Customer Reviews

Fear Is the Key

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fear Is the Key is MacLean's sixth novel, but quite possibly his funniest. The moment after reading the first sentence, I was already laughing out loud. The hero, John Montague Talbot, would become reminiscent of MacLean's 1966 British spy, Philip Calvert, in When Eight Bells Toll. Both characters, not at all similar in terms of career path or "secret" history, are oozing with that dry humor which, in the case of Fear Is the Key, makes up most of Talbot's thoughts. One of the funnier moments occurs when Talbot is held at gunpoint. Talbot then compares the enemy's tone of voice to that of a character requesting muffins during afternoon tea.

The intensely written prologue is the kind that sucker-punches the reader with the last page. The reader will immediately want to know what the heck happened, how it happened, why it happened, and how it is affiliated with Talbot. It will all be explained, as most good books do well, at the end. But to get to the end is a hazardous journey, rife with those ubiquitous, dangerous, gun-wielding adversaries that always harass MacLean's victimized heroes.

The first chapter is expositional in nature, but is important to the conclusion of the book. Talbot entertains himself (and the reader) with his witty thoughts during the interrogation. After this, the book becomes pure action, with car chases, lies, gunplay, a beautiful woman, twists, and at times laugh-out-loud discourse between Talbot and supporting actors.

I found the book to be well written and one of MacLean's better novels. The rewarding moment, however, comes at the end, when MacLean's writing suddenly becomes terrifying, all too real, and tragically oppressive. I was so frightened by what would happen, I became sick with fear. I have read and enjoyed many of MacLean's later novels, but I have been moved only by a few: The Secret Ways, and now Fear Is the Key. Believe it or not, our adventure spy thriller author becomes a poet at the end. Bravo, Mr. MacLean.

I read the 1961 Fawcett Gold Medal paperback. My dictionary dash consisted of bathyscaphe (155), a deep-sea submersible vehicle.

In my opinion "Fear is the Key" Is probably one of the on the top five of Alistair MacLean's novels. This novel is very difficult to predict which makes all the better, because in most books the outcome is obvious. The protagonist will overcome all obstacles and achieve his goal and live happily ever after. In this book the outcome is not so easily predicted. It's a great book...

"Fear is the Key" immediately grabs the reader's attention with an odd prologue in which a marine salvage operator listens by radio to the death of his family in an airplane flying over the Caribbean. The scene then shifts to a courtroom in Florida, where a criminal facing sentencing picks up the narration. The man in the courtroom manages to escape and take a hostage, and away the reader goes on a twisting tale involving a rich Florida family, the mafia, and mysterious doings aboard an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Almost no one and nothing is quite as it seems. How author Alistair Maclean resolves this complicated plot is revealed in a superbly crafted and suspenseful finale, packing a significant emotional punch.

Maclean's propensity for dry, understated, and ironic dialogue, both internal and external, is put to good use in this overlooked novel, providing some humorous relief for a storyline that fairly crackles with suspense.

This book is highly recommended to fans of Alistair Maclean, and to the general reader looking for an entertaining and suspenseful story.

This is hands down the fastest MacLean i've ever read, and i've read
quite a few. There's no slackening of the pace anywhere - it's relentless.
You just keep turning the pages, and before you know, you've run out
of pages to turn !!

The plot is fairly unpredictable, just full of twists and turns that
keep one guessing, which is half the fun in such books. To begin with,
the chief protagonist is on the run, having escaped from the law, and
takes a young woman as hostage. All that, however changes pretty soon,
as each succeeding set of circumstances is rapidly replaced with a
new scenario, building up to an interesting climax.

All in all, ideal for a real quick read, eg in a journey or over a weekend.

It has been nearly 40 years since Alistair MacLean wrote "Fear Is the Key", and the novel hasn't aged all that well. Nonetheless, it is a top-notch adventure story and one of MacLean's most tightly constructed, focused stories. It tells the tale of a man's relentless pursuit of revenge that - in the end - leaves him as empty, lost, and inconsolable as he was before he started his angry quest.

In a prologue John Talbot's wife and best friend are killed in an air attack on the plane they are flying, while in frustrated impotence he listens on radio earphones to the ruthless destruction of everything that gave his life meaning. The next time we encounter Talbot he appears to have undergone an unpleasant but feasible change into a criminal who is being tried in a Florida court. In an excitingly told sequence, Talbot turns the tables on the law officers, kidnaps the daughter of the presiding judge, and makes his escape in a hair-raising car chase. The tension - and our curiosity and puzzlement - begin building as the revelations about Talbot's recent past come to light during the highly charged courtroom scene...and keep on building as our protagonist keeps one step ahead of his pursuers. The puzzle of Talbot's transformation acts like a hypnotist's twirling pocket watch, constantly drawing us back to a central mystery that keeps us turning pages in search of more clues to the truth.

The storytelling shows MacLean at his absolute best, making us gladly, almost gleefully, suspend disbelief and enjoy a rip-snorting adventure. Full of witty descriptions, well-drawn (albeit stereotypical) characters, self-deprecating wit, and MacLean's characteristic double- and triple-bluffs that leave us smiling in satisfaction at his skill in keeping us in suspense and guessing to the end.

A first-rate story with plenty of wit and bite - MacLean, in other words at his very best - which puts "Fear Is the Key" at the top of any adventure story must-read list.

This book, like most of MacLean's books, would be recycled several times, but like most first tries, it is the best. I can't really tell you much about the plot without giving it away. Suffice to say, it's the story of a man on the run from the law who falls in with a not so nice crowd and is forced to help them pull off their villainous scheme. The first time I read it I was distracted by the fact that the main character is essentially, a villain. However, I still managed to enjoy the twisty plot and crisp dialogue. One thing I will mention, I'm still unsure whether the girl in this book was in love with the heroe at the end or not. The book leaves us unsure. Worth reading more than once.

A long time ago, I read all of Alistair MacLean's books, and "Fear is the Key" wasn't one that stood out in my mind. Recently, I've been re-reading all of them, and I've come to the conclusion that "Fear" is vastly underrated.

This is basically a revenge story: the narrator's wife and child are flying in a plane that gets shot down at the beginning of the novel. Two years later, the narrator has apparently been unhinged enough to have turned to a life of crime, for which he is now being prosecuted. Only he escapes from the courtroom, taking a young woman hostage. A reward is put out on his head, and he is captured by a thug who turns him in to the hostage's father. Instead of turning him over to the police, however, the father hires him for some not entirely legitimate tasks. The father, it turns out, has been consorting with some shady characters, who may or may not have been responsible for killing the narrator's family.

The reviewer below has hit it on the head when he states that the first-person narrated novels by MacLean are the best (and this is one of those). In case you are wondering, the other first-person narrated MacLean novels are: "Night Without End," "The Black Shrike," "The Satan Bug," "The Golden Rendezvous," "Ice Station Zebra," "When Eight Bells Toll," "Puppet on a Chain," and "Bear Island." Not coincidentally, those are the best MacLean novels; the only others that merit being put in the same category are "The Guns of Navarone," "Where Eagles Dare," "The Golden Gate," and maybe "The Secret Ways."

Great thriller. Perhaps the reason I disagree with some of the reviews is that I'm not generally a huge Maclean fan and have struggled to finish some of them. Most are a little too boys' own for my taste. I think this book as superb, though, mainly because it has a sense of personal motivation that many of his other books seem to lack, and the prologue and ending are brilliant. Particularly good are the sudden twists in the plot and the cold, methodical way the narrator goes about getting revenge. Exceptional page-turner.

One of the best spy novels I've ever read. Okay, John Talbot is not exactly a real spy. In fact, I couldn't really figure out who he is until I've read the book halfway. Totally unpredictable. Perfect twists, exhilarating actions, and suspenseful dramas. Highly recommended!

Many reviewers have stated that this story is about revenge. Talbot gets revenge for the death of his wife and little boy, but the final angst concerns unrequited love. Talbot obviously falls in love with the millionaire's daughter, Mary. There are several references to this throughout the story. She is initially terrified of him but later, when she learns what he is attempting, becomes more well-disposed toward him. She never loves him though and the reader is left with the intimation that she will marry Simon, the chauffeur; a man who Talbot respects. Talbot's red rose turns white because he can't have the woman he loves, not because he has had revenge.

This is one of Maclean's best books. The movie was a pallid reflection of the book.