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Advantages:
Excellent ending, Not the sterotypical spy
Disadvantages:
: The story was a bit slow at times
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
John Bentall is a British Counter-espionage agent. He is removed from an assignment in Turkey, investigating the leaking of fuel. He is needed on an assignment to discover the find of eight missing scientists. Eight advertisements have been placed in a Newspaper, not all at once, but all requiring a top level scientist in different fields of research, all offering very attractive rates of pay, all applicants to be married with no children. All eight scientists disappear either in Australia, or en route there. Then another advert appears, Fuel specialist required, exceptional rates of pay, applicant to be married, without children. John Bentall, just so happens to be a fuel specialist.
Bentall is paired up with Marie Hopeman, he married her ten days ago, or so he has just found out. Marie is also a counter-espionage agent, with five years of experience, that’s four more than Bentall.
Together they begin to travel to Australia. An unscheduled stop in the Fiji Islands results in their kidnapping. They are then put on a boat, in the cargo hold. They eventually effect their escape, but the travelling has done Marie no good, she has a fever, and now they are stuck on a piece of coral, at night, in the middle of the Pacific.
Morning brings rescue from a couple of natives from the Island Vardu, within sight of their coral outcrop. This Island is currently home to Professor Witherspoon, an archaeologist of some note.
The lack of any Radio transmitter, or a boat for the next three weeks seems to suggest a long stay on this island paradise. But there is something about Dr Witherspoon that Bentall does not like, he’s lying about something.
Bentall decides to investigate. Soon he discovers that there is a Royal Naval base on the other side of the island, that witherspoon is up to something. The sound of women singing in the caves, makes him think that there could be wives held imprisoned on this island, eight wives, of eight scientists...but who is doing what, to whom, and why?
Not the typical spy thriller, our hero John Bentall, is not the debonair, self confident spy that makes a James Bond 007. He is a self-deprecating bumbling fool, he gets things wrong from the start, and ends up in the position that the villains want him. Although he is an intelligent man and did manage to fool them at times, he ultimately ends up doing what they want. Despite this he manages to pick up the pieces and turn the tables.
Maclean spends most of his time detailing his main character, John Bentall, and does not give as many insights into most of the other characters. This doe not, in my view, deflect from the quality of the book. There is also a lot of quite humorous dialogue, which makes for quite a fun read at times.
The tale has a number of twists and turns, and the deception which is revealed at the end was quite marvellous, and made for a slightly more spectacular end.
My only gripe is that at times, it was perhaps a little slow which did detract from the entertainment of the story. But this was made up for with a very full later half to the book.
I enjoyed the end of this book tremendously, the middle less so, the start was good, if slow. It is good that the actual reason for the scientists is not revealed until the end, it makes for a better read, this is why I have left out their involvement. Their project is the key to the mystery, and I do not want to spoil it for others.
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