The Guns of Navarone by Alistair Maclean is one of the best books set during World War 2. Those of us who have read his novels know that it is not only the high voltage plot that reels us in, but also the amount of detail and the depth assigned to the characters. We see his characters not only as mere pawns enacting his plot but also as real humans, people just like us. This I believe is enough to have made him "The man with the Golden Typewriter".
Now where would a WWII book be without the Nazis? The main playground in this book is the island of Navarone in the Aegan sea. The Germans have established an 'impenetrable fortress' in the island and with the help of the special Guns of Navarone enjoy almost complete dominance over the Aegan islands. There is only the island of Kheros left under the control of the Allied powers and their time is running out fast. The 1200 Allied soldiers holed up here await evacuation, but evacuation by sea is impossible with the presence of the massive guns of Navarone nearby. After several futile attempts by the Allies to take the guns out of the equation, they send in a covert sabotage team to wreck the guns. What follows is a fast paced action thriller that has you rushing to the climax. While the plot and the island are fictitious, a little research brings up a place called Navarino in the Aegan, the site of a major battle in the previous century. The plot however is based on the Battle of Leros, the central event in the Dodecanese campaign, an effort by the Allied powers to reclaim the Aegan islands.
Along with Corporal 'Dusty' Miller, Lieutenant Andy Stevens and Casey Brown, all of them legends in their own right, they embark on a mission that some would deem to be suicidal. Failure is not an option for these men as the lives of a thousand depend on them. Maclean weaves a spell on the readers with feats of courage, deceit and loads of breath taking action. The book is nothing short of a masterpiece!
Now where would a WWII book be without the Nazis? The main playground in this book is the island of Navarone in the Aegan sea. The Germans have established an 'impenetrable fortress' in the island and with the help of the special Guns of Navarone enjoy almost complete dominance over the Aegan islands. There is only the island of Kheros left under the control of the Allied powers and their time is running out fast. The 1200 Allied soldiers holed up here await evacuation, but evacuation by sea is impossible with the presence of the massive guns of Navarone nearby. After several futile attempts by the Allies to take the guns out of the equation, they send in a covert sabotage team to wreck the guns. What follows is a fast paced action thriller that has you rushing to the climax. While the plot and the island are fictitious, a little research brings up a place called Navarino in the Aegan, the site of a major battle in the previous century. The plot however is based on the Battle of Leros, the central event in the Dodecanese campaign, an effort by the Allied powers to reclaim the Aegan islands.
The lead character in the book is Captain Keith Mallory, a legendary mountaineer turned commando from New Zealand. An engaging character who takes to his job with utmost sincerity, he is completely practical and non sentimental. He mulls over this fact over the course of the book. His close associate, Andrea is the epitome of a fighting machine and is my favourite character in the book. In the beautiful words of Maclean himself, "A destroyer of his fellow-man, he loved his fellow-man above all things. Andrea killed neither for revenge, nor from hate, nor nationalism, nor for the sake of any of the other "isms" which self-seekers and fools and knaves employ as beguilement to the battlefield and justification for the slaughter of millions too young and too unknowing to comprehend the dreadful futility of it all Andrea killed simply that better men might live."
Along with Corporal 'Dusty' Miller, Lieutenant Andy Stevens and Casey Brown, all of them legends in their own right, they embark on a mission that some would deem to be suicidal. Failure is not an option for these men as the lives of a thousand depend on them. Maclean weaves a spell on the readers with feats of courage, deceit and loads of breath taking action. The book is nothing short of a masterpiece!
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