Shockwave by Colin Forbes

Some years ago I discovered books by Colin Forbes. His books are of the same genre as Alistair MacLean but set in the post WWII. There is still the cold war and spying between the west and the communist countries. The central characters are the Deputy Director of SIS Tweed and his team who are rushing against time to save the world for some major disasters.

In Shockwave, the story begins with Tweed having to run as a fugitive across Europe after being accused of A brutal murder and rape of a young woman in his flat. A big manhunt is started officially through a request to all the European Police Forces as well as unofficially by the Minister of External Affairs via his World Security Company. The motives for this framing is not clear and Tweed has to solve this puzzle on the run. He is accompanied by Paula his assistant and Robert Newman who goes looking for evidence and provides protection when needed. He is also a liaison between the police chiefs and Tweed as they have known Tweed for many years and do not believe he committed the murder. While we can see that World Security has put out a hit on Tweed by hiring an experienced assassin. However, the reason for this set up and making Tweed run remains a suspense well into the book. There are a couple of other storylines which run side by side – a murder of an accountant at World Security and a high jacking of a ship carrying a top secret cargo across the Atlantic.

There are so many different attempts to kill Tweed and how he manages to evade the killers every time. The author keeps the tension running evenly all through the book. There is fairly detailed description of all the places in Germany and Switzerland and this is a mark of Colin Forbes and his familiarity with European cities and countryside. This book is probably one of the earlier ones as Marler, the best marksman and part of Tweed’s team, is not so close with the rest and works alone most of the time. Newman and Paula are all for not trusting Marler totally, however Marler comes through at the climax of the story. While there is violence it is mainly to the detriment of the villains.

I have read this book many times. Generally, I leave the book for a few months or sometimes even a year or so and read it again. It is as if new and I read it with the same relish as I did the first time. There are always new points that come to light or new angle to the situation as I am generally in a hurry to get to the end. Also often if a lot of time has passed I have forgotten a lot of the plot details and nuances of the menace in this convoluted plot. The villains are spread and working as a strong network across Europe and well matched by those who are out to stop them and their network is spread across Europe as well as into USA. The pace of the book is fast and keeps you guessing as who is the real murderer and what is the real motive for it. Enjoyable read every time.

River of Death by Alistair MacLean

This is another good book by Alistair MacLean. This one is a little different from the other books as it is not set in any war. The prologue shows that the seeds of this story re sown in during the World War II. The looting of a Greek Monastery by the Nazis and the betrayal between the officers as the Nazis fall starts a feud and sends these Nazis running.

The story is set in South America and progresses through the Amazon Basin of more precisely on the River of Death. The central character is John Hamilton who appears to have found the ‘Lost City’ fabled to have a lot of gold and jewels, the big horde that all are looking for. He gets picked up by Edward Hiller who proposes that his boss would finance the recovery of this find for his share in the loot. Very soon in the story it becomes evident that John Hamilton is not the treasure hunter but has some other objective in running this elaborate scenario and getting this particularly multimillionaire to finance his scheme and to accompany the expedition down the River of Death to find the treasures of the Lost City.

The description of the Amazon and the jungle and rivers which the expedition has to traverse is exactly as you would expect of Alistair MacLean. It is also a good change from the usual settings of the polar caps and blizzards and the freezing cold which the characters of the story have to brave. The animals and the fierce tribes of the Amazon are also incorporated into the story. A real pleasure to read and mentally visualise the environment. There is some violence which John and his two sidekicks handle with extreme efficiency. What the others do not know is that John is expecting a big gangster and his men are hiding out in the site of the Lost City. Who is that gangster as it appears that John is after the gangster. What is his relationship to the multimillionaire? What is the real motive of John and the various people who from the party to be on this expedition?

The end when it comes is actually quick and with not as much violence as seen during the journey. The ones who actually feel the brunt of the violence are all baddies and so one does not feel sorry for them. And the final question which keeps the suspense right to the end… is there really a treasure hidden in the Lost City?

Partisans by Alistair MacLean

This is one of the books by Alistair MacLean that I had not read. But having read it I find it as good as the other books by the author. The stage of this story is in the Balkans at the time the Partisan were fighting for freedom. Now I must admit I am not good at history and so will not like to explain the situation lest I expose the extent of my ignorance.

The central figure is a Major Peter Peterson (from the Royal Yugoslav Army) who has 2 helpers and is supposed to be taking a coded message into the mountains where the Partisans are about. The message is about a final attack on the Partisans. There are uneasy alliances between the Italians, Germans and Cetniks. It appears that no one trusts their so called allies. The party going into the mountains is made up of strange people. Young pair of twins who are newly trained radio operators, a young lady with a guide/bodyguard who is joining the British Officer manning the radio operations are being escorted by the Major.

Along the way it appears that the Italians have sent spies after them but it is not clear what is their reason and what they wish to achieve. Maybe they wish to find some information or to kill them. An Italian officer catches up with them and apparently wishes to see if the message being carried by the Major has not been switched or tampered with. At once point they are captured by what they think are the Cetniks and held in a remote chateau. Here all discuss their personal views about the war and what they have learnt. This appears to be the turning point and suddenly you find out who every one really is. The suspense as usual is well maintained well into the final chapters of the book. The pace is fair and the move is from boat to truck, from sea to land and up the mountains. The weather for some reasons is again winter and snowing heavily. I assume the winter cold and heavy snow makes for menacing scenario.

I enjoyed reading and it is lighter reading than some of the more popular books of Alistair MacLean such as Guns of Navarone but it is up to the usual standard.

The Seedlings are Stronger

Its time I put in a note about the progress of my veggie patch or should I say a pots as to manage more efficiently and not having to bend so far down and weed I have got a row of pots which move about with the sun and if I notice some plant a bit droopy. I talk to them and move them a bit to see if they like or want a change. I know a lot of people scoff about plant sensitivity and laugh at people who talk to their plants. Well I am not ashamed to say I talk to them and tell them off if they droop a bit as they do when I am unwell. In fact I think the health of the home is very much seen in how healthy the plants are in the home. I used to have so many pots in UK. I plan to have a similar potted plant gathering here too but the difference is I have this time started with vegetables and herbs. The ornamental plants like the succulents, cacti and flowers will come later.

Now it has taken a long few weeks for the chilli seeds to sprout but I can finally say that of the 10 or so seeds I stuck into the pot I can now see 8 seedlings. It was such a joy to count out each new seedling over the last week. So now to see how the 2 small leave become strong seedling and when I will have to re-pot them. When there were only 4 seedlings I thought maybe I could just let them grow in this one itself but now I will have to see the progress and decide what to do – remove the weak ones or just re-pot them separately and let them grow at their own pace.

Next come the coriander and basil seedlings. Coriander seeds were the first ones to sprout of all the seeds sown. Oh I am confused with the spellings as the spell check in this new laptop is Aussie English! And so coriander is spelt with only 1 r. Both these pots had about 10 or so seeds each. The coriander has come up with 8 seedlings and the second leaves have also grown. The basil has been very slow to grow. After all these weeks, (same time as the coriander and chillies) had four seedlings only till this morning when at the watering time I saw another small 2 leaves peeking out from the soil. The older 4 seem to have got another 2 leaves showing. Now the seedlings are just barely out of the soil unlike the coriander which is the tallest and next the chillies where the leaves are standing right out of the soil. When they grow a little bigger I shall take some pictures and avoid all this describing but then I am trying to learn the craft of writing good prose.

The broccoli seeds were so fast when it came to sprouting. However they have been sown in small seedling trays and the seedlings looked very delicate for a couple of weeks. Now I think the leaves stand more upright and seem to not fall flat with every gust of stiff breeze. The information on growing broccoli suggests that the seedlings r very delicate and the roots have to be handled very carefully when re potting. So I decided to let them grow a little before I separated them out and re potted. I plan to get a long planter for this. Maybe this is a job for this weekend.

The tomatoes – I have Tiny Tom, Black Russian, Grosse Lisse and Roma – have all settled well after the re-potting. I have watered them daily and they have doubled in size very quickly. In fact the tiny Tom already has some very pretty small yellow flowers. The Black Russian seems to have got a few very small buds and should flower soon. It is so exciting to think we shall tomatoes soon…. well am sure the weeks will fly by till I can get fresh home grown tomatoes.

Last weekend I had bought some methi (the green leafy veg of fenugreek plant). After sorting out the leaves for cooking I noticed that the stalks all had roots still intact. So I picked a few nice healthy looking roots and stem and put them in the water. On Sunday I planted the stalks with their roots in a nice big pot and even in a week I think they will grow as I can see a couple of stalks have new small leaves budding out. So even if half of them take up it will be good.

Then I had another pot sitting empty and so decided I should plant some onions. One onion had already begun sprouting in the basket and so added 2 more and put them in the soil. Now the one that was already sprouting seems to have stopped wilting and looks green so I have to keep faith and patience to see the others sprouting.

Finally the potatoes… oh it does my heart good to see the leaves shooting up from the potatoes. I am obeying the information about growing potatoes and keep topping the soil up – called hilling – so that there is more room for new potatoes to grow. I also stuck an additional potato which was already sprouting in the basket. I hope to keep that corner at lower soil level till the leaves come out of the soil. Wonder if it will work, but I do not mind having some small new potatoes from that one. All the plants get some liquid feed every other day and I am really hoping for the plants doing well.

On Tuesday there were real strong winds with gusts up to 100 km per hour. Now I had noticed that it was getting windy I did not immediately go to check on the plants. However on going out to get petrol we saw that the back fence had blown over and the wood frame snapped. The tomato pots had fallen over and branches bent. The coriander seedlings were all flat on their backs. The lavender pot was looking a bit windswept. So all the plants had to be moved quickly behind the big dust bins and against the wire net that encloses the space under the house. The taller tomato plants needed support and so used the broken twigs from the tree in front to lean the tomato stems against them. I had to remove a couple of bent branches and scold them for letting a bit of wind get to them. Three days on from it and they have all rallied back and look strong again.

So the seedlings grow stronger and I wait for the harvest eagerly as this is my first attempt at growing vegetables. A good result will be the motivation I need to growing other vegetables – well I have a lot in my mind that I would like to grow such as runner beans, maybe peas, garlic, ginger, courgette and so on.

Night Without End by Alistair MacLean

This is another book that I have not read in 30 years and neither have I seen the film that I can recollect. There is a film of Night Without End though, as I looked up the web and found a site for reviews according to another fan of Alistair MacLean’s books. The review provided is clear and concise but I just am going to write how I found the book just as I have done with others. So it is a subjective view of the story rather than a meaningful critique.

The main character is a Dr Mason and he is a scientist not a highly trained espionage agent. The detailed description of the part of Greenland creates a visual painting and raises a chill that starts goose bumps. The extensive detail also allows one to gain an appreciation of the limits of human endurance in such adverse weather conditions. However, I do think this is my third novel with the cold weather and snow and gale force winds that I was getting a bit of weather fatigue! May be the ability to read 3 such works in a row tells something about my endurance ability.

The story is about espionage again and this time the central character is just at the wrong place and demands r made on him as he discovers the people killed in the crashed plane did not die of accidental causes. They are not equipped to deal with an air crash and on top the radio gets broken accidently? Dr Mason decides to gather the band of motley survivors – a well-known actress, a up and coming boxer and his manager, a socialite and her maid, a couple of businessmen and a preacher – and attempt to go the hundred odd miles to the nearest base. The treachery of the unknown villain/s and the weather seem to compete as to which one of them can break the people. Sadly some of them do not survive due to both the reasons.

The suspense of what this whole thing is about – the killings and the deliberate crash of an airplane so far out to its normal flight path – remains intact all the way through the book until the last few chapters. The character of each member of the story is very well portrayed as per the usual skill of Alistair MacLean. It is hard to see how anyone could be a cold blooded killer? They all seem so harmless and nice. Dr Mason struggles to apply his analytical skills to solving the problem of identifying, the who and the why of this, what he sees as, senseless violence. The end when it comes seems rather dramatic and violent. But by this time you also want the villains to get their comeuppance. It was good to read this book as I had no recollection of it after so many years.