High Citadel [Paperback]

DESMOND BAGLEY (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: FONTANA; Reprint edition (1974)
• ISBN-10: 0006125395
• ISBN-13: 978-0006125396
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,312,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Citadel - High Tension, September 30, 2001

By 

Ms Michelle N Fletcher (Canberra, ACT Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Citadel (Hardcover)

I read High Citadel about 17 years ago, but I remember it well because it was soo good. A plane crashes high in the Andes, but that's just the start of the action as the shaken survivors must resist attack, by improved means. Suspicion of a traitor in their midst grows. The story continues at a tremendous pace. This was the first Bagley book I read. In the next 3 years, I read all of them.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic of the genre, August 8, 2009

By 

H. Jin (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Citadel (Paperback)

'High Citadel' established at an early stage what would become a common thread through Desmond Bagley's early thrillers (e.g 'Wyatt's Hurricane' and 'The Vivero Letter').

* A group of well-developed protagonists instead of a single hero.
* Circumstances forcing the protagonists into the middle of someone else's conflict.
* Extreme environmental conditions in additon to a defined "enemy".
* The group becoming separated from each other, forcing them to find their colleagues in addition to fighting the environment and their enemy.

Bagley brings these elements together superbly in what is a masterpiece of the genre. When a plane is forced down in the Andes, the passengers (a washed up pilot, two businessmen, an ex-president, his bodyguard and his niece, a school teacher, and two academics) are forced to battle altitude sickness, freezing temperatures, and a band of Communist geurillas blocking their descent. Through a combination of brains and brawn, can the passengers defeat the Communists and escape the mountain?

The best thing about this novel is that every character plays an important role. The pilot O'Hara seems cast in the traditional hero mould, but it's Dr Armstrong and Dr Willis with their medieval weapons, and Miss Ponsky and her archery skills, who really steal the show. The side-story involving Forester's quest is another highlight- he could almost be described as the true hero of the piece. In all, some very well-developed characters who each possess a skill or trait useful for getting the group off the mountain.

Most of the usual thriller cliches are present; bad guy Communists, character sacrifices himself to save the remainder, beautiful girl becomes love interest, and so on. But Bagley's thrillers have a bit more depth and realism to them, and the variety of great characters capture our interest from first page to last. This is one of Bagley's best books; highly recommended for all thriller fans.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Action & Tension, March 23, 2003

By 

"hecatonchireslm" (Mt Keira, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Citadel (Hardcover)

Written some time ago now, I read this in my teens after my Dad handed it to me and said 'I couldn't put it down, read this'. Being a good son, I did as he asked. I'm glad I did.

A plan crashes high in the Andes, high enough that oxygen is a problem. People are dead and injured. People are _not_ who they say they are. Everyone has a past. Gathering people together, our intrepid hero gets the survivors down to a mining camp, where they discover the bridge is out. Conveniently, a convoy is on the other side. Shame they're there to kill a member of the party, and everyone else to avoid witnesses. What follows is one of the tensest, tightly scripted series of action sequences ever. Holed up on one side of the gorge, holding off the determined bridge builders with limited weapons and ammunition, including a homemade crossbow, built from materials snafled from the abandoned mining camp, the party get whittled away by disease, hunger and attrition. Their hopes rest on a small number who have voluntered to climb the other side of the mountain looking for help.

Buy this book.