Santorini - Alistair MacLean

This story has been set during a time of great fear about nuclear weapons. The British naval frigate Ariadne, fitted with sophisticated electronic equipment, is on a mission to carry out a hydrographic survey in the Aegean Sea. Officially, that is. Unofficially, she is a spy ship, the eyes and ears of NATO. Her Captain is Commander Talbot, her first officer Lieutenant-Commander Van Gelder, both extremely well qualified men, and both ex-submariners.
...from a sinking Greek yacht called the Delos. At almost the same moment a plane, almost certainly a bomber, mysteriously crashes into the sea.

It appears that there is a connection between these two events, and no coincidence that the Ariadne was the only ship in the area. Commander Talbot’s investigations lead him to believe, Andropoulus, one of the 6 rescued members of the Delos is responsible.

Without giving ... more

This story has been set during a time of great fear about nuclear weapons. The British naval frigate Ariadne, fitted with sophisticated electronic equipment, is on a mission to carry out a hydrographic survey in the Aegean Sea. Officially, that is. Unofficially, she is a spy ship, the eyes and ears of NATO. Her Captain is Commander Talbot, her first officer Lieutenant-Commander Van Gelder, both extremely well qualified men, and both ex-submariners.

The radio room receives a distress call from a sinking Greek yacht called the Delos. At almost the same moment a plane, almost certainly a bomber, mysteriously crashes into the sea.

It appears that there is a connection between these two events, and no coincidence that the Ariadne was the only ship in the area. Commander Talbot’s investigations lead him to believe, Andropoulus, one of the 6 rescued members of the Delos is responsible.

Without giving too much of the story away, Talbot and Van Gelder must figure out who is behind a sinister plan involving an American Bomber, a private yacht, nuclear warheads, atomic bombs, terrorism, drugs, the Ariadne and even the Pentagon. To solve this Talbot is aided by deep-sea divers, a cryptologist, his own intuition and the co-operation of the Vice-Admiral Hawkins. At the same time he must raise a military plane from the depths containing a live Atom Bomb, sitting on an ancient tectonic boundary, a major cause of earth quakes.

Although a good story, I would have expected something a little better from MacLean. The dialogue reads, to me, a bit too much like bad acting, and a lot more detail could have been added in many places. When we first meet Vice-Admiral Hawkins, we are led to believe that he is a particularly clever and inventive chap, having reached Admiral at a younger-than-usual age and the sentence: “He was widely regarded as having one of the most brilliant minds in the Royal Navy.” But it turns out that both Talbot and Van Gelder are considerably brighter than he is, spending most the story going along with everything, his only apparent use is his rank which gets results from the top brass.

This aside, I did enjoy the story and the characters are well chosen, from the gallant Commander Talbot to the despicable Andropoulus. The addition of two Grecian beauties (Andropoulus’s niece and her friend) to dazzle the first lieutenant and the aristocratic electronics expert, adds extra colour.

MacLean writes about the sea using his own experiences, and does so well. More emphasis on this aspect would have improved the book tremendously.

If you are new to reading Alistair MacLean, try another book; Satan Bug, Partisans...

-Simon
 

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