Just Finished Reading: Where Eagles Dare by Alistair Maclean

On the eve of the invasion of Europe disaster strikes. General Carnaby, one of the central planners for the second front, is shot down over occupied Europe and captured by German forces. He is taken to the Sloss Adler – the Caste of Eagles – deep in the Alps. In a desperate attempt to rescue him a hastily thrown together team of British and American secret agents is dispatched with orders to succeed or die trying. The very outcome of the war is at stake. Or is it? It quickly becomes clear that little is what it first appears to be and that the leader of the rescue team has a very different agenda.

As this is one of my all time favourite films I was both interested in and apprehensive about reading the source material. The film is actually very close to the book and often lifts dialogue wholesale. Likewise the plot and timeline are almost identical including the very strange addition of an anachronistic helicopter. This both made it somewhat interesting but also fairly boring – having basically removed any possible surprise or suspense. It also turned out that the differences that did exist in the original novel where, on the whole, improved upon in the movie with the possible exception of a hidden ‘cat-fight’ between two very attractive women. But I digress…..

Taken on its own merits this is a pretty fair thriller with some nice twists and turns. In conjunction to the film it provides a quite interesting look at the original intentions of the author but offers little else. All in all though this was a reasonably entertaining read.