Circus [Hardcover]

Alistair Maclean (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Doubleday (1979)
• ASIN: B000GWHUUU
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intense, exciting book, March 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Circus (Hardcover)

This book is one of Maclean's best works. It is the exciting story of a circus highwire performer recruited by the CIA to steal secret plans from a heavily guarded prison in Eastern Europe. His journey is full with murder, spying, and doublecrossing. All of this action is carefully orchestrated by Maclean into one powerful, intense book that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Thriller by the Master!, January 6, 2001

By 

"fourstringmagic" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Circus (Hardcover)

Another great MacLean classic. In this book the hero is an American athlete, an immigrant from eastern Europe. He is recruited by the CIA and is to undertake and unimaginable mission. He, of course, succeeds, but not without the extreme difficulties that macLean's heroes always face. The story twists are awesome and the ending is both expected and surprising. A great read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Being for the Benefit of Mr. B, May 3, 2005

By 

Christopher "chrysaetos" (Wengen-en-esprit) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Circus (Hardcover)

I'm not a fan of the circus and I hate clowns. Being a MacLean fan, but with my current mentality, I figured he had finally run out of ideas (at this point in his life). But the cover of the 1975 Fawcett Crest edition (see "customer images" for the paperback edition) was intriguing: a man falling off a high-wire, the bicycle tumbling after him. Is someone killing off circus people? I had to read.

It turns out that the circus plays as a backdrop for a secret CIA mission. Believe it or not, but the agenda in this tale is about an incredible circus performer recruited by the CIA to break into a prison (that the circus "moves" next to) to steal -- as the back of the book explains -- "a formula capable of annihilating the earth itself." Sure enough, MacLean was like the Crichton of the 70s and managed to weave an entertaining yarn around the idea of anti-matter (certainly not new in 1975).

MacLean refrains from delving too deeply into describing anti-matter or how this formula will end up being used. His somewhat amusing approach to it takes place as a discussion between semi-ignorant CIA agents and Bruno, the acquired circus performer, all of whom are frightened by the power of anti-particles.

As the title may suggest, the book is a slight deviant from other MacLean adventure tales, but I rank it up there among his best works. The book is full of extremely original death scenes that, despite being accustomed to MacLean's formulas, took me completely by surprise. There are more twists in the last chapter than there are in some of his better books, and MacLean pulls it off realistically, and without creating a convoluted mess.

Keep an eye out for Carter. While no first name is ever given, he is the doppelganger cameo of Chief Officer John Carter of MacLean's "The Golden Rendezvous." (MacLean has done this with other characters throughout his novels.)