Athabasca

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Maclean
Review: Exciting book. Definitely encourage all Maclean fans to read it. This is armchair detecting at its best (despite all the to & fro movements of the detectives). The character Dermott is very well done. As always, Maclean famous wry sense of humor, ironic wit, and meticulous research shine through.

Rating:
Summary: Plenty of Ice But No Zebra
Review: Maclean lost his battle with alcoholism later in life, and it adversely affected his output. His novels became shorter and their characterization flatter, and in Athabasca, he presents one character's alcoholism in virtually a positive light. The plot of this story is forgettable too and there's only about ten pages near the end where 'master of suspense' can be applied to the writing. A sad decline for someone who was the Tom Clancy of his day and is virtually forgotten barely fifteen years after his death. As for this book, read Ice Station Zebra if you want to play in the snow!

Rating:
Summary: Plenty of Ice But No Zebra
Review: Maclean lost his battle with alcoholism later in life, and it adversely affected his output. His novels became shorter and their characterization flatter, and in Athabasca, he presents one character's alcoholism in virtually a positive light. The plot of this story is forgettable too and there's only about ten pages near the end where 'master of suspense' can be applied to the writing. A sad decline for someone who was the Tom Clancy of his day and is virtually forgotten barely fifteen years after his death. As for this book, read Ice Station Zebra if you want to play in the snow!

Rating:
Summary: Average MacLean.
Review: Not much to say about this book. It was very average, and left me feeling like I could have better spent my time re-reading "Ice Station Zebra" or "Where Eagles Dare" if I really wanted to read Alistair MacLean. The book is out of print currently; don't bother going to too much trouble to find it.