Skip to main content

San Andreas - Alistair MacLean



I never thought I will live to say this, but I was disappointed with this one. I finished with San Andreas a couple of weeks back, and I can still feel like I have a few pages left.
The story was a typical MacLean - set aboard a maimed ship in a wicked sea, infested with the enemy. There was the stoic bo'sun Archie McKinnon and the usual Scots stereotypes, the incapacitated captain, the strong, intelligent but naive nurse Janet, and several other members of the crew, a number of whom get eliminated quite early on. The suspense however remains, as the ship is crippled by saboteur/(s) and time is running out as the incredibly clairvoyant bo'sun scrambles desperately to remain ahead of the mysterious moves of the nasty Germans. Unlike some of the last few novels of MacLean, this one did not disappoint in terms of action. There was quite enough (but not too much) of leaping about and swimming in cold waters and battling the blizzard, punctuated by lengthy, sardonic discussions, which were, as usual, a treat to read. 

Sabotage of naval vessels is common ground for several MacLean novels and as expected, the story was dripping with naval jargons which, I couldn't quite comprehend. I would have had to use the internet to clarify things but this is Alistair MacLean we are talking about, so I decided to use my time to find out the criminal instead. The vivid descriptions of the evil fog, the swirling sea-waters and the carnage in the bombed ship were particularly compelling, and set the mood nicely in place. There were, as expected, numerous characters, and their facades were well drawn up too. All in all, the story progresses pretty impressively, though the lack of a consistent sidekick - almost at par with McKinnon's level of efficiency and a recurring arrangement in most of MacLeans's works - was glaringly missing (I felt that Naseby should have been introduced earlier in the story). In the said circumstances, I got the feeling that we missed out on some potential glorious conversational gems. There were however, some interesting angles: the German pilot prisoner and Sister Morrison, Nurse Janet's past and of course the overriding secret of the ship and the identity of the perpetrator/(s) of the crimes. It all built up nicely, right up to page 373 of 376. And then suddenly, in a matter of two and a half pages, it was all over.

The ends were loosely tied, and closure was such a forced affair that it appeared far too realistic to me after all the superhuman efforts of McKinnon. I missed a massive showdown, the setup for which had been brilliantly set up by page 365. The tension kept mounting and then out of nowhere, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Not that I wasn't pleased for the characters, but I was saddened by what could have been. Also, the fate of Lieutenant Ulbricht keeps nagging at me, as does the almost callous treatment of Ferguson and Curran.

It may well have been that my expectations were too high from my past experience, and maybe, if this would have been my first MacLean, I might even have had more fun. Nevertheless, Archie McKinnon goes down in the list of some of the best MacLean heroes I've had the good sense to read about. So instead of brooding over San Andreas, I shall try to pick up another MacLean to set the record straight.

P.S. I loved these alternate covers for San Andreas, especially the first one, which presumably shows Archie McKinnon exactly how I imagined him...




Images courtesy: Wikipedia, www.infinitas.com.au, www.fictiondb.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Side Reads - A Book of English Essays - Edited by W.E. Williams

Remember our school days? Remember those dreary passages we had to read and read again - between the lines and over and under them? Remember wondering how could the study of language be so dry? Well, it turns out, what we were served was high in protein, but pretty much devoid of spice and juice. Let me set the record straight. Essays are fun. Read A Book of English Essays to see if I'm right.  As the name says, it is a collection of small essays on a multitude of topics by the who's-who of English literature - Francis Bacon, Joseph Addison, Charles Lamb, Leigh Hunt, A.A. Milne, R.L. Stevenson - honestly the list is quite scary. But once you pull your head out of the table of contents, it's a treasure mine. Most essays are short, possibly the length of a newspaper article (which is how they must have been originally published I think). What is interesting though, is the topics they are on. So there are absolutely gorgeous ones like 'Getting Up on Cold Morni...

How are rugs and books related

As a child, I was pretty indifferent to rugs or carpets. Back at home, they always existed. They were scrubbed and vacuumed and dirtied and dribbled upon and I didn't quite imagine life without it. Till I moved out.  Basic amenities do not cover rugs, far less, carpets. The first few days I didn't mind, basking in my new-fangled independence, traipsing over bare floors with un-socked feet. Eventually though, the irremovable stains on the bathroom floors made it clear that, in the absence of carpetting, a near-permanent use of slippers is a must. Then came the winters. It brought the chill from all possible directions, including and especially, the floor. The soles of my feet must have been frostbitten on a regular basis and I yearned for the luxury of a nice woolly carpet to sink my feet in. As a conscientious student out making her life (not very successfully), I chose to brave the chilblains (they were not, really).  It wasn't until I was married that ...

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Image courtesy: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com Genre : Classic, Drama Rating : 5/5 There is no arguing the sheer brilliance of John Steinbeck. The long list of accolades and the controversy he had courted in his days (some of which still continues) is proof of his influence in the current society. Some deem him (astoundingly) mediocre, partly on account if his opinionated take on events; others, consider his work as American classic. Neither argument is completely false, though I, personally, align myself with the latter. If it would be possible to keep aside for a moment, the political ramifications of Steinbeck's work, one cannot deny the strength of his writings. He does not waste words; his economy only accentuates the somewhat lean personality of the settings and the characters. Everything is stripped unappealingy bare and covered flimsily with sardonic humour. A bit like J.D. Salinger, in some ways, but with a bigger lens on the society.     ...