After a successful mission of Navarone, both Mallory and Miller, who were the main characters of the book , go to Island of Kheros to pick up Andrea , an another important , hulk-like character of the book, who was there to get married with Maria. But it didn’t lasted long and form there their Journey began where they flew towards the Termoli Airfield located in Italy to meet the Captain Jensen, who then briefed them about the mission and sent them to the Neretva to help the Partisans lead by Gen. Vulkalovic who where somewhere trapped in the so called “Zenica Cage” along with the three Marine Sergeants: Reynolds, Groves and Saunders. Six of them then fly from the Termoli Base to the Neretva reveal the secret behind why the Allied agents parachuted before were getting disappeared trapped there. At first six of them meet the group of Partisans led by Dorshny, after which they meet the German Army Captain Neufeld, who then told that those people under Dorshny aren’t Partisans , they were Cetniks. Now here these six men are accompanied with two more persons Petar and Maria : of which Petar claimed to be blind and Maria claimed to be her sister , but their actual identities are revealed till the end (Petar turns out to be the head of British Espionage in Balkans and Maria was ferocious Cetnik fighter) . Along with the escorts those six cover some of the distance in asphyxiated truck and later Mallory meets the General Bronzik ,the place where the Saunders die. Mallory, Miller and Andrea were quite sure that killer was Dorshny : which at later point of time comes out to be true. But Reynolds consider that Mallory is betraying them, which turns out to be nothing more than absurdity.Now after taking the information they go back to Neufeld and Dorshny where they capture both of them and make them move to the remote black-house where they find the four disappeared Army agents ,none of them was hurt. And then lock them inside the black-house, but as part of plan he keeps the keys for the following Sergeant Bear who was following them, which released them and then they followed the Mallory and the team. And again they go to the same black-house and again captures all of them , destroy their radio and close them inside but again making some arrangement for them so that they can follow them, as it was the part of the plan. General Zimmerman who was the German captain was clandestinely hidden in the woods of south of Neretva. Neufeld used to tell him by the radio about the plans of Mallory which in fact Mallory wanted Neufeld to send this information as it was all planned . Later comes the action packed climax. Lots of brutal killing happens. All the six persons go down to the Neretva Gorge after travelling through the old- locomotive and others means Dorshny and the team followed them. They tried to keep the Dorshny and the team to clung to the bridge where as at the same time Mallory and the Miller climbed through the ladder to the top of dam wall where they clamped the amatol cylinders on the walls of the dam. As Zimmerman was not having any idea about what is happening he kept almost all his soldiers concealed near and to the bridge in the south, which later due to the was totally vanished as the dam wall was being bombarded and all the waters from above 80 meters high fell down at the Neretva Gorge. So, that’s how Mallory and team finished the mission being camouflaged in the beginning playing the part of deserters which later in the book Mallory tell everybody that Neufeld and Dorshny already were aware of their true identities. Personalities:-Mallory:- A protagonist, laconic person with the best presence of mind which appears to be quite calm and serene in the starting but turns out to be the best decision maker and one of the best Mountain Climber.Miller:- Witty, sarcastic all the time. The presence of mind ( if sarcasm is concerned) Is the best. Some of the following quotes make it quite clear the level of his sarcasm:-Just after the Andrea got married to Maria , and suddenly they ran in the altercation which made Maria to leave Andrea and…Andrea said moodily “She’s gone home to her mother. “Miller glanced at his watch .’One minute and twenty-five seconds,’ he said admiringly. ‘ A world record.’Well there are just innumerable examples of his sarcasm and wittiness.Andrea ( Captain Stavros):- Well it projects the image of Rambo. A hulk-like personality he bears. A berserk , which is always accompanied with acrid smelling cigarette.Well , in this book , Andrea made a quote when he was totally exasperated and knowing that Capt. Jensen won’t allow them to rest and as they wanted rest, so he said the brilliant line :“Luck deserts tired man.”Reynolds, Groves and Saunders die at the end which gives the emotional touch to the dambusting, action packed storyline.On the other hand, hats off to Alaster Mcclaen's verbosity and the way to express the tableau.
I grew up reading Alistair MacLean, and think it's a shame he isn't more well known today -- believe all his books are currently out of print, and there are none in the Northern Virginia library system. That said, he hasn't aged as well as some of his contemporaries, (but then neither has Ian Fleming). He had a few really great books -- mostly his war and Cold War books (HMS Ulysses, Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra, Where Eagles Dare) -- and a bunch of real stinkers in his later career. But overall, both his plotting and writing style look a little convoluted by today's standards (I can still remember my Dad being totally confused by the movie version of Where Eagles Dare -- "wait; so is Richard Burton bad now or still good?"), and this is clearly evident in this book as well. In addition, his characters engage in too much clever banter, he really can't write women, and he exhibits an omniscient POV that flits back and forth between what all the characters are thinking, and which is considered "bad writing" today. Also, as MacLean's only sequel (that I know of), this story doesn't stack up against his classic Guns of Navarone. It's interestingly set in Bosnia, and so should ring particularly relevant today. But he never really gives us a feel for the setting -- it could be any European forest with a bunch of generic guerillas taking on the Germans. One final note: as with "Guns," I've always assumed (but never seen any supporting story) that he intentionally named his mountain-climbing, New Zealand hero Mallory in honor of George Mallory, the famous climber who died trying to climb Mt. Everest, (later conquered by fellow kiwi Edmund Hillary).So...good MacLean, but not great MacLean -- and so for anyone looking to explore this largely-forgotten author, I'd look elsewhere (including Netflix!).
What do You think about Force 10 From Navarone (1978)?
It has been over ten years since I read MacLean's masterpiece, "The Guns of Navarone", but this novel picks up instantly after the events in that novel. Now, while I reflect upon it, "Guns" was one of my favorite war novels of all time. "Force 10" did not have the same intensity, and was at times hard to follow. The author intentionally keeps us in the dark about what the infamous Captain Mallory and his crew have to do, but he does it so often with so many twists, that I got bogged down early on in the novel. Once Mallory's mission became clear, the action picked up, and the shooting began in earnest. If you could cut out the first 100 pages this novel would have been two things: a) a better read, and b) a short story as the whole thing was only 223 pages in length to begin with.
—William
By Alistair Maclean. #2 of the Navarone series. Grade: B+The Guns of Navarone have been silenced. But the heroic survivors are form still. They are ready for action again – and are heading for even more excitement and danger. Their mission: to free an entire partisan army trapped in the rugged mountains of Yugoslavia. It begins with a parachute drop behind enemy lines and a deliberate walk into a German camp. Six men against the might of two armoured divisions. They couldn’t fight them. So they had to join them. And then somehow destroy them!The story begins where The Guns of Navarone had left. Keith Mallory and his team, after successfully completing the seemingly impossible task of silencing the guns of Navarone, are given a hero’s welcome. But there is no respite to these heroes. As soon as they return, another task is waiting for them. A task, which crosses all limits of danger and borders on impossibility and insanity. The partisans of Yugoslavian army, fighting as allies to the British, have been trapped by the German army in the mountains and are facing an imminent threat of execution which would be a major setback to the British.Mallory and his team, along with three new, young recruits, are asked to make a parachute drop into Yugoslavia where they walk into the German army camp as “informers” and manipulate them in order to make sure that the Germans change the spot of their attack, and that Mallory and his team are able to reach the trapped partisan army beforehand and ensure their survival. Thus the team embarks on another mission for the history books, unaware of the fact that they underestimated the enemy and that the enemy is on to them and is planning something entirely different and devious. How Captain Keith Mallory and his team plan to carry out this operation and meanwhile deal with the enemy counter-plotting in their desperate and frantic attempt to somehow stay alive, is what the plot encompasses.This novel is typical Alistair Maclean style. The storyline in a warfront setting, the enviable pace at which the story progresses, the larger-than-life, seemingly-impossible-yet-has-to-be-done type task structure has Alistair Maclean written all over it. The basic thing which has to be kept in mind is that this is a sequel to “The Guns of Navarone” which is a certified classic. To keep up with the name is a burden which “Force 10 from Navarone” has fairly lived up to. The war sequences are par excellence and the detailing when it comes to warfront and espionage is really commendable. The characters of the novel already had a foundation which makes it even more effective to develop upon, especially the main characters of Mallory, Andrea, Millers and Reynolds.The one thing which can be found in plenty in the novel is the twists. There are so many twists in the novel that it sometimes goes over-the-top. It becomes difficult to explain how the protagonists are able to so easily manipulate the enemy to their advantage and that too on so many occasions. The lack of clarity in explaining the immediate scenario can sometimes confuse the reader. There is a certain shortage of explosive content and wit in the storyline which can make it a little dull at times.Overall, the novel is a good read and comes in handy when you have too much time on your hands to kill.Originally reviewed at: www.the-vault.co.cc
—The-vault
This is a terrific followup to the classic "The Guns Of Navarone". Our intrepid trio are barely off the island of Navarone before being whisked off to a new challenge. They are parachuted into war-torn Yugoslavia to save a group of partisans and complete a mission that is so secret, they cannot even tell their allies. Like the first story, the characters are really well developed and the story moves at a breathless pace to its very satisfying conclusion.This has also been turned into a film, unfortunately no where near as good as the original. Gregory Peck is replaced by Robert Shaw, David Niven by Edward Fox and the movie completely eliminates the character of Andreas played by Anthony Quinn in the original film despite the fact that the character is in the book. Added to the cast is Harrison Ford in one of his first post-Star Wars films. Ultimately it was just a so-so film.
—Ross Armstrong
