Night Without End [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Collins (1971)
• ASIN: B000J311ZQ
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Death on the Greenland Icecap, February 11, 2006

By 

D. S. Thurlow (Alaska) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night Without End (Paperback)

An airliner unexpectedly crashes on the Greenland Icecap near a scientific station. The scientists scramble to save the surviving passengers from the desperate cold of the Arctic night. They soon discover that the passengers are not whom they seem, and people keep dying...

"Night Without End" is one of Alistair Maclean's earliest novels. If his story-telling technique had not quite matured at this early date, he could still tell a gripping story, a closed house murder mystery set out-of-doors. Stolen military secrets are at the heart of the plot-line, but they frequently take a second seat to the simple task of surviving the dangerous cold weather and the uncertain terrain. The hero, a scientist named Mason, must ferry the passengers to safety on the coast while figuring out the identity of the killer and while being distracted by his sudden affections for a stewardess. Maclean builds the story to a thrilling finale on a glacier.

This book is highly recommended to fans of Alistair Maclean, and to other looking for an exciting story.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Tale Beneath the Colored Veils of the North, November 21, 2005

By 

Christopher "chrysaetos" (Wengen-en-esprit) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Without End (Paperback)

Lies. I love them! MacLean's tales are always a lot of fun, and this book isn't one to ignore. My father owns a ton of these old MacLean paperbacks and, sifting through some of them to see what I hadn't already read, I was intrigued by the premise I found: plane crashes in Greenland during winter's zero-light months...night without end (and hardly anyone gets any sleep). Several scientists working up there rescue the survivors, only to become potential victims themselves (they've only just enough food and other resources without keeping a host of foreigners barely alive)...

And, in that awesome MacLean fashion, strange things begin happening. It's a wonderful little tale, told in the first person. And I love it when our hero, Dr. Peter Mason, like many of MacLean's heroes, lie. I get that adrenaline rush knowing I know more than the other characters do -- save for the antagonists. You never know who they are, but you know they're aware of those lies. It's the most fun one can have with a book, in a way.

Night Without End isn't up to par with the best of the best MacLean tales, but it's damned close. Expect a riveting ride through the Arctic, but don't hope for a zillion plot twists. This is more of a whodunnit, and it keeps you guessing to the last few chapters...and even then you're wondering what's going to happen next. MacLean, who has never really impressed me with landscape descriptions, pounds out fantastic scenes beneath the aurora borealis here.

By the way, if you have the Fawcett Gold Medal Book in your hand, avoid reading the excerpt at the beginning of the book. You lose one potential suspect from that, unfortunately.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spine chilling arctic adventure with twists & turns..., April 2, 2003

By 

chris boini (Colorado, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Without End (Audio Cassette)

An excellent introduction to the masterful work of MacLean who writes with unmatched authority and detail. Typical of British mystery/adventure writers, this book entwines high adventure, human frailities, emotions and an underlying menace that grips the reader early in the narrative that does not let go until almost the end.

As a reader you feel the cold of the arctic weather in Greenland, the misery suffered by the book's subjects, the anger at the pepetrators of the misery suffered by those involved in this adventure. You are torn between putting down the book due to the fatigue and eaxhaustion that you feel as each horror unfolds and yet not wanting to leave the next chapter unread!

This book is an excellent introduction to the genre of great writing- Maclean's double might very well be another writer, Desmond Bagley. It is a shame that we shall not see more material from these two...............