The Golden Gate

"I've always maintained that all Presidential candidates should undergo an IQ test." Would that this were the first sentence of The Golden Gate! Alas, it appears on page 135, spoken like a true criminal mastermind with the fortitude of a German tank. This is Peter Branson, the man behind an admittedly complex presidential kidnapping, who spits (smoothly!) this remark to the President's face, he who asked a question meant to confirm his worst fear: his life, and those of several important Arabian representatives, a shiek, and an oil king, hangs by a thread. Half a billion dollars is required payment for their lives. MacLean chose a sum that may have seemed exorbitant in 1976, but still holds as incredibly high for a tale told nearly 30 years later. MacLean is in near-top form as he takes the reader through the antagonists' point of view, their set-up, and how they nab the president in the very middle of the Golden Gate Bridge. Only then does Agent Paul Revson arrive (and in an unexpected way). His affiliation with MacLean's greatest heroes (Michael Reynolds, Peter Mason, John Carter) could be that of a direct bloodline; his flaws make him human, but his extravagant conception of Branson's downfall makes him a military genius. The true Army of One. The first paragraph is a little deviant---straying from MacLean's signature first sentence idioms---written in a peculiar checklist method. I mention this only because I am aware of MacLean's slight decline in effective storytelling which many have claimed began with The Way to Dusty Death, a title I have yet to read, but I will dispute this notion: Breakheart Pass, Circus, and The Golden Gate are as fabulous, if less character driven, than his earlier books. The Golden Gate is no exception, surpassing Circus in scope and suspense! Keep an eye out for General Carter. The last name is carried over from the hero of The Golden Rendezvous. My dictionary dash consisted of rubicund (116). I read the 1976 Fawcett Crest edition.

I think James Bond should take a leaf from Alistair Maclean's books. His hero in this "yarn" defies description, someone who is smart, a little cynical, unwilling to give in to the momentary distractions of injury or beautiful spoiled women (who are actually great heroines in disguise!) in order to force the hand of the blackguard holding the world in thrall. My most memorable scene in this book is when the protagonist is suffering from a bullet-ridden leg, yet hanging from the side of a porthole in high wind, trying valiantly to get past the villains that have hijacked this ship which has precious lives and gold cargo. It's a real treat and an engrossing read, especially because it is so fantastic! I would rather take a hero of Maclean's stamp than Ian Fleming's any day of the week!

Almost every major thriller plot has been written in some form by Alistair MacLean, from the commando team sent on an impossible mission ("The Guns of Navarone," "Where Eagles Dare," "Force Ten from Navarone"), hijacking on the open seas ("The Golden Rendezvous"), the killer virus in the hands of an insane terrorist ("The Satan Bug"), terrorists planning to cause a super-quake in California ("Goodbye California"), and various undercover secret agent missions.In "The Golden Gate," a crack team of criminals led by mastermind Peter Branson executes a daring plan to kidnap the President of the United States on San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge. Branson and his men block off both ends of the bridge, wire it with explosives, and demand millions of dollars . . . plus a pardon. Any rescue attempts will result in the detonation of the explosives, killing the President and destroying the Golden Gate Bridge.But Branson is an ego-maniac, and he can't resist attention from the media. So he not only lets, but actually invites, the press to stay on the bridge and cover the story. Too bad for Branson that one of the journalists is actually FBI Special Agent Paul Revson.The game is underway: Can Revson disable the explosives and stop the plot? Will Branson discover that Revson is really an agent?There's no characterization to speak of, and as a writer, MacLean is passable but nothing special. Still, read solely for its plot, "The Golden Gate" is fun and diverting.