Customer Reviews

The Satan Bug

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Alistair MacLean is one of the great adventure storywriters. His early books were solid stories, with enough serious content and character insights that they bordered on serious novels. Bordered, but never quite made it out of the adventure-story category. "H.M.S. Ulysses" and "The Guns of Navarone" are the two best examples of MacLean in "serious" mode.

These two stories are very good, and quite well told, but both suffer in different degrees from MacLean's unfortunate tendency to hyperbole: in the end the characters are too heroic, the situations too melodramatic, and the telling of the tale a bit too formulaic in its unfolding of carefully timed "surprises" and reversals of fortune.

MacLean achieves his greatest effects when he puts his protagonists into suicidally perilous situations, and when he describes the extremes of environmental conditions that push his protagonists close to physical, emotional, and psychological exhaustion. A raging sea, hurricane-strength winds, torrential rain, bone-chilling snow and cold - his writing is genuinely gripping when he describes such extreme conditions, and the toll they take on his protagonists.

Because of his fatal attraction to hyperbole, his stories are most effective when narrated from the first person, where the exaggerated descriptions and wry, self-deprecating humor can be read as peculiarities of the protagonist. (In this regard, he has something in common with Raymond Chandler and other writers of private detective stories.)

So, the general rule of thumb is that all of the first-person books are superior to the third-person books, and with a few exceptions, the third-person books aren't worth the time or effort it takes to read them. The only exceptions: "H.M.S. Ulysses", "The Guns of Nararone", and "Where Eagles Dare". The first two hold their own with his best books; "Where Eagles Dare" is certainly the best of the rest, but it doesn't amount to much more than a screenplay with some perfunctory narrative added to "novelize" it.

"The Satan Bug" is a first-rate adventure story, as tense and exciting as any book in the genre, and is my personal favorite among his books. MacLean puts the story into high gear in the opening paragraphs, and keeps the pedal to the floor the rest of the way. There is outstanding detective work done by the protagonist, Pierre Cavell, and MacLean plays fair with the reader through each step of deduction, presenting the clues honestly, so that we can match wits with Cavell. The action is plausible, and non-stop, the tension builds with each revelation about the crime and the perpetrator's motive, and to top it off there is the best cliff-hanging chapter-end that you're ever likely to come across.

Someone has broken into England's top-secret biological research lab, and made off with a number of vials of deadly germs, including the most lethal of biological weapons, the Satan Bug. Our narrator, Pierre Cavell, former head of security at the lab, is the prime suspect until he clears himself, at which point he takes over the investigation into the break-in. Unlike the MacLean of the later books, the author here does not lecture us on the obvious moral implications of bacterial research. Although this is a serious subject, there is no seriousness to the book: the biological warfare angle is strictly an event to prop up an exciting, and excitingly told, story.

MacLean pushes Cavell to the extremes of physical and psychological endurance, forcing him to rise against all odds to the heights of heroic action. The story is very fast-paced and the writing crisp and witty - genuinely funny in some of the wry descriptions and self-deprecating asides. This MacLean book is top-notch in every regard, and a must-read for any fan of the genre.

Alistair Maclean's "The Satan Bug" is a first rate page-turning thriller about bio-weapons that holds up very well in spite of a 1962 publication date.

Pierre Cavell, private detective and late head of security for Britain's Mordon Bio-weapon laboratory, is called back to public service to investigate the murder of the head of the laboratory. Cavell quickly discovers that an incredibly virulent virus code-named the Satan Bug has been stolen. His investigation determines that the theft was an inside job by a ruthless criminal ready to run insane risks for his goals. Cavell and the police must quickly find this man and the hostages he takes before he can escape or use the deadly virus. The chase takes Cavell and his police allies to London for a final showdown with the master criminal and his gang, where the stakes may include the destruction of the City of London.

"The Satan Bug" features the twisting plot, excellent and sometime ironic dialogue, and nail-biting finale typically found in Maclean's novels. Fans of Alstair Maclean will not be disappointed.

This book is highly recommended to the reader looking for a good adventure story with a timely topic.

This book was written in 1962, but it comes thru the 48 years of techno changes with flying colors. I've read a few others of his - mostly thought they were mediocre to medium - turns out like a lot of other authors, their earlier works are their best. Guns of Navarone was #2, this is #9.

The Satan Bug is Alistair MacLean's ninth novel originally published in 1962 under the pseudonym Ian Stuart (Stuart was MacLean's middle name). While he made no effort to change his style of writing, MacLean surprised me greatly as to how different the majority of the narrative was handled.

Pierre Cavell is blind in the left eye and has a bad leg. Such a character is dramatically set-up for MacLean's milieu: a flawed (in this case, physically) hero who fights against all odds but consistently treads the tides of tribulation. The Satan Bug is different from the formulas used in the previously published Night Without End, Fear Is the Key, and The Golden Rendezvous. MacLean chooses a route that is extremely reminiscent of an Agatha Christie detective novel.

Mr. Cavell is brought in by the Mordon Microbiological Research Establishment to investigate the murder of a scientist and the theft of several ampoules of two deadly viruses, botulinus and the laboratory-conceived, indestructible Satan Bug, a derivative of the poliovirus. A saltspoon's worth of the latter virus will effectively wipe out all of Britain in a week. There is no vaccine for it. With these phials of unstoppable power, a mad "environmentalist" threatens the country's population unless Mordon is razed to the ground.

MacLean effectively portrays the asinine but inevitable enterprise of germ warfare, but his description of the laboratories and their safety procedures frightened me more than the threat of stolen viruses. Those who have read Mount Dragon or The Hot Zone, to name a few popular titles, will consider several pages of The Satan Bug to be poorly researched in conception. Another unfortunate approach is the tedious and drawn-out interrogation between Cavell and the employees of Mordon. MacLean intersperses a few brief scenes of conflict between Cavell and his antagonists or superiors, but overall the detective work is unlike any of the novels written during the 1955 - 1971 period.

That said, the last three chapters (and the first chapter as well) are classic MacLean. Good, quick plotting, suspense, angry characters versus mildly calm and humorous characters, and plenty of atmosphere: in this case, pouring rain. Despite my overall slight disappointment with the writing, there were two poetic sentences MacLean threw in that really stood out: "Somebody with super-chilled icicles in lieu of fingers started playing Rachmaninoff up and down my spinal column" (190) and "[...] making no more sound than the moonlight shadow of a drifting snowflake (201)."

I read the 1962 Fawcett Gold Medal edition.

The Satan Bug is Alistair MacLean's ninth novel originally published in 1962 under the pseudonym Ian Stuart (Stuart was MacLean's middle name). While he made no effort to change his style of writing, MacLean surprised me greatly as to how different the majority of the narrative was handled.

Pierre Cavell is blind in the left eye and has a bad leg. Such a character is dramatically set-up for MacLean's milieu: a flawed (in this case, physically) hero who fights against all odds but consistently treads the tides of tribulation. The Satan Bug is different from the formulas used in the previously published Night Without End, Fear Is the Key, and The Golden Rendezvous. MacLean chooses a route that is extremely reminiscent of an Agatha Christie detective novel.

Mr. Cavell is brought in by the Mordon Microbiological Research Establishment to investigate the murder of a scientist and the theft of several ampoules of two deadly viruses, botulinus and the laboratory-conceived, indestructible Satan Bug, a derivative of the poliovirus. A saltspoon's worth of the latter virus will effectively wipe out all of Britain in a week. There is no vaccine for it. With these phials of unstoppable power, a mad "environmentalist" threatens the country's population unless Mordon is razed to the ground.

MacLean effectively portrays the asinine but inevitable enterprise of germ warfare, but his description of the laboratories and their safety procedures frightened me more than the threat of stolen viruses. Those who have read Mount Dragon or The Hot Zone, to name a few popular titles, will consider several pages of The Satan Bug to be poorly researched in conception. Another unfortunate approach is the tedious and drawn-out interrogation between Cavell and the employees of Mordon. MacLean intersperses a few brief scenes of conflict between Cavell and his antagonists or superiors, but overall the detective work is unlike any of the novels written during the 1955 - 1971 period.

That said, the last three chapters (and the first chapter as well) are classic MacLean. Good, quick plotting, suspense, angry characters versus mildly calm and humorous characters, and plenty of atmosphere: in this case, pouring rain. Despite my overall slight disappointment with the writing, there were two poetic sentences MacLean threw in that really stood out: "Somebody with super-chilled icicles in lieu of fingers started playing Rachmaninoff up and down my spinal column" (190) and "[...] making no more sound than the moonlight shadow of a drifting snowflake (201)."

I read the 1962 Fawcett Gold Medal edition.

The Hardy Boys For Grown Ups? The style is OK, the reader is OK. And Yes; I can very well imagine Londoners evacuating The City quietly and efficiently in an afternoon, without feeling obliged to holding Hurricane-parties in pubs. The most esthetically part was probably unintended: A rainy London atmosphere that rewakes a time in Europe between the war and the classic sixties. Just on the verge to a modern time; with intercity helicopter routes to show the way to the future. It would be a fantastic adventure game - perhaps in the style of "The Last Express"? Just clean up the biological facts somewhat please. Just too bad the gaming industry is too busy making shoot-them-all games. - A handful elements has probably stood their time as a novel. It is worser with the "Agatha Christie"-elements and "Film Noir"-elements that make it all seem unreal. (I almost used the expression statistically-unreal.) But perhaps that is how novels should be written in 1962? It worked quite well in "Night Without End", but not here. - I would like to give the audio book three-and-a-half stars. But I must reserve the four star rating to a couple of Desmond Bagley audio books, and five stars to gems like "The Fist of God" (Frederick Forsyth) read by John Franklyn-Robbins and a handful similar audio books.

Mr. MacLean's characters are as valid today as they were fifteen years ago. Chemical warfare and threats to the general populace make up the theme of this book and the chase for the criminals and the subsequent ending are enthralling.

Definitely a book to curl up with while on holiday, Satan Bug is a typical, fast-paced McLean thriller. The plot revolves around the theft of chemical-weapon grade virus-samples (described in suitably horrifying detail) from a top secret British laboratory and the efforts of spooks from various government departments, led by Pierre Cavell, to recover the samples. As in most of the McLean works, the research has been impeccable and one does get a crash course on terrifying viruses and their potential effects during a conflict-situation. While focussing on the doomsday scenario for most part of the book, McLean introduces a great twist in the end... in all, a perfect page-turner.

When first released, the film "The Satan Bug" was quite a thriller, one of the more watchable movies in the developing days of action-adventure films featuring lone-wolf heroes. The book, however, was much much better, far richer with detail, riddles and twists. Today, the film, while still interesting, has not aged well in comparison with contemporary action-adventure works... but the book still stands up, still holds its own, still commands a reader's attention and enjoyment page after page.

My favorite Alistair MacLean.....well, it ties with Fear Is The Key. Please read both. They are timeless.