SAN ANDREAS

by Alistair MacLean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 27, 1985

After a series of verbose, mindless, low-key bombs (Floodgate, Partisans, Athabasca), the MacLean of Ice Station Zebra and The Guns of Navarone makes a recovery in the instantly exciting and intriguing San Andreas. Well, instantly after a 14-page prologue that gives the story its WW II naval background. It is the background, however, that alerts the reader to the fact that this time out MacLean may actually be feeling something for his beleaguered characters and their plight. The Atlantic war is well underway and German submarines reign supreme, sending British warships and Merchant Navy to the bottom with ghastly, increasing and unimpeded regularity. The San Andreas is a completely unarmed hospital ship sporting big red crosses and sailing with all lights on at night, and it is filled with wounded soldiers, medics and nurses on a journey from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Aberdeen, Scotland. It also carries a saboteur or saboteurs. This is mysterious. Why would a saboteur, disabling a neutral hospital ship in water near freezing temperature, risk sending himself to the bottom? But an hour before dawn, the power fails suddenly, dangerously blacking out the ship, and Chief Engineer John Patterson reports to elderly Captain Bowen that the generator's armature brush has been smashed, as well as its two replacement spares. What's more, it's soon clear that the saboteur has hidden an electronic homing device somewhere on the ship for German planes and U-boats to fix on. In a rather forced plot turn, considering what is later revealed about the hospital ship's secret cargo, a German plane bombs the deck, blowing off the funnel and leaving a charnel house in the superstructure, and disabling the ship's steering mechanism. The captain and all the deck officers are dead or wounded, leaving Chief Patterson in charge. Meanwhile, a second bomber sinks the accompanying frigate And over in 30 seconds. Riddled by the frigate before it sank, the first bomber ditches, its two crew members now alive on a raft. A rescue party brings them in--can these two explain why a hospital ship is under such vicious attack that nonetheless falls short of actually sinking the vessel? And how soon will the U-boats appear? To get a fix on the plot, it doesn't take long for the reader to begin checking off the MacGuffins--the ship's carrying a new weapon? a famous person? some kind of treasure?--and the potential guilty parties. And how many shells can this ship take without going under? It's also soon clear that MacLean admires his humorless Chief Patterson, the mysterious Seaman McKinnon and the nurses and doctors whose completely unprotected lives are at risk on the high seas. A lively success.

Pub Date: Sept. 27, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1985

Categories: FICTION