Novels by Alistair MacLean (Book Guide)

Source: Wikipedia. Commentary (novels not included). Pages: 26. Chapters: Athabasca (novel), Bear Island (novel), Breakheart Pass (novel), Caravan to Vaccarès, Circus (novel), Fear Is the Key, Floodgate (novel), Force 10 From Navarone, Goodbye California (novel), HMS Ulysses (novel), Ice Station Zebra (novel), Night Without End, Partisans (novel), Puppet on a Chain, River of Death, Santorini (novel), San Andreas (novel), Seawitch, South by Java Head, The Dark Crusader, The Golden Gate (MacLean novel), The Golden Rendezvous, The Guns of Navarone (novel), The Last Frontier (novel), The Satan Bug (novel), The Way to Dusty Death, When Eight Bells Toll, Where Eagles Dare. Excerpt: Ice Station Zebra is a 1963 thriller novel written by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. This was the last of MacLean's classic sequence of first person narratives which began with Night Without End, and represented a return to that earlier novel's Arctic setting. After completing this novel, whose plot line parallels real-life events during the Cold War, MacLean retired from writing for three years. In 1968 it was adapted into a film of the same name. Drift Ice Station Zebra, a British meteorological station built on an ice floe in the Arctic Sea, has suffered a catastrophic oil fire; men have died and shelter and supplies have been destroyed. The survivors are holed up in one hut with little food and heat. If help does not reach them quickly, they will die. The (fictional) American nuclear-powered submarine USS Dolphin is dispatched on a rescue mission. Just before it departs, the mysterious Dr. Carpenter, the narrator, is sent to accompany it. Carpenter claims that he is necessary as an expert in dealing with frostbite and other deep-cold medical conditions. At first, the submarine's Captain Swanson is suspicious of Carpenter, even though he receives an order from Chief of Naval Operations of the U.S. Navy instructing him to obey Carpenter's every command except where crew and submarine safety is at stake. Swanson then calls in his boss Admiral Garvie. Admiral Garvie, Captain Swanson and Dr. Carpenter then meet in confidence in Captain Swanson's small cabin. Admiral Garvie questions Dr. Carpenter at length asking why a civilian and a non US Citizen should be allowed aboard the USS Dolphin and says that he can countermand the CNO's instructions and refuse transport to Dr. Carpenter. Carpenter is thus forced to reveal that this is not simply a rescue mission; the station is actually a highly-equipped listening post, keeping watch for nuclear missile launches from the Soviet Union. Hearing this, Admiral Garvie allows Carpenter to come along. Swanson asks Carpenter to