Neither Five nor Three [Mass Market Paperback]

Helen Macinnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 1985

A novel about Communist infilitration into New York business, social, and academic life.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Helen Clark MacInnes (October 7, 1907, Glasgow – September 30, 1985, New York City) was a Scottish-American author of espionage novels.

She graduated from the University of Glasgow in Scotland in 1928 with a degree in French and German. Working as a librarian, she married the classicist Gilbert Highet in 1932 and moved with her husband to New York in 1937.

Among her works are:

• Above Suspicion (1941) made into a film of the same name.
• Assignment in Brittany (1942) made into a film of the same name
• The Unconquerable (1944), also called While Still We Live
• Horizon (1945)
• Friends and Lovers (1947)
• Rest and Be Thankful (1949)
• Neither Five Nor Three (1951)
• I and My True Love (1953)
• Pray for a Brave Heart (1955)
• North from Rome (1958)
• Decision at Delphi (1960)
• The Venetian Affair (1963), made into a film of the same name
• Double Image (1966)
• The Salzburg Connection (1968), made into a film of the same name
• Message from Malaga (1971)
• Snare of the Hunter (1974)
• Agent in Place (1976)
• Home Is the Hunter (1976)
• Prelude to Terror (1978)
• The Hidden Target (1980)
• Cloak of Darkness (1982)
• Ride a Pale Horse (1984)

In 1966 she won the Columba Prize for Literature. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (August 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449209784
• ISBN-13: 978-0449209783
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cold War warrior, armed with a typewriter, fighting liars, November 22, 2001

By 

Pete Unseth (Duncanville, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Neither Five Nor Three (Hardcover)

MacInnes often has a main character who is a journalist, struggling to fight against lies being circulated into the media by Communist-controlled or -inspired writers. In this novel, we may have her clearest portrayal of writer as freedom fighter, fighting to expose the hidden sources of anit-American journalists. There is her usual element of romance, as well as the gifted amateurs who take on the trained operatives, and win. And always I enjoy her carefully crafted writing; she was a lot more than a writer of "action" novels.

This book has been less popular than many of her others, but it's one of my favorites.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a good book about unsympathetic characters, November 22, 2004

By 

Mike Garrison (Covington, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Neither Five nor Three (Mass Market Paperback)

First of all, let me highly recommend MacInnes to anyone who likes spy thrillers. But ... don't start with NEITHER FIVE NOR THREE. It is one of her least appealing works.

The problem is that none of the characters are especially sympathetic, even the central hero. She goes about as deeply into the minds of the bad guys as she does in any of her books, and it leaves you with a fairly bad taste in your mouth.

Furthermore, the trademark romance plot is kind of stifled. The two characters who would, in most MacInnes novels, have fallen in love are actually former young lovers who have been separated by WW2. Now the woman is engaged to someone else, and the whole thing is more awkward than romantic.

Also, the setting is before the cold war was openly being fought, so the battle lines are not as clear as they are in her other novels. After four WW2 spy novels, and then two non-spy romantic novels, this was her first attempt at a cold war story.

This isn't a bad novel, but it is far from MacInnes at her best.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good guys and bad guys, April 7, 2000

By 

"mnalegac" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Neither Five Nor Three (Hardcover)

My first contact with Helen MacInnes was when I was 13 years old and found Neither five nor three in the school library. From then on I have searched for her books in my country in the US and France. I keep rereading my torn copy. In these times the way Helen MacInnes depicts the struggle between communism and democracy may seem out of date, yet the characters, on both sides are very well built, with depth and humor. You can relate to them, feel the atmosphere of those cold war years. One of the things that are more impressing is the fact you feel watched and cornered as if you were deep behind the iron curtain while the novel is set in downtown New York. At the same time, you have your share of humor which give you time to catch your breath. Overall an excellent book which has kept over the years.