Seawitch (published in 1977) - Author - Alistair Maclean - action related to a massive oil platform

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.
Seawitch is the story of a rich ruthless oil magnate who can pull all stops to make profit. Lord Worth is a very rich businessman whose main interests are in oil. This tycoon builds the largest oil rig off the waters of Houston and has invented some special type of equipments to enable his company to drill maximum quantity of oil at his will and fancies.
So the other oil tycoons get the jitters as the price of oil starts to slide. So what do they do? Well the easy way out, hire a killer to stop Lord Worth in his path. The competitors are an inhuman bunch as they don't care how the mission is accomplished and are ready to pay the highest price to stop Worth.



The hired killer, John Cronkite has a major ax to grind against Lord Worth as he has been the root cause of many of his miseries. So Cronkite talks to the Russian, Cuban and another communist renegades top source for the weapons to destroy Seawitch. But Lord Worth gets the whiff of his plans as one of the conspirators is a spy. He hires detectives to defend Seawitch at any cost.
In the mean time, Lord Worth's two daughters are kidnapped from his villa and are held prisoner on the Seawitch. To make matters worth the Russian and some Cuban submarines are making their way to destroy the oil platform. Lord Worth approaches the Ministry of Defense to scare the submarines and succeeds. But Cronkite has managed to steal some nuclear weapons and reached the Seawitch.
Does Lord Worth succumb to pressure? No way, he has got aces up his sleeve in detectives Mitchell and Roomer who are in love with his two daughters, Marina and Melinda. These are ex-policemen who are the typical cynical, rough and tough MacLean heroes. They are brutally honest and totally in love and will go to any lengths to rescue their damsels in distress. So the match is set and the fight is to begin.
Lord Worth who reaches the rig is also imprisoned and Cronkite and his men booby traps the entire oil platform. Mitchell and roomer arrive with a doctor as a scientist. They try to take over when Cronkite's back is turned and Roomer gets hurt. He leaves to get more relief as Mitchell mans the platform. But Cronkite will not go so easily. He takes over Seawitch again and this time places the nuclear weapons. Soon high adrenaline shooting game commences where Mitchell kills four of Cronkite's men. Lord Worth, his daughters and the good men leave stealthily and watches the oil rig explode with Cronkite and his men on board.
Seawitch was written during the fag end of MacLean's writing career and you can feel him loosing touch. I feel you can buy it as a one time read and forget it.

Bear Island (published in 1971) - Written by Alistair Maclean - story of murders on a lone cold island

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.
Bear island is a detective thriller which is set up in the Norwegian seas. This is one of the later Alistair MacLean books where the who done it plot kept the action going. Typical of all MacLean Books the elements play an important part. In fact MacLean describes the cold Arctic so well that the reader gets the goose bumps.
A film crew sets sail to the Bear island, across the Barents sea ostensibly to shoot a feature film on a trawler which is renovated as a luxury sail boat called the Morning Rose. Most of the crew who are part of the film hardly know the script except for the director and the scriptwriter. Aboard the ship there is a medic Dr. Marlowe and couple of Mary's.



Soon the mystery starts as the crew members are killed one by one by a murderer. Marlowe is puzzled by this and starts his investigation. The murders continue even as the crew is deposited on the Bear Island and are beyond the help of any law enforcing agencies. Marlowe is not what he professes to be. He is an agent with the US treasury and is shadowing the boat along with the police. The mysterious director Otto jergan is after the gold ingots and securities which was buried by a Nazi Admiral under the sea after the world war two. There are several sub plots which involves a Romanian count, hit mans, Admirals daughter etc which ultimately converges to the main plot. So after a lot of twist in the plot Marlowe uncovers their sinister designs and foils the murders.
Some times the book is a drag because of the multiple designs and activities. The past and the present collide rapidly that the reader keeps getting confused. As for ever MacLean does not give the women any credit or scenes for the women. Only thing which stands out in the book is the description of Bear Island. It is presented so very beautifully by MacLean that it can be copied by any tourist operator.
Bear Island was adapted to film in the 1980 movie directed by Don Sharp and starring Donald Sutherland, Richard Widmark, Vanessa Redgrave, and Christopher Lee. The film was shot in Canada and Alaska. The film bears little resemblance to the book and even the hero's name is Lansing instead of Marlowe. The scenery described by Alistair Maclean is also absent from the movie. So go ahead pick up the book. Its worth a first time look.

HMS Ulysses (published in 1955) - written by Alistair Maclean and about the struggle of a doomed ship during the war

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.
HMS Ulysses is Alistair MacLean's first novel and is largely drawn upon his war experiences. The true story about the ill-fated convoy PQ-17 provided the basis for this story. It tells us the story of ordinary men who fight against seemingly unsurmountable odds just to prove their loyalty. HMS Ulysses is Captained by Richard Vallery, who commands unflinching loyalty from his men.



The story begins with Ulysses at Anchor in Scapa Flow after a grueling mission as an escort ship in the arctic north. The men are exhausted and tired battling the harshest of climates coupled with low food rations. They are emotionally exhausted because of the battle of nerves against the U-boats, enemy aircraft and ships. These men learn upon weighing the anchor that the higher authorities are planning to send them back in to battle and are ready to put them through the same grind with out any concerns for their well being. A mini mutiny spreads across the ship and only their loyalty towards Richard Vallery prevents them from deserting.
Now a much soothed crew find that the trust in their abilities is eroded and orders are very clear, - escort a convoy through the battle field of Murmansk and on return will be rewarded with a draft to the Mediterranean. HMS Ulysses is to use to bait German Destroyer Tirpitz and help her destruction. The Captain and the crew accepts the terms for the sake of redemption.
But a fierce storm is raging in the Arctic, coupled with death stalking Ulysses in the form of U-boats and fighter planes above. Men have to fight against bone chilling cold and the waters toss the Ulysses with no mercy with the specter of tuberculosis among them. In the last pages Alistair Maclean graphically describes the hopelessness of the expendable men battling everything stacked up against them and sacrificing their lives for honor. Glory is for them for ever because the mind numbing hopelessness brings the men to give the battle everything they have, not to survive but to sacrifice and win.

South by Java head (published in 1957) - Author: Alistair Maclean - story of the fight against the Japanese in the Second World War (to get some papers)

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.
South By Java head, a innate Alistair Maclean novel is about the war in the pacific, more specifically about the war of Singapore. Singapore, British colony is over run by the Japanese and the assurances about its defense by the British authorities proves to be hollow. So a large scale exodus of British and other foreign nationals take place to escape from the cruel clutches of the Japanese.



The survivors try to flee aboard the Kerry Dancer which is crippled by the Japanese. A group of survivors slip into the south china Sea by boat. This disparate groups of people include, an Englishman, Farnholme, A dutch planter Van Effen, a beautiful Eurasian Girl Gudrun Drachman, a slave trader Siran and a mysterious Johnny Nicholson. Soon this small flotilla of theirs is bombarded and dogged by the Japanese who are hell bent in getting some secret papers.
There is a large dose of adventure in the story with spies, secret papers, battle plans and real war. But all this pale in presence of the crews fight for survival. As all men in a MacLean adventure, they are pitted against the unsympathetic elements. If in HMS Ulysses the cold was the overriding element, here the heroes are up against the extreme heat and humidity. They weather tropical storms, insects coupled with the ferocious and cruel Japanese.
Johnny Nicholson is a typical MacLean lead character who is cynical, cool and well versed in the technique of war fare. There is an underlying factor of masochism in all this brave men. But a surprise element for all women is the presence of Gudrun Drachman, a nurse who ultimately is the love interest of Nicholson. MacLean attempts of portraying the the romance is almost laughable.
Another problem with this novel is the under current of racism or the political correctness. The Japanese are the villains, but is it necessary to attribute inhuman cruelty to all of them. All Japanese soldiers, especially officers are presented as blood thirsty fiends and rapist. Alistair MacLean attributes the Japanese as inherently cruel and all the Englishmen as upright citizens. Well, Maclean would be forgiven by a public in the 50's but in this era such unbridled violence and masochism may be discouraged. Apart from these sore points this book gives you an adrenaline rush and a feeling of triumph.