First published 1984. Fontana paperback, 1987, pp 314, c.100,000 words.
Perhaps Bagley wanted to use the title Night of Terror, but then someone pointed out that this had been well-used for a couple of films (1933, 1972). It would have been a more appropriate title for this work.
The possibility of mining manganese nodules from the Pacific seabed had been in the news a few years earlier when Howard Hughes apparently funded a serious attempt to exploit this resource. It turned out later that that story was merely a cover for a CIA effort to recover the Soviet submarine K129, which was partially successful. Hammond Innes usually used some topic in the news as the basis for his thrillers, so perhaps Bagley had decided to use the same tactic when plotting out this story.
This is a well-constructed and entertaining thriller, like most of Bagley’s books. The hero of this one is an oceanographer, and the prize is a rich deposit of metal nodules somewhere on the seabed. He has a hated brother, who is dead at the book’s opening, and the story revolves around solving the mystery of his death somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. There is a fine bunch of millionaires, ageing war-time commandos, damsels in distress, etc., required to make up a ripping yarn. Mostly the story gathers pace well until the all-action finale, with cross and double-cross. In one or two spots the story sagged a little with a false start or unnecessary plot zig-zag.
Bagley writes in the classic thriller style of spare prose and crisp dialog. Places and people are well sketched out. The ocean-going stuff feels authentic. There are one or two minor characters who are a bit too close to having super-powers in terms of knife skills or creeping about in the dark, but nothing completely risible. The dénouement is well over the top but entertaining. Recommended as an easy escapist read.
© William John Graham, May 2022