River of Death

When I picked this book up, the name Alistair MacLean did not mean anything to me. Reading it reminded me some of a movie I had seen called "Breakheart Pass", and soon learned that MacLean wrote it as well. This book came out near the time "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" was released. I could easily picture Harrison Ford as John Hamilton. I've read the other reviews, commenting on the decline of Maclean since either '71 or '73, depending on the reviewer. I could definitely tell a weakness in his endings. The blurb on the back of this book gave away the ending, but it is better than the endings of "Partisans" and "Floodgate". I will admit, though, that most of what I've read of MacLean was his post '73 works (the exceptions being "The Guns Of Navarone" and "Where Eagles Dare", and seeing the movie "Ice Station Zebra"). If his weaker stuff made me a die-hard fan, I can't wait to read his older works!