This author suggestion began not on the bookshelves, but rather on a rainy day of channel surfing. Where after a small amount of husband-wife debate we watched the 1961 film The Guns of Navarone. This lead to a discussion regarding the movie’s plot, and whether the story was one of fact or fiction. (I won the bet, it is a fictional story.) The film was based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Scottish novelist Alistair MacLean. MacLean wrote numerous adventure stories from 1955 to 1986. Including The Guns of Navarone, several of his other successful books, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare, were also turned into motion pictures.
As I have mentioned in other reviews, I am not a suspense, thriller, action reader, but I do like breaking out of my comfort zone. The Golden Rendezvous was published in 1962 as the author’s career was really starting to roll. It is a well-paced yarn with lots of edge of your seat excitement. Set aboard a cargo/cruise ship, with cabins filled with wealthy passengers, a consignment of coffins and a stage set for a tale of modern-day piracy. MacLean plots this story well with first a disappearance, then a murder, and then lots of gunplay, a hurricane, an atomic bomb, and a freighter loaded with gold bound for Norfolk VA.
Once you start reading, you will not put this book down until the end. My husband tells me MacLean was the inspiration for one of his favorite author’s Clive Cussler. Some of the author’s other works you might want to read include Seawitch, Bear Island, and Floodgate.
