# The Alistair McLean appreciation thread
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alistair-mclean-appreciation-thread/649859
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 10, 2013, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alistair-mclean-appreciation-thread/649859 "2013-02-10T06:17:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alistair-mclean-appreciation-thread/649859/21 "2013-02-11T18:16:07Z")
> [@standingwave](#):
>
> Fear is the Key and The Black Shrike. The Black Shrike is notable for its unusual ending which I won’t spoil.
“A small, dusty man in a small, dusty room.” 🙂
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alistair-mclean-appreciation-thread/649859/22 "2013-02-11T18:43:16Z")
_The Satan Bug_ is my favorite. There is a description, near the beginning of the novel, of what would happen if the Satan Bug escapes that is genuinely frightening, at least to my ten year old mind.
I also read _Circus, Fear is the Key, Puppet on a Chain, Force 10 From Navarone,_ and _The Guns of Navarone_, but I lost my taste for it without getting to _Ice Station Zebra_ or his more famous ones. Maybe I will remedy the lack.
Regards,
Shodan
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alistair-mclean-appreciation-thread/649859/23 "2013-02-11T19:21:12Z")
Even as a youngster - not even a teen, but close I think - I read the one about the racing drivers and thought it was rubbish. I was all Tolkien-ed up at that point anyway, and put away childish thoughts of wanting to be a hero living in an imaginary univ…OH HOLD ON.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alistair-mclean-appreciation-thread/649859/24 "2013-02-11T19:29:23Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> Even as a youngster - not even a teen, but close I think - I read the one about the racing drivers and thought it was rubbish.
_The Way to Dusty Death_.
Headlights on a formula V.
He was losing it by then.
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### Author:  [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alistair-mclean-appreciation-thread/649859/25 "2013-02-14T20:50:23Z")
You can almost rank his works by date. The earliest novels were great and tailed off around ‘Puppet’ to become formulaic pap. Nice shout-out to Hammond Innes - like Eric Ambler in not getting enough credit for good work.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alistair-mclean-appreciation-thread/649859/26 "2013-02-28T18:28:12Z")
Suffice it to say I have read every single title mentioned in this thread.
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### Author:  [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alistair-mclean-appreciation-thread/649859/27 "2013-03-01T23:37:34Z")
I’ve read them all too, but deplore the failing quality of his later books. Apart from the war books, his best were the first person narrative thrillers, in my opinion. I couldn’t believe that the author of \* HMS Ulysses \* would describe "HMS Ariadne " as being a courtesy nod to the Greeksbecause the Royal Navy was in a NATO exercise with them in \*Santorini \*.
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