Alistair MacLean

The luxury freighter SS Campari is hijacked at sea, but it soon becomes apparent that the pirates are not after the rich passengers. Chief Officer Carter decides to find out why not? One of the best from MacLean and thus highly recommended.

Somebody steals nine vials of deadly virii from the Morden Microbiological Research Centre and kills a top scientist and the head of security in the process. Desperate, the government calls in Pierre Cavell, the previous head of security at Morden, but fired for insubordination. It soon becomes a race against time as the thief threatens to release the microbes in the heart of London within a few days if he's demands aren't met by the Government. A good detective-thriller, with enough red herrings to keep Cavell and us guessing right up to the last chapter.

The nuclear submarine, USS Dolphin, is sent to rescue the survivors of Drift Ice Station Zebra, after a fire destroyed this arctic weather research facility. Or so it seems at the beginning. Plot twists, sabotage, murder and all the steak, eggs & chips you can eat, make this one of the best MacLeans.

A short, action-packed novel about a plot to destroy the Seawitch offshore oil platform that doesn't disappoint, even though the usual plot twists are missing.

John Hamilton leads a party of suspicious characters to a lost city in the Brazilian jungle, where they encounter an ex-SS officer and his own private army. The plot is obvious from the start, although the true identities and motives of the characters are only revealed at the end. Speaking of which, the end is so abrupt that one cannot but imagine that MacLean ran out of paper for his typewriter and thusly scribbled it in the margins. Pathetic attempt by the master of the suspense-thriller.

It’s 1943 and a group of Ĉetniks set out from Rome with a message for their commander in Yugoslavia from the German High Command. Classic MacLean with lots of suspense and twists, although the overall plot is a little weak and gives the impression of “having been done before” in his previous works. Recommended for a Sunday afternoon with nothing else to read.

An organisation calling themselves the FFF (“Fighters For Freedom”) start breaching dykes in order to force the Dutch government to force the British government to pull all their troops out of Northern Ireland. It is the task of Peter van Effen, a detective-lieutenant in the Amsterdam police, to find and stop the FFF. The story is weak and the plot very thin, with the “love interest” and Van Effen’s sister serving no real purpose. The ending falls apart as an explanation for the ludicrous behaviour of all involved is offered. Too much explanatory dialogue, naïve villains, no claustrophobic tension and without the signature plot twists this is a very weak MacLean.