Where Eagles Dare

Oh my god, this book was excruciating. The protagonist may be the worst action hero I've ever read. He keeps doing rash, stupid things, continually endangering his men and his mission through an inexplicable refusal to kill Nazis. (He thinks they should be sent to England to stand trial.) And yes, some of his men die for this vanity. MacLean dresses that up as heroism. I just sat there wondering why I bothered finishing the damn book.

During World War Two, a top-level US general has been captured by the German forces after his plane crashed and taken to a remote castle (and intelligence HQ) known as Schloss Adler. There's suspicion of a leak in the British Intelligence Service. A group of British troops (and one American) are parachuted into the area with the mission of rescuing the general and identifying the source of the leak. Impossible, you say? Well, just about...

This is perhaps a case where the movie is better than the book. Having seen the movie first, I found it very easy to imagine Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood as John Smith, the leader of the group, and Lt Schaffer, the lone American of the bunch, respectively. Otherwise their characters would have show more been just men of action, lacking any real image in my head. On the other hand, I could picture all too well the whimpering and wailing of the female spy, Mary. She IS actually competent at the spy game, but far too often MacLean describes how she's schoolgirlishly in love with Richard Burton John Smith, and she's constantly fussing about his safety to the point where she nearly gives the whole game away (granted, the Wehrmacht officer she was talking to was highly suspicious and knew something was up, but still!). In the movie she is less clingy and more level-headed, which was a relief.

The plot features lots of twists and turns as loyalties shift, battles are fought and upper hands are gained and lost. There are plenty of thrilling action sequences that set the pulse racing and the heart pounding, and there are some descriptive bits that are as hard to wade through as waist-deep snow. There is even a bit of romance -- just a bit, not enough to detract from the main point of the book, which is the derring-do, resourcefulness, and blowing stuff up. Yes, if you like your books and movies to feature lots of explosions, you definitely want this one.

Overall, I would suggest watching the movie first, then reading the book, if you must. If you're starting out with MacLean, read The Guns of Navarone instead. show less

A rip-roaring ride for me! I just loved this. The bulk of the story theoretically takes place just over 2 hours time, and it is non-stop excitement. British WWII agents with some American help do the impossible....over & over & over......which would normally be a detraction for me.....all of the skin-of-your-teeth moments and everything always working out just barely......and I have lowered ratings because of that approach in the past....but in this instance, it did not really bother me at all.....I loved it! Leader Smith is brilliantly resourceful and has planned out this mission to infiltrate a Gestapo headquarters in the Alps with a frightening level of detail.....and curve balls come their way constantly. Full of surprises, show more betrayals, twists and turns......what a book should really be about.....a great ride! BRAVO!! show less

A masterful spy thriller set in WWII. A rag-tag group of MI-6 operatives along with one American OSS agent are sent to Bavaria, deep behind enemy lines to rescue a captured US Army general who has information on the Second Front (the invasion of Europe) before he spills all their secrets. This is not an action war book one would expect. Maclean's story is a page-turning thriller that includes misdirection, red herrings and double-crosses. The dialog is smart between characters and the Germans are more than mere cookie-cutter characters. The pace is fast and suspenseful, always a sense of urgency and the feeling that the heroes maybe be caught at any moment. Wonderful book.

Alistair MacLean wrote the screenplay for the film Where Eagles Dare concurrently with the novel, but the novel unfortunately has none of the same appeal of its counterpart. The charming, Boy's Own action aesthetic of the film is muted in book form, with the Schloss Adler, the Schmeissers and the Gestapo possessing none of the narmy menace of the film.

The book can be hard to penetrate; the plot is tangled, the prose is a thick block, and the action scenes lack clarity. The dialogue and lack of character development are a more glaring problem without the charisma of Burton and Eastwood to gloss over them (apparently, Eastwood, having read the script, requested less lines in the film). No one is claiming that the film is Citizen Kane, but show more it is fun; it's just that whereas the cameras of Hollywood can bring their own magic to bamboozle an audience, there's never anywhere to hide in prose. show less

an enthralling, exciting, believable, intelligent story that sweeps the reader along as a group of British (and an American) agents are sent into wartime Germany to a mountaintop schloss to rescue an Allies general. Twists and turns abound and it really is an action book that conveys the sense of action and urgency. Don't expect too much by way of character development - it's not that kind of book. Before the current crop of modern action writers came Alistair Maclean and going back to read this again lately, he was the top of his class. No wonder he was the great action writer of his time - and his stories have not diminished their power over time. Well worth reading - and I'm not even much of a fan of action books, but I'd never pass show more on a Maclean book. show less

Growing up in the UK my reading material was an eclectic mixture of Enid Blyton children's adventure novels, Ian Fleming and John Gardner espionage tales and Alistair MacLean wartime escapades. It was in this environment that my love for well crafted tales of suspense, adventure and espionage was fostered and nowhere is this more apparent than in the MacLean thriller WHERE EAGLES DARE.
Second among my favorite MacLean works (my all-time favorite being WHEN EIGHT BELLS TOLL) the storyline for WHERE EAGLES DARE was faithfully recreated for the 1960s movie with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood (not surprising really since MacLean adapted his own novel for the screen).
A group of British Commando's along with an American Ranger parachute show more behind the German lines in World War 2. Their stated mission: the rescue of an American General who has been captured by the Nazi's and taken to a mountaintop fortress.
Of course like many I had seen the movie several times before finally settling down to read the book, but settle down I did and what a ride MacLean treated us to. The action is well described with white-knuckle realism and MacLean's complex and intricate plotting is both well structured and compelling. For those unfamiliar with either the book or the novel there is also a nice twist that to this day has me marveling at its pure ingenuity.
Okay so the dialogue may not be the best, but I for one do not read MacLean novels for their dialogue.
For adventure novels, MacLean is the master as much as Agatha Christie is the Queen of the whodunnit. I wish that the entire series of novels would be reprinted for a new generation to enjoy. show less