Fear Is the Key

Rating:
Summary: A lesser work by MacLean
Review: At his best, MacLean is near the top of the pulp action genre with interesting locations and characters and a bit of romance. "Fear", a story of revenge, misses the mark. I never could quite connect with the protaganist and surprisingly, the ending was neither compelling or, to me, satisfying. Other MacLean books such as "Dusty Death" and "Caravan" better display his true abilities.

Rating:
Summary: Suspense is the key
Review: Great thriller. Perhaps the reason I disagree with some of the reviews is that I'm not generally a huge Maclean fan and have struggled to finish some of them. Most are a little too boys' own for my taste. I think this book as superb, though, mainly because it has a sense of personal motivation that many of his other books seem to lack, and the prologue and ending are brilliant. Particularly good are the sudden twists in the plot and the cold, methodical way the narrator goes about getting revenge. Exceptional page-turner.

Rating:
Summary: Speed is the key
Review: This is hands down the fastest MacLean i've ever read, and i've read
quite a few. There's no slackening of the pace anywhere - it's relentless.
You just keep turning the pages, and before you know, you've run out
of pages to turn !!

The plot is fairly unpredictable, just full of twists and turns that
keep one guessing, which is half the fun in such books. To begin with,
the chief protagonist is on the run, having escaped from the law, and
takes a young woman as hostage. All that, however changes pretty soon,
as each succeeding set of circumstances is rapidly replaced with a
new scenario, building up to an interesting climax.

All in all, ideal for a real quick read, eg in a journey or over a weekend.