Circus (1975)

by Alistair MacLean

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
882	16	24,290	(3.31)	32
Reissue of the classic tale of espionage set in Cold War Europe, where the world's greatest circus acrobat must break into an impenetrable fortress, from the acclaimed master of action and suspense. Bruno Wildermann of the Wrinfield Circus is the world's greatest trapeze artist, a clairvoyant with near-supernatural powers and an implacable enemy of the East European regime that arrested his family and murdered his wife. The CIA needs such a man, and recruits Bruno for an impossible raid - on the impreganble Lubylan fortress, where his family his held. Under cover of a circus tour, Bruno prepares to return to his homeland. But before the journey even begins a murderer strikes twice. Somewhere in the circus there is a communist agent with orders to stop Bruno at any cost...… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

wooding, prengel90, ChrisByrd, AWellStockedShelf, millczuk, BAGabriel, DianaPeter, DMStewart, vorefamily

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Lists

Best Spy Fiction (80)

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 32 mentions

▾Member reviews

English (13) Dutch (2) Danish (1) All languages (16)

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 13 (next | show all)

Great

Dermot_Butler | Nov 8, 2023 |

MacLean is a strange author. He is very interesting, with well thought out and executed characters. But it almost seems his books are written so that MacLean comes up with a good twist ending, and then writes the whole book coming up with ways to throw you off the track from his twist ending. They are good fun reads, but it always seems like something is missing... (

)

MrMet | Apr 28, 2023 |

This is a book of Cold War intrigue but not a book to keep you up late to read the next chapter. To steal plans from a lab in eastern Europe, you would expect an elite team to be sent in or at least a James Bond. In this story, they are sending in a circus. The first thing I noticed was that the author was getting rid of characters fairly soon, narrowing the field for heroes.
The main character is an aerialist and mentalist whose feats are far-fetched and greatly exaggerated. I find the character unlikable. The main female character is an inept CIA agent, chosen for her looks rather than her intelligence. It's an easy read and might even be considered a YA yarn. (

)

delta61 | May 6, 2020 |

A twisty tale of espionage, with a circus' high-wire artist caught up in the middle of the intrigue. Nicely done, another gripping read from this author. (

)

fuzzi | Jan 23, 2018 |

If you can imagine a government that is willing, even anxious, to kidnap its talented citizens if that's what it takes to get them to represent their country... If you can imagine a young woman in the intelligence field who is more beautiful than brainy (not dumb, mind you)... If you can imagine a man possessed of almost superhuman mental powers, used on the ground, on the high-wire, and on the trapeze... You'll still have to read the book, because you'll never imagine the story being told this way. (

)

lcarter11 | Oct 23, 2017 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 13 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (18 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Alistair MacLean	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Huhtala, Eero	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

Fontana (4889)

Heyne Allgemeine Reihe (5535)

Is contained in

Circus / San Andreas by Alistair MacLean

Ice Station Zebra / Circus / Seawitch by Alistair MacLean

Caravan to Vaccares / Circus / The Way to Dusty Death by Alistair MacLean

Four Great Adventure Stories (When Eight Bells Toll / The Golden Gate / Caravan to Vaccares / Circus) by Alistair MacLean

The Way to Dusty Death / Circus by Alistair MacLean

Where Eagles Dare, Satan Bug, Way to a Dusty Death, Circus, Partisans, Black Shrike, Fear Is the Key, Floodgate, Ice Station Zebra, Bear Island, When Eight Bells Toll. Santorini, Breakheart Pass, Goodbye California, and more by Alistair MacLean

▾Awards and Honors

Distinctions

New York Times bestseller (Fiction – 1975)

Notable Lists

Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection – 1975)

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Circus

Original title

Circus

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1975

People/Characters

Bruno Wildermann

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

To Juan Ignacio

First words

“If you were a genuine Army Colonel,” Pilgarm said, “instead of one of the most bogus and unconvincing frauds I've ever seen, you'd rate three stars for this.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

Reissue of the classic tale of espionage set in Cold War Europe, where the world's greatest circus acrobat must break into an impenetrable fortress, from the acclaimed master of action and suspense. Bruno Wildermann of the Wrinfield Circus is the world's greatest trapeze artist, a clairvoyant with near-supernatural powers and an implacable enemy of the East European regime that arrested his family and murdered his wife. The CIA needs such a man, and recruits Bruno for an impossible raid - on the impreganble Lubylan fortress, where his family his held. Under cover of a circus tour, Bruno prepares to return to his homeland. But before the journey even begins a murderer strikes twice. Somewhere in the circus there is a communist agent with orders to stop Bruno at any cost...

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary