Night Without End

by Alistair MacLean

Book Overview

From the acclaimed master of action and suspense. The all time classic. 400 miles north of the Arctic Circle, an airliner crashes in the polar ice-cap. In temperatures 40 degrees below zero, six men... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449023338
• ISBN13: 9780449023334
• Release Date: January 1960
• Publisher: Fawcett
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Tale Beneath the Colored Veils of the North

Lies. I love them! MacLean's tales are always a lot of fun, and this book isn't one to ignore. My father owns a ton of these old MacLean paperbacks and, sifting through some of them to see what I hadn't already read, I was intrigued by the premise I found: plane crashes in Greenland during winter's zero-light months...night without end (and hardly anyone gets any sleep). Several scientists working up there rescue the survivors, only to become potential victims themselves (they've only just enough food and other resources without keeping a host of foreigners barely alive)... And, in that awesome MacLean fashion, strange things begin happening. It's a wonderful little tale, told in the first person. And I love it when our hero, Dr. Peter Mason, like many of MacLean's heroes, lie. I get that adrenaline rush knowing I know more than the other characters do -- save for the antagonists. You never know who they are, but you know they're aware of those lies. It's the most fun one can have with a book, in a way. Night Without End isn't up to par with the best of the best MacLean tales, but it's damned close. Expect a riveting ride through the Arctic, but don't hope for a zillion plot twists. This is more of a whodunnit, and it keeps you guessing to the last few chapters...and even then you're wondering what's going to happen next. MacLean, who has never really impressed me with landscape descriptions, pounds out fantastic scenes beneath the aurora borealis here. By the way, if you have the Fawcett Gold Medal Book in your hand, avoid reading the excerpt at the beginning of the book. You lose one potential suspect from that, unfortunately.

A Tale Beneath the Colored Veils of the North

Lies. I love them! MacLean's tales are always a lot of fun, and this book isn't one to ignore. My father owns a ton of these old MacLean paperbacks and, sifting through some of them to see what I hadn't already read, I was intrigued by the premise I found: plane crashes in Greenland during winter's zero-light months...night without end (and hardly anyone gets any sleep). Several scientists working up there rescue the survivors, only to become potential victims themselves (they've only just enough food and other resources without keeping a host of foreigners barely alive)... And, in that awesome MacLean fashion, strange things begin happening. It's a wonderful little tale, told in the first person. And I love it when our hero, Dr. Peter Mason, like many of MacLean's heroes, lie. I get that adrenaline rush knowing I know more than the other characters do -- save for the antagonists. You never know who they are, but you know they're aware of those lies. It's the most fun one can have with a book, in a way. Night Without End isn't up to par with the best of the best MacLean tales, but it's damned close. Expect a riveting ride through the Arctic, but don't hope for a zillion plot twists. This is more of a whodunnit, and it keeps you guessing to the last few chapters...and even then you're wondering what's going to happen next. MacLean, who has never really impressed me with landscape descriptions, pounds out fantastic scenes beneath the aurora borealis here. By the way, if you have the Fawcett Gold Medal Book (see "customer images") in your hand, avoid reading the excerpt at the beginning of the book. You lose one potential suspect from that, unfortunately.

A marvellous setting

This a cold war spy novel set in the arctic night. Passenger flight crshlands in the arctic near a scientific base. the researchers hyrry to rescue the passengers and find themselves amidst a plot to steel military secrets. What is amazing about this book is that the heroes have to fight against the terrible cold which is cleverly utilized by the enemy. the author manages to convey the hardships of arctic cold night so well.The plot has some holes though, but the book is enjoyable just for the atmosphere, if nothing else

Spine chilling arctic adventure with twists & turns...

An excellent introduction to the masterful work of MacLean who writes with unmatched authority and detail. Typical of British mystery/adventure writers, this book entwines high adventure, human frailities, emotions and an underlying menace that grips the reader early in the narrative that does not let go until almost the end.As a reader you feel the cold of the arctic weather in Greenland, the misery suffered by the book's subjects, the anger at the pepetrators of the misery suffered by those involved in this adventure. You are torn between putting down the book due to the fatigue and eaxhaustion that you feel as each horror unfolds and yet not wanting to leave the next chapter unread!This book is an excellent introduction to the genre of great writing- Maclean's double might very well be another writer, Desmond Bagley. It is a shame that we shall not see more material from these two...............