The Last Frontier

One must wonder if Alistair MacLean ever served as a British Secret Service agent (he did serve in the Navy during the Second World War); his tales are so plausible, and characters so purposefully flawed, they seem to be a re-telling of real-life events. Michael Reynolds is not Robert Langdon. He doesn't produce miracles from his back pocket while falling from 13,000 feet. Our hero in The Secret Ways is a well-trained, conditioned-to-kill secret service agent who is extricated from complex situations countless times by peers (and enemies themselves!). He relies on unimpaired judgment, common sense, and possesses a faculty of wit and courage. The title, though somewhat awkward in my opinion, references the clandestine techniques utilized by both sides of the story. The Hungarians have their "secret ways" of propelling propagandistic motives and the British have their ways of countering and annihilating such tactics. In a sense, the title is a direct reference to Michael Reynolds. MacLean takes a subtler approach to this novel. Reynolds character reminded me of a more subdued version of Philip Calvert, hero from When Eight Bells Toll. He questions himself consistently, makes errors, and saves lives. The writing style (told in the third person) is different. Rather than focusing on the action of the story, MacLean leans into the landscape and describes the surroundings with more attention than he has in previous novels. There are lengthy discourses between characters regarding country reformation and politics in general. There are moments when MacLean purposely slows the story down, explicitly describing a state or emotion a character may be experiencing. The Secret Ways is probably the most realistic book of his I have read. Due to the heavy (albeit significant) nature of politics in areas, it is a slower read. The action sequences, of which there are countless, quickly make up for this. But the variety of characters and their camaraderie here will keep the reader from feeling isolated. And Reynolds's touching episode with a handkerchief filled my eyes with tears, something I didn't expect from a MacLean novel. I read the 1959 Fawcett Gold Medal edition. My dictionary dash included concomitant (33), mulct (68), percipience (46), perspicuity (123), and intransigence (151).

A typical MacLean novel with a typical invincible hero who seems to make a mistake at every move, but is saved time and again by his friends. I found the book being slightly boring until I was two thirds through it, then the action picked up rapidly and didn't stop until the very end - a very typical MacLean end with the hero and the beautiful lady happy and safe. The book is a great read, if only for the way he shows the life in a Communist country and for the highly pacifistic views expressed by one of the main characters

A very fast paced novel by the Alistair MaClean. An epic adventure about a british spy Micheal Reynolds who battles his way through communists gaining an insight into the lives' of those suffering behind the iron curtain. Not only does he learn of the fears they are subjected to but also how they deal with it. He aslo comes across a hero whose philosophical ways makes the reader amazed and admire him. Alistair MaClean keeps the reader hung unto the book till the last page with his sarcasm and cool and analytical style of writing with a mixture of British wit.

The place is Hungary, a few years after the revolution, that put grey men on every corner of the once beloved and peaceful land. Michael Reynolds is a british agent, sent to Hungary by his suppereors on a quest to free a known scientist from the cludges of the evil rulors of Hungary, who want him for themselves. On his way, he is assisted by freedomfighters, lead by the tough and unforgiven leader Janchy, who has fled the camps in Siberia, where he was imprisonned for his love of freedom. The henchmen of the Hungarians are cruel and vicious, but the one man I loved in the book, was the Count. He was from Polen, where he had once recided together with his six children and his beautiful wife, until the soldiers came. The Count barely got away, but when he says in the book, that his family is in a safer place, there is no doubt what he means. His family was killed, and his own exit in the book is both heartbreaking and couragous. A marvelous book from an exelent writer, who sadly is not with us any more.

Maclean knows how to write a story. He takes you along, fast, with a man deep in enemy space, on a vital mission at long odds: yet you can tell right away that this is the kind of man you'd want by your side in such circumstances. When the page-turner is done, you feel priviledged to have been there: you've been given a portrait of heroism: maybe even one of manhood