Where Eagles Dare

"Where Eagles Dare" may be author Alistair Maclean's best known novel, thanks to the exciting movie version starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. The novel, in this case, is even better than the movie. Eight Allied agents parachute into the snowy Bavarian Alps deep inside Nazi Germany. Their hastily-organized mission is to rescue a captured American general from a practically inaccessible castle before he can be tortured into revealing the plans for the D-Day invasion. Their nearly suicidal mission is made infinitely more complicated by the quick discovery that someone on the team is a traitor. What follows is a succession of hair-raising, white knuckle adventures as the team struggles to enter the castle, rescue the general, identify the traitor or traitors, and escape Germany. "Where Eagles Dare" is Maclean in his prime, providing a challenging and suspenseful plot whose last twists come in the very last scene. The dialogue is brisk, sardonic, and occasionally humorous. The team leader, Major Smith, and his deputy, Lieutenant Schaffer are the archtypal buddy team, easily outdoing their counterparts in the movie. This novel lacks some of the emotional punch found in Maclean's earlier novels such as "The Guns of Navarone" but excels in MacLean's clear mastery of his craft as a entertaining story-teller. The descriptions of Bavaria add the necessary sense of place to each scene, well-supported by a tautly drawn supporting cast of characters. This book is highly recommended to fans of Alistair Maclean and to those looking for a very enjoyable reading experience.

Growing up in the UK my reading material was an eclectic mixture of Enid Blyton children's adventure novels, Ian Fleming and John Gardner espionage tales and Alistair MacLean wartime escapades. It was in this environment that my love for well crafted tales of suspense, adventure and espionage was fostered and nowhere is this more apparent than in the MacLean thriller WHERE EAGLES DARE. Second among my favorite MacLean works (my all-time favorite being WHEN EIGHT BELLS TOLL) the storyline for WHERE EAGLES DARE was faithfully recreated for the 1960s movie with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood (not surprising really since MacLean adapted his own novel for the screen). A group of British Commando's along with an American Ranger parachute behind the German lines in World War 2. Their stated mission: the rescue of an American General who has been captured by the Nazi's and taken to a mountaintop fortress. Of course like many I had seen the movie several times before finally settling down to read the book, but settle down I did and what a ride MacLean treated us to. The action is well described with white-knuckle realism and MacLean's complex and intricate plotting is both well structured and compelling. For those unfamiliar with either the book or the novel there is also a nice twist that to this day has me marveling at its pure ingenuity. Okay so the dialogue may not be the best, but I for one do not read MacLean novels for their dialogue. For adventure novels, MacLean is the master as much as Agatha Christie is the Queen of the whodunnit. I wish that the entire series of novels would be reprinted for a new generation to enjoy.

I seldom read the same book more than once, but the books by MacLean are an exception from that rule. You can have them in the shelf for years and every now and when you dust your books you will start to look at one of them. Before you know it you have finished of three or four of them. I can't recall any other author having the same effect on me. Today I just finished "The dark crusader" after reading "When eight bells toll"... I think I've read those two books three times by now. The MacLean books I rank to be among his very best are; "Where Eagles Dare", "Fear is the key", Ice station Zebra", "H.M.S. Ulysses", Circus", "The last frontier", "The golden rendevouz", "The satan bug", "The guns of Navarone", and "Puppet on a chain". The following books are also worth while reading: "Force 10 from Navarone", When Eight bells toll", "Night without end", South by Java Head", "Bear Island", "The dark crusader". Alistair MacLean mixes suspense, spy stories, heroism, plots, characters of good and evil, and humour like noone else. Thinking about it, its obvious why I keep coming back for the same books over and over again. If you buy and read them; you will agree with me. If you already have them; you know what I mean. Let me end this review by saying; Thank you, Alistair MacLean for having written so many good books! Finally; if you like Alistair MacLean you will also like the books of Desmond Bagley, the earlier books by Jack Higgins, and Dennis Lehane.

Excellent characterization, witty dialogue, and a superb plot with a thrilling twist at the end make this one of Maclean's best. I can't think of a single hero (including Bond) who can stand up next to one of Maclean's heroes without wilting a little. This happens to be one of the few stories wherein I can also recommend the movie.

MacLean was a master. I read this book in high school; I want to read it again. It's a mystery, a thriller, action; i know what happens, right? I don't care! Reading it is too much fun! Smith and Schaffer steal the show; er, pages. Read the book rather than watching the movie.