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    When Eight Bells Toll
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    When Eight Bells Toll
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    When Eight Bells Toll
    Ebook354 pages5 hours

    When Eight Bells Toll

    By Alistair MacLean

    3.5/5

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 29, 2010
    ISBN9780007289479
    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 When Eight Bells Toll

    3.5/5

    175 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is my favorite of all of MacLean's thrillers, and not just because it is set in my native Scotland.

      MacLean's books often rely of a big twist near the end. In many of the lesser books, Bear Island for example, you can see it coming from far away. But in WEBT, he keeps things taut, and the action moves so fast and furiously it doesn't give you time to think.

      The other great thing about this one is the beginning. It starts right in with a great suspense scene, and just ranks up the tension from there.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed this adventure quite a bit. Of course, I had to guess where it was taking place, and eventually figured it out.....but MacLean has a way of creating a main character that you feel you know very well by the end, and more importantly, you really like him. Calvert does not take himself too seriously, unless his survival demands it. There are many things that luckily go his way, but then again, there are many that do not! The British take their crime fighting very seriously, and one wonders whether one guy should have to battle a dangerous gang of gold thieves single-handedly. Certainly not the greatest espionage book ever, but i could not put it down near the end.....a very good endorsement for me. Oh, and one more thing.....can someone tell me what the title means??? If i am not mistaken, there was not a single reference to 'When Eight Bells Toll' in the book.....so why????
    • 5/5
      A well-written, edge-of-your-seat, page-turner of a book, an action novel with intelligence, and nothing superfluous to bog down the narrative. Excellent and highly recommended, my best Alistair MacLean read to date.
    • 4/5
      This book was pretty good, but not MacLean's best. It's an action/thriller set at sea featuring British Secret Service agent Peter Calvert and his boss, Admiral Sir Arthur Arnford-Jason, called Uncle Arthur for some reason. Calvert is witty, but is also a cold blooded killer. He's also a bit of a misogynist, although that may be a product of the book's publication time of the 1960s more than anything.The opening scene is spectacular, one of the best I've read. It really leaves you breathless. People are trying to kill Calvert. Why? Who? Well, as is the case with most MacLean heroes, Calvert displays superhuman skills and stamina to get to those trying to get to him. A plot is uncovered, a piracy plot, in which people and ships are disappearing, people get murdered, and a helicopter he's in gets shot down. One thing that frustrated me about the book, though, was that you don't really have a clue what it's all about until you're about two thirds of the way through it. By that time, you might be irritated you've read so far without having been told what's going on. Calvert, though, seems to know a lot and likes to tell people what's going on, even after Uncle Arthur has said things about need to know. He has his reasons though. Of course, with most MacLean novels, there's a twist at the end of the book, although I found it a bit convoluted. Call me a dullard and I won't take offense. I just had to read extra carefully to make sense of it all. Another thing that bothered me was the plot seemed just so unrealistic. I don't see how anyone would have done what was done in this novel. Too much chance to plan realistically. Still, it lends itself toward excitement. Whatever my complaints, this book is action packed and rarely slow. Lots of violence, if that's your thing. It's very similar, I think, to a James Bond film -- just more violent. Think of the era of publication and it makes sense. Recommended? Yes.
    • 4/5
      Skotland, ca 1966Adskillige skibe er forsvundet i rum sø, S/S Holmwood, M/S Antara, M/S Headley Pioneer, S/S Hurricane Spray og senest M/S Nantesville. Besætningerne er blevet fuppet af "forliste" søfolk, som ved nærmere bekendtskab viser sig at være bevæbnede pirater. Efter et par dages fangeskab bliver besætninger sluppet fri, men da er skib og ladning væk.Agenterne Hunslett og Philip Calvert fra Secret Service er under ledelse af admiral Arthur Arnford-Jason sat på sagen og har forklædte som marinbiologer held til at komme tæt på piraterne. Calvert finder Nantesville og opdager at et par andre agenter om bord er blevet dræbt. Han er selv tæt på at blive kvalt og så går den gensidige jagt på fjenden ellers ind. Calvert får hjælp af en helikopter til at lede efter både på Skotlands kyst, men da de kommer for tæt på, bliver helikopteren skudt ned og piloten dræbt. I det hele taget går det hårdt for sig med tab på begge sider.Til sidst får Calvert dog overmandet skurkene, befriet gidslerne og styr på hvem der var tvunget af forbryderne til at spille deres spil. Nogle skotske fiskere hjælper ham ganske meget og han får den smukke Charlotte Meiner som kampens pris.Elementært spændende knaldroman
    • 4/5
      "When Eight Bells Toll" is a spy novel. It is characteristic of that genre written in the 50's. If you replaced the main character Calvert with James Bond, you would get a similar take on the book. It involves piracy on the coast of Scotland with the Secret Service to the rescue. The first part reminds me of the opening of a Bond film, instant excitement before the credits start rolling. Although the action was fairly fast paced, I was not too excited about the ending. The explanation for the sequences of events was long drawn out and tiring. Four stars for me.