Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of Alistair MacLean's Best Adventure Stories, July 7, 2000
Alistair MacLean - one of the premier adventure storywriters - is at his best when writing first-person narratives that put his protagonists in perilous situations, and then push them to the limits of physical, emotional, and psychological endurance. His early novels are exciting, full of cliff-hanging situations, and rife with clever "detection" in the classical sense: MacLean plays by the classical detective rules, placing all of the clues in front of the reader, and - at his most cunning - daring the reader to figure out who the criminal mastermind is.But the detection - and the undertones of "espionage" - are superficial elements used to keep the narrative moving briskly along between action set pieces that pit the protagonist against impossible odds and, very often, against the severest imaginable environmental extremes. By these standards, "The Golden Rendezvous" is one of his better books. It is an excellent blend of mystery, suspense, clever bluffs and double bluffs, self-deprecating wit, action, and our protagonist's determined efforts to overcome painful injuries and antagonistic environmental extremes. A luxury cruise ship is hijacked at sea by a master criminal whose intention is not a simple ransoming of the wealthy hostages on board. Exactly what his goal is forms part of the mystery that is left for our hero - the injured First Officer of the ship, John Carter - to ferret out. And to undermine. "The Golden Rendezvous" finds MacLean at near-top form. The book does not have quite the verve of "The Satan Bug", "The Dark Crusader", or "When Eight Bells Toll", but it comes close. Which - at the high level that MacLean delivers excitement and page-turning suspense - makes for outstanding adventure story reading.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Made Me Seasick, April 28, 2005
"My shirt was no longer a shirt but just a limp and sticky rag soaked with sweat." MacLean is one of the few authors who actually cares about his first sentences. And he cares about his plotlines as much as his first sentences as well. Both are gripping and force you to read, and keep reading... just to see what happens next.
What I like about MacLean's formula is that every book is suspenseful and nearly full of twists. I say 'nearly' because sometimes MacLean will churn out a weaker tale for some reason. But there is no doubt in my mind that The Golden Rendezvous is one of his best works.
The older 1960s/70s books (see "customer images" for the paperback version) don't always clarify what the story is about. Chief Officer John Carter is the typical pseudo-tragic hero who has his faults but also his strengths. He works under Capt. Bullen, on the interesting freight ship Campari, altered by millions of dollars to provide ultra-rich passengers superb living and dining experiences, all the while travelling to unknown destinations. The ship is only running its regular course of delivering freight around the world, so the passengers aren't booking a holiday fare, but rather a surprising adventure. And on this particular voyage, the adventure threatens to bury everyone deep in Davy Jones's Locker.
MacLean's description of Carter being dragged alongside the ship, unable to do anything but inhale salt water, violently resigning himself to his impending doom of a drowning death, had me on the edge of my seat, stomach churning at the idea.
That's literally about all you can say without giving too much plot away. This book had me reading late into the night, far more so than many of his other books. I rank it up there with Ice Station Zebra, and Where Eagles Dare.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic adventure story about an ocean hijacking, May 7, 2000
Alistair MacLean was one of the best adventure writers of all time. He does it all on the strength of plot; style and characterization are nearly non-existent, but they aren't the reason you read MacLean books. I dare say that virtually every major adventure plot is covered in one of his novels, and his influence is such that subsequent authors have paid homage to scenes of his. (For example, there's a scene in Clive Cussler's "The Mediterranean Caper" that's a virtual reprise of a scene from "The Secret Ways.")"The Golden Rendezvous" is a classic ocean hijacking story, where the hero is the ship's First Officer (John Carter). The ship is a converted ocean liner, full of guests, some mysterious, and carrying some secret cargo. During the cruise, the ship gets hijacked by some violent but devious criminals. Some of the ship's officers are killed, and others, including Carter, are wounded. Still, Carter attempts to stop the hijackers. . . . This is one of the best MacLean novels, written in the 1960s along with a stellar run that includes "The Satan Bug," "Where Eagles Dare," "Puppet on a Chain," and "The Guns of Navarone." Most of those were turned into movies, and in the 1970s, Hollywood adapted "The Golden Rendezvous" into a so-so Richard Harris movie titled "Nuclear Terror."
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