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    Where Eagles Dare
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    Where Eagles Dare
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    Where Eagles Dare
    Ebook295 pages4 hours

    Where Eagles Dare

    By Alistair MacLean

    4/5

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateNov 12, 2009
    ISBN9780007289486
    Author

    Alistair MacLean

    Alistair MacLean, the son of a minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941 he joined the Royal Navy. After the war he read English at Glasgow University and became a teacher. Two and a half years spent aboard a wartime cruiser gave him the background for HMS Ulysses, his remarkably successful first novel, published in 1955. He is now recognized as one of the outstanding popular writers of the 20th century, the author of 29 worldwide bestsellers, many of which have been filmed.

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    Reviews for Where Eagles Dare

    4/5

    360 ratings20 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I fell in love the the movie version of WED as a child, and the Novel carries the same intense action and feisty plot--little surprising since the two were written by the same man at the same time. I found the slightly more parsimonious dialog in the film version to be more convincing, but that might just be because I am more familiar with that version. One thing that the book does do better is to generate the sense of camaraderie in it's closing stages. Overall, I found this book a fun read; don't expect any surprises if you have seen the film, but you can be sure not to be let down.
    • 5/5
      "Where Eagles Dare," a book and a movie about British commandos on a WW 2 raid into Germany. I saw the movie more than once and decided to see if the book was anywhere close. I was not disappointed. The book and movie ran along the same lines, although I found the book much more exciting. The start was slow but then it was non-stop action, intrigue and twists to the plot. What I did not like was the continuous flippant remarks by the second in command. Too much for a mission fraught with danger. For those interested in WW 2 commandos, I highly recommend this book.
    • 5/5
      High up in the Bavarian mountains close to the Swiss border is the setting for this thrilling WWII novel. Schloss Adler is the unpenetrable Nazi fortress that holds certain secrets that become discovered as the novel progresses. The action is tense. The writing is descriptive enough to set the scene, but moves quickly along as the operation by a group of Allies intensifies. Although some historical inaccuracies exist (certain technologies were not around in 1944), these can be easily buried in the same dense snow that surrounds Schloss Adler. Join Smith, Schaffer and others on this well crafted action adventure that is full of twists up to the very end.
    • 5/5
      I'm about to review a modern techno-thriller and while researching the author something jogged my 14 year old self's memory of Alistair McLean.

      I gobbled his books in high school - I remember when The Eagle Has Landed was all the big rage and I read it, sure, like everyone else, but Alistair had me hooked and I ploughed through his entire oeuvre (or at least as much as our high school library budget allowed) during one year.

      Then I forgot all about him until two days ago. I suppose that will be another author that my adult self will have to ignore if I want to keep my five star memories intact.

    • 4/5
      This was my absolute favorite book as a kid ... at least until I discovered Robert Ludlum. I even recall making a diorama of a scene to go with a book report I wrote in 6th grade. Seriously. And I do love the movie, too. But I haven't seen the movie in probably 15 years and it's been even longer since I read the book, so I decided to give it a go. I still love the book. That said, I can't say that certain elements have aged well. The writing seems a bit stilted now and the action is far less vivid than in modern works by authors like Eisler, Child, or Flynn. Much of the dialogue seems highly realistic, but nevertheless entertaining. But the plot twists are still fun. If you haven't read this book, do yourself a favor and give it a try.
    • 3/5
      From what I understand, this was essentially written by MacLean to be used as the blueprint for the screenplay for the film adaptation. It's fun, it's relatively short, and it hews fairly close to the movie (if you care about that sort of thing). I do like that the novel is *much* less bloodthirsty than the film, where Clint Eastwood guns down, like, 200 people. The novel is also much funnier. That said, MacLean's prose is unwieldy, and there are some whole paragraphs (specifically some action scenes) that are still indecipherable after a half-dozen attempts.
    • 3/5
      One of MacLean's better efforts, though I might prefer the Burton-Eastwood flick.
    • 5/5
      A rip-roaring ride for me! I just loved this. The bulk of the story theoretically takes place just over 2 hours time, and it is non-stop excitement. British WWII agents with some American help do the impossible....over & over & over......which would normally be a detraction for me.....all of the skin-of-your-teeth moments and everything always working out just barely......and I have lowered ratings because of that approach in the past....but in this instance, it did not really bother me at all.....I loved it! Leader Smith is brilliantly resourceful and has planned out this mission to infiltrate a Gestapo headquarters in the Alps with a frightening level of detail.....and curve balls come their way constantly. Full of surprises, betrayals, twists and turns......what a book should really be about.....a great ride! BRAVO!!
    • 4/5
      3.5 stars ...This was my first MacLean read and I thoroughly enjoyed the action and his writing style however I was completely confused at the beginning. I didnt know who was suppose to be the good guys and bad guys and who was suppose to English, American or German. It was just not very clearly written I dont think at the beginning. Toward the middle is when I actually started really enjoying it.
    • 4/5
      Where Eagles Dare is the most fast-paced, action-oriented, craziest thriller I have ever read. Which is good, because it's largely unbelievable. The plot is too crazy, the characters too unreal, etc., et al for this to be read as a believable book. And that is a shame.In the book, a team of six British commandos and one American OSS agent parachute into the Alps to gain entrance to a German fortress that can only be accessed by aerial gondola. It's also the headquarters for the Gestapo and Nazi intelligence. It's surrounded by a barracks of German alpine troops, who are supposed to be elite.The reason for this mission is, theoretically, to rescue a downed American general who is in charge of coordinating D-Day. They need to get him before the Germans get info out of him, so time is of the essence. We soon see, however, other reasons for the mission.The protagonist, Smith, though is problematic. See, he possesses super human strength and endurance and is generally omniscient. In other words, not remotely believable. He rides atop the gondola twice without being blown off, in one case with Germans grabbing his legs and trying to throw him off. With the altitude, the high winds, and the cold, it just doesn't seem likely. Additionally, this book is full of double and even triple agents and Smith knows all. We're never told how he comes by half of his information; we're just to accept it. I have problems with that.Nonetheless, as I said, it's an action packed book, a real page turner. It's rather stunning how they pull this off, all the while with people dying off all around them, and the twist at the end is a real shocker. Of course Smith knew of the twist. Yeah. I'd give this book three stars for believability, but it's so good, I'm giving it four. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Great pulp fiction. MacLean was a master. My only complaint is that the publisher was not careful with the formatting - quite a few small errors.
    • 4/5
      With this do I end my reading chronicles for 2013, not a bad read to end the year with.This is only my third Alistair MacLean read, and I am already a fan. MacLean's books are full of action, adventure, fast paced and generally a lot more fun. So what if the protagonist is Superman, or what if they are based on the good old principle of victory of good over evil? The majority of MacLean's works, from what I gather are War thrillers, most of them Anti-German WW books, which he manages to write without portraying the Germans as super-villains, which I think is in itself a great achievement, yes, there is no Hitler and the war with the Germans may as well have been based in an alternative universe, with conventional warfare, a code of conduct, and no atrocities.For all that, they are well written and all the positive sentiments expressed in the Para above, apply. What is the catch then, you ask? Even for works of fiction, they greatly lack that grossly over-rated factor, one calls "realistic". Doesn't put me off, neither should it, I think, these books don't advertise themselves to be history books; probability is not entertained either, possible is good enough for MacLean and it is good enough for me.
    • 3/5
      A spy thriller set in the Second World War. Fast paced and entertaining.
    • 5/5
      an enthralling, exciting, believable, intelligent story that sweeps the reader along as a group of British (and an American) agents are sent into wartime Germany to a mountaintop schloss to rescue an Allies general. Twists and turns abound and it really is an action book that conveys the sense of action and urgency. Don't expect too much by way of character development - it's not that kind of book. Before the current crop of modern action writers came Alistair Maclean and going back to read this again lately, he was the top of his class. No wonder he was the great action writer of his time - and his stories have not diminished their power over time. Well worth reading - and I'm not even much of a fan of action books, but I'd never pass on a Maclean book.
    • 4/5
      A masterful spy thriller set in WWII. A rag-tag group of MI-6 operatives along with one American OSS agent are sent to Bavaria, deep behind enemy lines to rescue a captured US Army general who has information on the Second Front (the invasion of Europe) before he spills all their secrets. This is not an action war book one would expect. Maclean's story is a page-turning thriller that includes misdirection, red herrings and double-crosses. The dialog is smart between characters and the Germans are more than mere cookie-cutter characters. The pace is fast and suspenseful, always a sense of urgency and the feeling that the heroes maybe be caught at any moment. Wonderful book.
    • 2/5
      I loved this story when I was growing up - I have clearer memories of the plot points here than in almost any other book from that period of my life, though how much of that can be attributed to the novel rather than the movie is hard to say. Sadly, returning to the book itself has not been as enjoyable experience. MacLean's writing is poor in so many places - his prose needed a better editor to remove repeated phrases, and some of the structures he employs are as bad as those that I used as a teenager writing my own fiction.
    • 5/5
      A great World War II adventure, espionage mystery, with many twists and turns
    • 4/5
      Along with Guns of Navarone and, perhaps, The Secret Ways, this is probably MacLean's best. A commando raid on a Nazi schloss during World War II.
    • 4/5
      A group of allied soldiers are dropped by parachute into Germany in order to find a way inside Schloss Adler (the castle of the eagle), the combined headquarters of the German Secret Service and the Gestapo. They have to rescue Lieutenant General Carnaby, an American general who is the overall co-ordinator for Operation Overlord, the Second Front, before he talks.Someone though is sabotaging their efforts; can a member of the six British and one American Special Forces team be a traitor? The commanding officer, Smith, has brought a woman with him too, a fact unknown to the other team members. Added to that are the problems of the elite Alpenkorps being stationed at the foot of the mountain and the Castle, built on the side of the mountain, being only accessible by cable car.This book was an extremely enjoyable read, with the twists and turns and plot loops, focussing on one then another as the guilty party. With the finale as exciting and explosive as one could wish for.Although I already knew the story from watching the movie countless times (staring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood), it was definitely well worth reading the original, especially for the ironic wit of Schaffer and Smith’s exchanges.All in all, a World War II thriller, action packed and full of suspense, which I have come to expect from MacLean’s writing. I wasn’t disappointed at all.
    • 4/5
      This is one of my favourite films and fair play to whoever was responsible for the adaptation as i can se very little difference between the two which suggests the director of the film has done his job. Im not a massive fiction fan but this is a good read, however the good guys and the bad are more obvious in the book and as a result the film has the edge for me as Richhard Burton could have been the bad guy for at least 2/3 of the film until he gets what he came for namely the names of all the nazi double agentts in the UK