The Last Frontier (by Alistair MacLean) - Published in 1959 - Set with the backdrop of the Hungarian revolution and the struggle against Communism

Alistair MacLean is a Scottish writer who specialized in writing thrillers and crime stories. He was third son of a Scottish minister and joined the Royal Navy during the world war two. He was a senior torpedo operator at the height of his career. He was in the thick of the war theater during the world war and saw action on many fronts especially the arctic north. After retiring he started penning his novels based on the war he saw and many of them became best sellers. Maclean never looked back as a writer until his death in 1987.
Because of his war experiences, his novels are also high on the action content. The emotional and the romantic angle is not very much touched upon by Maclean. His characters are highly cynical men who are always part of the high octane action and push themselves against all odds with out any thought for their safety. The elements also play a very important in MacLean's writings. Most of the time his men are pitted against harsh unforgiving surroundings which brings out the innate nature hidden inside, be it a devil or a hero.
This book is inspired by the Hungarian revolution and its aftermath. This marks MacLean's foray in to the genre of Espionage thrillers.



Micheal Reynolds, the hero is a British under cover agent who is cool and calculative. He unlike James Bond does not have any fancy gadgets to defend himself but relies mainly upon the power of his gray matter. He is sent to communist Hungary to rescue British ballistic expert Professor Jenkins. He meets a wide array of people and secure unlikely allies, like Jansci, alias erstwhile major General Alexis Illyurin who is a revolutionary leader, a master of disguise “the Count” and the strong and loyal Sandor.
Each of these characters are wanted by the Russians and hunted by the secret police of Hungary, AVO. Jansci is disillusioned with communism but has not lost his feelings of empathy with the fellow Russians. He has a sad past in which his wife was arrested and sent to a concentration camp which makes it impossible for her to be traced. His daughter Julia would not escape without him and his wife. The Count acts as a double agent but is working for the revolution and has only one love in his life, his child.
One thing about this book is the high dose of philosophical dialogues between the principal characters, Jansci and Reynolds. For Reynolds all the ills plaguing the world is because of communism , but Jansci is a non violent apostle talks about communism as - “remains only as a myth, an empty lip-service catchword in the name of which the cynical, ruthless realists of the Kremlin find sufficient excuse and justification for whatever barbarities their policies demands.”He feels that the fear of the traitors for their downfall is the cause of all pogroms.
Apart from these highly thoughtful dialogues, the book is just another MacLean adventure. Reynolds is captured, tortured and is helped by others to escape with the Professor with Julia in his arms. All the ingredients of brutality, torture, chemical warfare, nuclear arsenals and a feeble love story make up this story.
Now that communism has faded you can find the echoes of these dialogues in other “isms” like terrorism and fanaticism. A good book which makes you wonder at the world.

Night Without End (published in 1959) - by Alistair Maclean - a team isolated in a remote location

Alistair MacLean is a Scottish writer who specialized in writing thrillers and crime stories. He was the third son of a Scottish minister and joined the Royal Navy during World War Two. He was a senior torpedo operator at the height of his career. He was in the thick of the war theater during the world war and saw action on many fronts especially the arctic north. After retiring he started penning his novels based on the war he saw and many of them became best sellers. Maclean never looked back as a writer until his death in 1987.
Night Without End was published in 1959 and is considered to be one of the best books by Alistair MacLean. A BOAC plane crash lands 400 miles north of the Arctic in Greenland veritably on the polar ice cap. The plane has crashed near a scientific research station which is headed by Dr. Mason. Jackstraw is Mason's trusted aide along with other members of the research station. They live in sub zero temperature and their only contact with the outside world is through the radio which has broken down.
The research team tries to rescue the passengers of the ill fated jet. But only few survivors are found including the stewardess. The pilots are found to have been killed with bullet wounds and the plane catches fire. Dr. Mason feels that the crash was intentional and the pilots were murdered in cold blood. He suspects the stewardess and tries to get help.



Since the research station does not have adequate stock pile of food to feed the survivors, Mason decides to leave in search of help. He asks the radio operator to repair the radio. Soon unexpected things happen. Deliberate attempts to sabotage help is being done. A field expedition contacts them, and informs that a massive military mission is being undertaken to rescue the passengers. But still Mason leaves to find help along with Jackstraw leaving the injured passengers with the other scientists.
Captain Hillcrest, head of the field expedition try to contact them but his journey is sabotaged with his fuel mixed with sugar. But the ingenious research team find a way out to filter out the sugar and resume the journey. Hillcrest informs Mason that the plane was on a top secret mission and was carrying a missile guidance system which certain agencies were trying to get their hands on. Mason remembers a certain gadget looking like a tape recorder picked up by the passengers. They rush to reclaim it but alas are prevented by the murderers who take the entire group as hostage.
The captors abandon the research team to die in the Arctic blizzard and take only the stewardess and another passenger who is a boxer as hostage. But the research team fight the mind numbing cold and the storm to find an abandoned sleigh with rockets. They fire one to help Hillcrest to locate them. They rush to intercept the murderers and find them trying to sail away from the Arctic. Hillcrest alerts the navy which cut off the intruders flushing them to land. Soon in an high adrenaline finish the murderer's are brought down with hand to hand combat which the boxer plays a key role.
Yet again the environment and man's fight to master the challenging elements come to the fore in this novel. Read this only under a blanket because the cold, fatigue and suspense seeps to your bones giving you the goosebumps.

Final diagnosis by Arthur Hailey (published in 1959), a book about medicine and the scene inside a hospital

Arthur Hailey was born in Lutton, Bedford-shire, England and served in the royal air force during world war II. He later emigrated to Canada and started his career as a writer. His extensive research on the subjects give his novels a very realistic sense and most of his books have gone on to become the best sellers of the day. He later set up home in the Bahamas, to avoid the extreme taxation in Canada. He died on November, 2004 living behind a legacy of amazing books and movies.
Final Diagnosis is one of Arthur Hailey's best sellers which depicts the workings of a large hospital . At the centre of the drama is Joe Pearson, an aging pathologist who has refused to accept his retirement. He had been once the whole and soul of the hospital with all the doctors accepting his expertise. But with advancing age he has lost his grip on his subject and this has made him impermeable to change. He refuses to keep himself up to date with the latest technological advances and refuses to let others to modernize the same. He has powerful friends in the medical board who patronize him, thus making change difficult.



The novel opens with Kent O' Donell the new medical director trying to make Pearson see that because of his tardiness the patients reports were getting delayed thus provoking lot of complains. He bulldozes his way, with the help of certain doctors to force Pearson to accept a second pathologist to help him. David Coleman, the young and highly qualified doctor who arrives to man the pathology department has to face the hostility of Pearson. The politics becomes so acute that Pearson refuses to accept a new technological advancement to test the RH factor called the Direct Coombs test resulting in the death of the new born baby of John Alexander. This proves to be his undoing and he himself is aghast at his behavior. Pearson at last realizes the gravity of his actions and offers to resign. He also persuades, Eustace Swayne, a long time friend and medical board member to continue funding the hospital. He also tries to make amends by asking Swayne to fund John Alexander's medical education.
As his last working days draw near Pearson works tirelessly to stem a typhoid outbreak and saves Three counties hospital from closure. He tells his successor David Coleman to find time for himself and his needs. As he leaves he says “Listen to an old man who’s been through it all, who made the mistake of falling behind. Don’t let it happen to you! Lock yourself in a closet if you have to! Get away from the phone and the files and paper, and read and learn and listen and keep up to date! Then they can never touch you, never say, ‘He’s finished, all washed up; he belongs to yesterday.’ Because you’ll know as much as they do—and more. Because you’ll have experience to go with it”.
Thats the echoing theme of Final Diagnosis, Man's failure to accept change and to keep abreast of it. Before the predicament of Joe Pearson all other characters pale in comparison and work towards to magnifying the folly of a man who refused to see the writing on the wall to look forward. Another gripping tale from Arthur Hailey who has wonderfully created the hospital atmosphere and the politics of health care.