When spilling the beans is not an option
A scene from the 1968 movie Where Eagles Dare.
| Photo Credit: BY SPL ARGMT
In my schooldays when reading an entire series of thrillers or spy novels was good etiquette, Alistair Maclean supplied both genres. We regretted there were no school exams on the Complete Works of Maclean.But even as we were slicing through the oeuvre, many of us were aware that Maclean could be thrilling and unreadable, predictable and surprising in turn. I wondered if adults actually read this stuff. Recently, I discovered a kindred soul – the English writer Geoff Dyer, who said, “Where Eagles Dare is unreadably bad in spite of its narrative allure. Was I, as a second and third former at Grammar school firmly in the midst of the Maclean-buying demographic?” The movie of the book is another matter. Steven Spielbe...