Customer Reviews

San Andreas

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`San Andreas' was apparently written to coincide with the 30th anniversary of `HMS Ulysees', and once again finds Maclean back at sea in wartime. This alone suggests the book will be more interesting than the apocalyptic yawnfests (`Goodbye California', `Floodgate') Maclean wrote later in his career. At first glance, `San Andreas' looks extremely promising, revolving around an unknown traitor committing acts of sabotage on board a hospital ship. Who is the traitor, and why do they want to render a hospital ship vulnerable to enemy attack? The story marries three classic Maclean themes; wartime descriptive writing, the Arctic in winter, and the "whodunit?" thriller.

And it starts off brilliantly. The first 100 or so pages of `San Andreas' are quite simply the best thing Maclean has written since `Bear Island'. Maclean may be declining in some aspects of his writing, but he certainly knows about the workings of a ship in wartime, and he brings this out in spades in the first act. The initial acts of sabotage, the German attack and aftermath, and further hostile acts against the ship are well described. Bo'sun Archie McKinnon and fellow crewmembers are at their wits end trying to stop the sabotage and identify the traitor, all while struggling to keep the damaged ship in working order. Alone in the Barents Sea, with its compass smashed and navigating officers out of action, the San Andreas is crippled, defenceless, and lost.

Unfortunately, having given us a fantastic set-up, Maclean seemed unwilling or unable to really follow through. The prose and dialogue begin to sag, with a number of confusing roundabout conversations that go nowhere (e.g. whether the Greek tanker captain is a suspect, or the moralising on the fortunes of war). The main problem is that while making the San Andreas a hospital ship is perfectly logical for the plot, it completely kills the excitement. Since hospital ships are defenceless, there is no possibility of the sort of wartime action we saw in `HMS Ulysees'. While there is an element of suspense, as the crew anticipate further German assaults, the book becomes increasingly "talky" and slow-moving as it progresses. A hospital ship also requires a large amount of luck, coincidence, and enemy incompetence to escape unharmed, so be prepared for an anti-climactic deus-ex-machina or two.

Another big problem is that while there are several interesting twists and developments, their execution is often badly bungled. For example, the revelation of the first "Flannelfoot" is a genuine surprise, but the extended awkward conversation leading up to it is very clumsy and forced. Yet another problem: Maclean wants to keep a number of revelations secret until near the end, but on the other hand he needs them to drive the plot (e.g. whether there's more than one traitor, which port to aim for). So he is forced to have the characters make important decisions based on gut instinct, without knowing why. This results in even more awkward conversations of the "I can't really give any clear reasons why I think this, but I say we do x" type. Very messy.

All that said, this probably is the best of the latter-day Maclean books. Sadly, that's not really saying much, despite a great start and reasonably interesting plot. Maclean really knows his stuff and is back in his element, but `San Andreas' can't really hold a candle to `HMS Ulysees' or his other early classics. Three stars for being the best of a very bad late-career bunch.

This book was read by our staff back in high school and the funny thing is, after all these years they are basing a Grand Theft Auto video game around it. This little known book tells the story of an urban street thug setting up his criminal empire in LA. A good read.