First published 1944. House of Stratus paperback, 2000, pp 285, c. 90,000 words. Set in World War Two on and RAF base in England, the book’s backdrop is bombing operations on Germany. In the foreground is a romance between a pilot and a signals officer. It is largely written in a naïve style, with short […]
Pastoral — Nevil Shute Read More »
First published 1981. Harper Collins paperback, 2017, pp 347, c. 112,000 words. This was the last of Bagley’s books published in his lifetime, although three more have been published under his name since. There is a degree of maturity in the complexity of the plot, but it falls off towards the end as the point
Windfall — Desmond Bagley Read More »
First published 1992. Sphere paperback, 2014, pp 388, c. 94,000 words. This is a detective story concerning the mystery of the appearance of a mute child. That plot line is interleaved with an apparently unrelated tale of a pharmaceutical company. The main protagonist eventually emerges as a former policeman, Peter Diamond, who is intrigued by
Diamond Solitaire — Peter Lovesey Read More »
First published 1946. Fontana paperback, 1975, pp158, c.50,000 words. This is the first post-war Innes and marks something of a transition work from his pre-war cheap shockers and his war novels, to his mature thrillers. Here, there is much excellent description of the natural world, especially the sea, the coast and the weather. There are
Dead and Alive — Hammond Innes Read More »
First published 1979. Fontana paperback, 1989, pp282, c.94,000 words. This is a classic 1970s’ thriller and one of Kyle’s best. The hero, Jack Tunnicliffe, is typical of his type: an ex-soldier, who would rather not be ‘ex’. He fought in the Korean war, learned the ways of the army and was effective at it. Now
Green River High — Duncan Kyle Read More »
First published 1940. Pan paperback, 1962, pp240, c.72,000 words. This book was written in the early days of the second world war, and its story is contemporary. The course and outcome of that war was unknown and there is a surprising air of confidence in British power and technical prowess. Nevertheless there is a great
Landfall — Nevil Shute Read More »
First published 1932. Pan paperback, 1962, pp 221, c.92,000 words. This was Shute’s third published novel, and it marks something of a transition in adventure and thriller writing between the world of John Buchan’s Thirty-Nine Steps and the more realistic post-WW2 everyman heroes of writers like Hammond Innes. It is also has something of an
Lonely Road — Nevil Shute Read More »
First published 2016. Bantam paperback, 2017, pp 553, c.175,000 words. This is a workman-like, if unoriginal, thriller. Luke Carlton is the protagonist, a former special forces officer who is now working for British Intelligence. This is exactly the same premise as Gavin Lyall’s Harry Maxim (see The Secret Servant, 1980, for example) or Andy McNab’s
Crisis — Frank Gardner Read More »
Golden Soak by Hammond Innes First published 1973. Fontana paperback, 1975, pp 286, c.115,000 words. This is a classic Innes thriller, with all the usual ingredients except the sea, which in this case in replaced by the harsh deserts of Western Australia. The protagonist, Alec Falls, is a mining engineer, and at the start of
Golden Soak — Hammond Innes Read More »
First published 1975. Fontana paperback, 1976, pp 253, c.96,000 words. Bagley wrote thrillers in the second half of the twentieth century of a type that was common then: with an everyman hero who is placed in some unfamiliar situation and set in an exotic (to most readers) and harsh environment. This is one of his
Snow Tiger, The — Desmond Bagley Read More »