Bear Island

Bear Island: a remote island off the coast of Norway, not really an ideal place for a film shoot. Especially if your mode of transport is a converted fishing trawler. Morale is low—and then the murders begin. I liked the idea of this closed-circle mystery thriller, and the first half merited a 3-star rating. But it took a long time to figure out the murderer, and the solution was a bit bonkers, so the second half was a 2. Overall an "almost liked it, but not quite".

I wanted to discover a new-to-me thriller writer, but boy was this one big flop!

The murders begin as the vessel Morning Rose carries the cast of movie makers to a remote Arctic island for filming. Our pov character is Marlowe, the doctor for the cast and crew. The first murders are poisoning; some victims survive. Other victims, perhaps poisoned, perhaps not, disappear overboard. Nobody seems to care much--there's too much drinking going on, as well as much discussion as to where the producer of the film has stashed his good liquor, and how to get at it.

The body count continues to rise after the group arrives on Bear Island amidst more drinking. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when the doctor reveals an important plot show more point about his identity, (and his former concealment of this from the reader is very unrealistic). This changes the whole focus of the story, and it became (for me) a farce. Stay away. (Unless you're a 12 year old boy born in the 1940's).

1/2 star show less

Alistair MacLean, to me, is one of those never-can-go-wrong authors whose works are quite decent at worst and extremely satisfying at best... This one's end felt a little tame, considering the mounting suspense through the previous ninety percent of the novel. Nevertheless, chilling & thrilling, this one is a highly enjoyable, trademark MacLean book!

This is a slow-starting tale about a movie film crew's journey to an obscure island near the Arctic. At first it reminded me of And Then There Were None, but suddenly morphed into a story of intrigue and action. Pretty good, worth reading.

Just not up to snuff for MacLean. Wordy in a not-good philosophical way. Attempts to be cute that don't pay off. Very little tension. I'd give this one a pass in favor of his better books.

Bear Island, known as the wartime graveyard of the Arctic, where Nazi submarines lay in wait for the Murmansk convoys, is the setting for Alistair MacLean's novel. As the charter ship Morning Rose sails through wintry seas towards the island, the doctor on board, Christopher Marlowe, is kept busy attending to his sea-sick patients - the members of a film unit who are to make a film on Bear island so secret that none of them know much about it. Then another, more mysterious malady attacks them and in some cases proves fatal. But there us something highly unnatural about both the illness and its selection of victims. The Morning Rose has a murderer on board. Marlowe realizes that he is included in the elimination campaign. Before the ship show more has anchored under the towering cliffs of Bear Island, there has already been an attempt on his life. Then, in the encampment, events on board fuse into a pattern of terror as suspicion shifts from one member of the company to another, and further deaths take place. Someone in the film unit is intent on preventing Marlowe and others from sharing the secret of the island, and what lies beyond the Gates of Pearl. Beset by the conflicting temperaments and nationalities within the frightened group, Marlowe contends with grim humour against weather, terrain and ruthless adversaries, as events build up to a tremendous climax in the darkness of the Polar night. show less

A film crew is trapped on a ship, with no way off and people dropping dead all over the place. There is suspense and surprises and people who are not always what they seem. And the narrator is interesting, and it’s fun to listen to him as he works through his suspicion of everyone and goes over the evidence for and against everyone, trying to figure out what is going on. There is a lot of dialogue, most of the book is dialogue, and it becomes what drives the story more than anything else. So, even though it brings out the tension between the characters, there are times when there doesn’t seem to be much going on. It is a mystery but there is really no way that you could possibly figure it out because there is too much you just show more don’t know. Until the moment when two characters get together and discuss it all. There is really no other way to get the information to the readers but to me it seemed like a rather long conversation while the story is put on hold. It’s not bad, I’m not sorry I read it, but I don’t think I would recommend it. There are a lot of others books out there that are probably more worthy of your time. show less