Smith and Schaffer 🙂

Read it!

🦅 I always liked Alistair’s adventure books as a boy. You may remember the movie featuring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. This story is exciting and, I would say, the book gives a more gritty and authentic feeling to this WW2 spy and action thriller than the movie. 🦅

Cărțile lui Alistair MacLean s-au vândut în peste 150 de milioane de exemplare, ceea ce face ca scriitorul britanic să fie unul dintre cei mai bine vânduți autori de ficțiune istorică din toate timpurile. Apoi vin eu și spun meh. Nu spun asta, dar știam că e ceva diferit față de restul scrierilor cu care eram obișnuit, iar după o scurtă documentare am aflat că schița pentru cartea “Acolo unde se avântă vulturii” a fost scrisă cam în același timp cu scenariul pentru filmul cu același nume, doar c...

Where Eagles Dare was the first Alistair Maclean book I ever read in High School. One of my buddies loaned me a copy, and I (figuratively) inhaled it. (I think I read it in a day or two.) It really is quite a fast read. This is an action, adventure, espionage, thriller set during World War II, that doesn’t really have a lot of characterization. Where it skimps on characterization, it spends on description of the setting and expounding on the action scenes. I found it very cinematic, and even tho...

When I was at school, way back in the 1970s, I used to read a lot of Alistair MacLean novels as I'm sure many teenage boys did. Back then the shelves of my local WH Smith was full of his books, many with tie in covers from the film versions. MacLean was not only a hugely successful author, but his novels provided the basis for many popular films of the 1960s & 70s: The Guns Of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra, The Golden Rendezvous, Breakheart Pass and (of course) Where Eagles Dare are just a few...

A momentous read for me in many respects.

The most famous book of my favorite author as a young teenager; I was given a signed first edition (signed not just by the author but by two of the actors in the film whose screenplay the author wrote before the novel) by my closest friends as a 50th birthday present; it's also the 1000th book I have added to Goodreads since I started loading my new and old reviews here just under 18 months ago (on 1.1.17).

A classic MacLean in every respect.

“Why didn't you shoot him?”“I'm a changed man, boss.” Schaffer sighed. “Something splendid has just come into my life.”“Besides, you didn't have a chance.”“Besides, as you say, I didn't have a chance.”This used to be a favourite book of mine in my teens. I was totally riveted by it. I found it cheeky and exciting and daring and funny.I have not read the book... well.. let's say 20 years.. it was still amusing, tense and exciting, even though there were some OTT moments. But boy, did Alistair Mac...

MacLean wrote the book on WWII suspense thrillers. A team of allied specialists parachute into
Germany to rescue a captured American general. He team is led by a Brit, Smith, played in the movie by Richard Burton, aided by an American, Schaefer, played in the movie by Clint Eastwood. Worth reading. The movie is worth watching, as is the inspired Pinky and The Brain cartoon which pokes fun at the movie.

Excellent story and movie.

"When no other option offered there was no point in figuring the percentages."- Alistair MacLean, Where Eagles DareI recently picked this up. I've got several (5-7) MacLean books laying around fighting to be read. I think rewatching the movie version of The Guns of Navarone a couple months ago with my family moved his books a bit higher up my list. I forgot how nostalgic these books make me. I came from a military family. These 1960s movies and books are part of my DNA. I grew up with the Dirty ...