach at the time). I recently caught up with the film version of Fear Is The Key for the first time in years and promptly lucked onto a copy of the novel - both very good thrillers, the '72 film adhering very closely to the '62 novel. The rest I can pretty much take or leave, but have an affection for Caravan To Vaccares - the Fontana novels with their memorable photo covers (CTV featuring a man in a pierrot costume being menaced by an unrealistic bull) were a staple part of WH Smith browsing as a youngster (although almost every newsagent seemed to have a paperback section, or at least a twirly rack) which never tempted me to sample Desmond Bagley or Hammond Innes. Recently reread The Satan Bug which was pretty interesting. I did try to read every one of his novels a good few years ago, and it does flag up the variation in style. HMS Ulysses (based on his wartime experiences) I found particularly harrowing and wouldn't want to go back there. Still have a few hanging around. Film 4 keep showing Bear Island which makes me want to go back to the novel, and wouldn't mind giving Breakheart Pass (novel and film) a rematch - a western???
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Post by ripper on Dec 1, 2017 20:12:43 GMT
I read a few when I was a kid, before getting into sci-fi and horror, but never went back to them. There was a load of these paperbacks around the house, either belonging originally to my Dad or my older brother. The one I remember best is Ice Station Zebra, which I read when I was in primary school - I had a bit of an obsession with submarines when I was a kid. The other name that I always immediately associate with Maclean is Hammond Innes (mainly because we also had loads of those) - but I'm not sure if I ever actually read anything by him. Innes was a staple of the adventure section of my local library in the 70s and 80s, but likewise I don't think I have read anything by him.
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