Author | Alistair MacLean |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Naval warfare |
Publisher | Collins (UK) Doubleday (US) |
Publication date | 1984 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Hardcover Print |
Pages | 306 pp. |
ISBN | 0-385-23152-0 |
OCLC | 11784511 |
823/.914 19 | |
LC Class | PR6063.A248 S2 1985 |
Preceded by | Floodgate |
Followed by | Santorini |
San Andreas is a novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean, first published in 1984. One of his final novels, it returns to MacLean's original (and most successful) genre, naval warfare.
The British Merchant Navy hospital ship San Andreas is en route from Murmansk to Halifax, Nova Scotia during World War II. With large red crosses painted on the sides of its hull, San Andreas should have immunity from attack from all sides in the war and be granted safe passage. The first sign of trouble occurs when the ship's lights mysteriously fail just before a pre-dawn bombing attack that severely damages its superstructure and sinks its escort frigate. With most of the senior officers dead and the captain incapacitated, bosun Archie McKinnon must take charge of the damaged ship and steer her to safety despite German aircraft, u-boats, stormy Arctic weather and sabotage by an unknown traitor on board. He must also discover the reason for the repeated German attempts to capture the San Andreas.
San Andreas was first published in 1984 through Collins in the United Kingdom and in the following year, was also published in Australia and the United States. [1] [2] [3] It has since been translated into multiple languages that include Italian, [4] Russian, [5] and Portuguese. [6]
Critical reception was generally positive. [7] [8] The Los Angeles Times said "This is MacLean at his unholy best, ripping our nerves, combining tragedy with dread as we race on, armchair victims of an overdose of shock. " [9] Jane Briggs-Bunting of the Detroit Free Press praised the work, calling it "top-flight reading". [10]
Billy Turner of the Jackson Daily News was somewhat critical, writing "This work is up to most of his standards. But just once one wishes he would try to do more. One feels he could." [11]
The book was a best seller. [12]
In 2016 Deadline reported that London-based Dancing Ledge Productions had acquired the rights to adapt MacLean's works into an event TV series, the first of which would be San Andreas. Each series would be made up of four to six episodes. [13]
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, most notably The Guns of Navarone (1957) and Ice Station Zebra (1963). In the late 1960s, encouraged by film producer Elliott Kastner, MacLean began to write original screenplays, concurrently with an accompanying novel. The most successful was the first of these, the 1968 film Where Eagles Dare, which was also a bestselling novel. MacLean also published two novels under the pseudonym Ian Stuart. His books are estimated to have sold over 150 million copies, making him one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time.
Desmond Bagley was an English journalist and novelist known mainly for a series of bestselling thrillers. He and fellow British writers such as Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean set conventions for the genre: a tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary hero pitted against villains determined to sow destruction and chaos for their own ends.
San Andreas is an archaic variation of the Spanish language San Andrés.
Bear Island is a thriller novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. Originally published in 1971 with a cover by Norman Weaver, it was the last of MacLean's novels to be written in first-person narrative. This novel is a murder mystery with the added twist that the scene of the crimes is Bear Island, an island in the Svalbard archipelago of the Norwegian Arctic.
HMS Ulysses was the debut novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. Originally published in 1955, it was also released by Fontana Books in 1960. MacLean's experiences in the Royal Navy during World War II provided the background and the Arctic convoys to Murmansk provided the basis for the story, which was written at a publisher's request after he'd won a short-story competition the previous year.
Santorini is the final novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean, first published in 1986.
Circus is a novel written by the Scottish author Alistair MacLean. It was first released in the United Kingdom by Collins in 1975 and later in the same year by Doubleday in the United States.
Death Train is a 1993 American made-for-television action-thriller disaster film featuring Pierce Brosnan, Patrick Stewart, Christopher Lee, Ted Levine, and Alexandra Paul. The script was based on an Alastair MacNeill novel of the same name, which in turn was based on an Alistair MacLean screenplay.
The Golden Rendezvous is a novel written by Scottish author Alistair MacLean, and was first published in 1962. One of MacLean's most popular works, it combines mystery, suspense, action, clever bluffs and double bluffs, with MacLean's trademark self-deprecating wit.
Night Watch is a 1995 American television spy film directed by David Jackson starring Pierce Brosnan and Alexandra Paul. The film, also known as Alistair MacLean's Nightwatch, was shot in Hong Kong. The film aired on the USA Network. It is a sequel to Death Train.
Breakheart Pass is a novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean (1922–1987), first published in 1974. It was a departure for MacLean in that, despite the thriller novel plot, the setting is essentially that of a western novel, set in the Sierra Nevada of the American West in the late 19th century. Fans of MacLean will recognize the usual plots twists, thrill-packed finale, and trademark sardonic dialogue. For American audiences, MacLean was less successful capturing an authentic tone of the western frontier, and the 1975 movie version starring Charles Bronson, Richard Crenna, Ben Johnson, and Jill Ireland, proved to be more popular with the public than the novel.
Athabasca is a novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean, first published in 1980. As with the novel Night Without End, it depicts adventure, sabotage and murder in the unforgiving Arctic environment. It is set in the oilfields and oil sands fields of Alaska and Canada and includes a considerable amount of technical detail on the operations.
River of Death is a novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean, first published in 1981. As with most of MacLean's novels, it depicts adventure, treachery, and murder in an unforgiving environment, set this time in the steamy jungles of South America.
Seawitch is a novel written by the Scottish author Alistair MacLean. It was first released in the United Kingdom by Collins in 1977 and later in the same year by Doubleday in the United States.
The Golden Gate is a novel written by the Scottish author Alistair MacLean. It was first released in the United Kingdom by Collins in 1976 and later in the same year by Doubleday in the United States.
The Way to Dusty Death is a thriller novel written by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. It was originally published in 1973. The title is a quotation from the famous soliloquy in Act 5, Scene 5 in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth.
Partisans is a novel by the Scottish author Alistair MacLean, first published in 1982. MacLean used portions of the plot from the 1978 film Force 10 from Navarone as the basis of the plot for this novel. MacLean reverted to the theme of the Second World War, with which he was successful and highly popular in his early career.
Bear Island is a 1979 thriller film based on Alistair MacLean's 1971 novel of the same name. It was directed by Don Sharp, and starring Donald Sutherland, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee and Lloyd Bridges.
The Woman in the Window is a thriller novel by American author A.J. Finn, published by William Morrow on January 2, 2018. It hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The book follows the life of Dr. Anna Fox who suffers from agoraphobia and lives a reclusive life at her large home in New York City, where she one day witnesses a murder across the street. A film adaptation directed by Joe Wright and starring Amy Adams in the title role was released by Netflix in 2021.