The Carpetbaggers (published in 1961) - Written by Harold Robbins

Harold Robins was one of the prolific writers of the 21st century. Born Harold Rubin, his parents were Russian and Polish immigrants. After dabbling in sugar futures he took up a job in Universal pictures which propelled his interest towards writing. Thus came out “Never love a Stranger” which courted controversy for its graphic sexual content. Soon Robbins would become a prolific writer churning out innumerable best sellers. He had this knack of mixing up a thriller with sex and historical anecdotes to create a taut mystery. The worlds favorite author, Harold Robins would publish over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and are estimated to be selling over 750 million copies. Many of his books were made in to successful movies, the very first being “A stone For Danny Fisher” which was adapted as “King Creole” starring Elvis Presley. The stories were also made in to mini series and were part of documentaries. Robbins also lived a jet setting life style with cars, wine and women at his disposal. His decadent life style along with those of the high and mighty of Hollywood is often mirrored in his books. Robbins was one of the authors honored with a star on the Hollywood walk of frame. This prolific writer died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 81 in Palm Springs, California.



Carpetbaggers is an homage to the roaring twenties and the terrifying thirties. The characters of Jonas Cord, Rina Marlow, Jeannie Denton, Charles Sandhurst etc depict that fearlessness of the twenties where possibilities abound at your every step and is soon turned to dust by the next decade by war and depression. Carpetbaggers is a roman a clef which chronicles the life of Howard Hughes through the protagonist Jonas Cord. Jonas Cord is the son of a wealthy industrialist who accumulates wealth with his interests branching in to aviation and Hollywood. The entire novel is divided in to chapters bearing the character's names where in Jonas Cord gets 3 chapters followed by chapters chronicling Rina's and others bumping on to him.
Cord lives by his own definitions, builds and pilots airplanes, makes costly movies and has umpteen orgies with Hollywood starlets. Carpetbaggers is a teenage boys fantasy come true and has graphic sexual details. Apart from oral and homosexual encounters, the novel describes rape, abuse and other sexual encounters in detail which almost put you off. But the saga of Cord and others is spell binding as Robins describes their rise and fall. Rina Marlow, said to be based on Jean Harlow is described as a bisexual having encounters with Jonas, his father, brother and even a girl friend. This book may not be raising an eyebrow today, but was said to be a bold attempt in the 60's. The most disturbing characterization is that of Jennie Denton who has every possible horror perpetrated on her, that it makes one sick. But then one has to remember that the book is Robbins at his best. If one can forget the graphic sex, then the saga of a rich man and his cronies and mistresses hold your breath. A splendid book and its no wonder that this book is still one of the best sought after paperbacks. Best of Robbins and worth a read.

Fear is the key (published in 1961) - by Alistair Maclean - a gripping tale of a man driven by revenge

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.
If you read Fear is the Key, be sure to find enough free time because this is one book you cannot afford to put down. This is an intense revenge saga by a wronged man. Talbot, the owner of "Trans Carib Air Charter Co" listens helplessly on the radio, the death wails of his wife, son and his best friend. His plane en-route to Florida is shot down by American Military plane. All he can do is to wait to serve revenge to the perpetrator.
Then the novel cuts to the present with Talbot, standing trial in the court and being sentenced. It seems that in his grief he has turned to a life to crime. But at the moment of sentencing, Talbot escapes, taking a beautiful heiress hostage. The hostage, Mary is the daughter of oil tycoon, General Ruthven. After an intense car race and drama, Talbot manages to escape with the hostage. Soon a reward is announced for his capture and he has many unsavory elements hot on his trail.



A thug, Jablonsky capture Talbot and rescues Mary. Instead of handing Talbot to the police he is released to General Ruthven. Ruthven, who is a millionaire many times over, has a shady past and underhand dealings. Most of his money is ill-gotten and he gives two choices to Talbot, help him recover something precious or die.
Talbot agrees to salvage the precious cargo for Ruthven and Jablonsky is also recruited. Soon the picture becomes clear that the precious cargo involves gold and diamonds with ten million locked in the fuselage of a DC-3 plane which has crashed at the bottom of an oil rig. This is the same plane in which Talbot's wife and son was traveling. This loss of Talbot's is so great that all the gold and the diamonds in the world cannot replace it.
Talbot, like all MacLean leading men is a skilled diver, knowledgeable about the oil rig exploration, an out standing diver and an engineer. He is also a skilled martial arts practitioner and completely a macho man. So Talbot gets his revenge in this intense story of greed, murder and money with out any doubt.
This tale sounds very familiar to many revenge drama's of a wronged man on and off screen, but only Alistair MacLean can pull out an intense thriller through his fast paced narrations. The words whiz past telling us about the car chases, under water explorations, gun battle and murders. Maybe you won't meet a MacLean Hero in real life, so its all the more reason to read about him in this book. And get this book, it's an incredible thriller.

The Dark Crusader (published in 1961) - by Alistair Maclean - the story of a spy thriller involving missiles

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 Dark Crusader is one of MacLean's spy thrillers. He wrote this book under the pseudonym Ian Stuart ostensibly to counter Ian Flemming and James Bond. But I think there is nothing much to this rumor because there is nothing James Bondish about Bentall the hero of Dark Crusader. Bentall is a bumbling, physically less strong, lovesick man who does not have any fancy gadgets with him.



Bentall is called from a mission in Turkey to investigate the disappearance of eight British scientist. Each of the Scientist were recruited following an ad in the paper asking for people with certain qualifications promising much higher pay. The only condition was that these scientist have to be married with no children. These ads are placed over a period of time and are linked with the disappearances.
Now in response to another ad requiring a rocket fuel scientist, Bentall is asked to be recruited. He is paired with Marie Hopeman, another agent posing as his wife. They both proceed to Sydney where the job is said to be. En route they are kidnapped and placed on the island of Vardu in Fiji. Vardu is the home of a British Archaeological team headed by Dr. Witherspoon. Coincidentally a British naval base is situated close by this island. There is something which is very sinister about Witherspoon, that Bentall intuitively is suspicious. He is concerned about the singing coming from the adjacent caves to the sinister Chinese henchman of Witherspoon.
There is a romantic angle to the story with Bentall falling in love with Marie. But she falls sick and he has to choose between saving her and foiling the activities of the murderers. As he unravels the mystery he understands that Witherspoon is working for an communist Asian regime and is tunneling through the island in to the naval base to steal the Dark Crusader missiles. After a tough adrenalin pumping action he manages to do it. But the ending is pretty poignant as he has to choose between his love and his mission and he chooses the later.
A good novel which sometimes tent to meander a bit. Still I would say there is negative comments about Asians and communism which may tend towards racism. But you can overlook it just for the suspenseful story.