The Last Frontier [Mass Market Paperback]

Alistair Maclean (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Fontana; 18 th Printing edition (1971)
• ASIN: B000RT7Q0Q
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cold War Thriller, February 9, 2007

By 

D. S. Thurlow (Alaska) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Frontier (Mass Market Paperback)

"The Last Frontier", also published as "The Secret Ways", is Alistair MacLean's well-written novel about a British secret agent on a mission inside Hungary at the height of the Cold War. Many readers have forgotten how hard-fought the Cold War was for the United States and its Western Allies; very few ever knew how much more desperate it was for the inhabitants of Eastern Europe under the thumb of the Soviet Union in the late 1950's.

Michael Reynolds, MacLean's protagonist, is neither a James Bond nor a superman. He doesn't even have any fancy technology. He is well trained and resourceful. His biggest advantages against a cruel and efficient Hungarian Secret Service are an ability to make commonsense decisions under pressure and the heroic help of dedicated friends in the Hungarian underground. The plot has the twists, turns, and betrayals in which MacLean specialized. MacLean's characters are often cynical and without illusion about the causes they serve, yet they are sympathetic and interesting people. The suspense is good to the last page as Reynolds scrambles to complete his mission and escape to the West.

This book is highly recommended to fans of Cold War spy fiction and to fans of Alistair MacLean.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Maclean's most "serious" book, June 20, 2009

By 

H. Jin (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Frontier (Mass Market Paperback)

I remember reading an interview where Maclean stated he'd inititally written books with a serious point to them, but one of them wasn't well received, so since then he'd stuck to "pure entertainment". He was probably thinking about 'The Last Frontier' when he said this. The novel is Maclean's most serious book and also his most explicit attempt at a clear political statement.

That's fine as far as it goes, but the attempts to weave the political rhetoric into the narrative fail horribly. Every 50 pages or so, Maclean will stop dead and have a character launch into a long monologue about how governments need to work together, and people like Reynolds (the hero) can make a difference by telling the world what they've seen. These often go on for several pages each (in my copy, a person actually wrote in the margin "what a lecture!" after one of the more extended speeches), and bog the book down.

Apart from that, the book is quite good, and a little different to standard Maclean fare. It's more reflective and philosophical, although there are still some well-written action sequences. Characterisation was never Maclean's strong point, but here he gives some depth to his heroes and, surprisngly for Maclean, the villian. Colonel Hidas is drawn with some sympathy, especially during his final confrontation with Reynolds. Although utterly ruthless, we are given an insight into why he has become what he is. This is a welcome change from the usual cardboard-cutout "bad guy" in some other Maclean books.

In all, a different sort of Maclean book that may polarise even his fans. He pretty much abandoned this style after this, suggesting that even he acknowledged 'The Last Frontier' was something of a mis-step.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A swift-moving spy story, February 5, 2006

By 

HORAK (Zug, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Frontier (Hardcover)

Michael Reynolds is fleeing the police in Hungary, near the Austrian border. Indeed he was commissioned by colonel Peter Mackintosh to reach a certain Jennings in Budapest before the forthcoming International Scientific Conference. When the police eventually catch Reynolds, the latter claims that his name is Johann Buhl, businessman and resident of Vienna and that he was invited to Hungary by the Economic Ministry. Subsequently, he is taken to the Andrassy Ut, headquarters of the AVO, the Hungarian Secret Police by Colonel Szendrô. But Reynolds knows that no one has ever escaped from the AVO Headqquarters, from the torture chambers in Stalin Street. If he is ever to escape, it will have to be from inside Szendrô's car within the next hour.
In "The Last Frontier", published in 1959, just three years after the crushing of the October Revolution by the Russian troops, the reader can relive the early days of the Cold War through this twisty and original spy story.