When Eight Bells Toll [Mass Market Paperback]

Alistair Maclean (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Fawcett (April 12, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449238938
• ISBN-13: 978-0449238936
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,043,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Characters, But Not Quite My Favorite, February 17, 2008

By 

Indiana Jeff Reynolds "Preacher Jeff" (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Eight Bells Toll (Mass Market Paperback)

I was intrigued by this novel. When I saw someone pointed it the great characters in it, I read it to maybe get hints for my novel.

The person was right. However, it took me a while to get into the book. In fact, it took four chapters before I was hooked enough to finish it. The end of the four chapters, for that matter. (There are only ten chapters in the book -- I was a third of the way through the book at that point).

I am not saying I did not enjoy the book. MacLean is my favorite novelist, and it always is a joy to read his writing. But I could have put the novel down and left it unfinished during the early reading.

I also found the grand finale where everything was explained lacking. Rare is the MacLean ending that satisfies me ("Guns of Navarone", "Where Eagles Dare", and "Circus" are the exceptions out of the eleven I've read).

One thing I'll caution -- there are a couple of violence scenes that are graphic, more graphic than MacLean tended to be in his later novels. I have not seen the movie, but if it followed the book, it would have been R rated due to violence.

This is actually the second oldest MacLean novel I've read. Yet I found similarities to later novels, particularly Bear Island which is, like this novel, told in the first person.

However, I will say the beginning was one of the most effective novel beginnings I've ever read.