Alistair McLean wrote this book under the pseudonym of Ian Stuart, something that Stephen King did in the 1970s with his 'Richard Bachman' books like Blaze, Rage etc. I have read many authors who write spy-thrillers but none of them can match McLean's ability to describe action sequences. He can tell even a minor act of sand-bagging somebody with such ebullient prose that conjures up a motion-picture in the reader's mind with the utmost vividness. From the very first page, he writes with such intensity of expression-with microscopic observation skills- that I used to think at one time that to learn English, I would rather read McLean's books than any work of classic literature as a part of academic syllabus.I started reading him when I was in class eight, starting with "The Way to Dusty Death" which is usually critically-panned as an average novel but which I liked for its pace and backdrop of the world of F1 racing. Later I went on to his novels like ' Force 10 from Navarone', 'Fear is the Key' and 'Ice Station Zebra'. While Force 10 introduced me to war-time realities, Ice Station Zebra was a Cold War thriller where most of the action takes place on board a nuclear submarine. Gradually, I came to learn that McLean's favourite setting was either the sea or the ice-sheets of the Arctic Circle, a fact that was reiterated with astounding force of expression in his "Night Without End".Some of his books have been entangled webs of whodunnits which include ' The Satan Bug' the book in question, a tale of a deadly virus being stolen from a secret research lab that conducted research on germ warfare, a banned activity, but nevertheless carried out by all super-powers. The Satan bug has an apocalyptic theme but most of the book is spent on tracing a killer maniac who plants red herrings all the way, to mislead the hero who is, as usual, self-deprecating in his estimation of himself.Most of McLean's heroes have the same self-effacing attitude and are usually pushed to the limits of their physical and mental endurance. Despite broken ribs, dislocated joints, lack of sleep and unhealed wounds, the hero has to go after the villain and the climactic scene is often very detailed and artistically-told, displaying his acute eye for detail and choicest expressions.A very repetitive plot-device in McLean's novels is the seemingly uncalled-for involvement of the hero in the complex web of the story but which most often turns out to be deliberately done and sometimes this realization by the reader is left for the very end. I have often disliked this thing in his novels. In 'Fear is the Key', Talbot is the narrator who says, ' I didn't know how many cupro-nickel jacketed bullets Royale would pump into me' when all the time he is aware that Royale's gun has been jammed with wood, his own doing.A woman named Mary or some variant of the same name, is found to be ubiquitous in most of McLean's work, probably owing to his second wife Mary Marcelle's name. There is a character with ' remarkable powers of recuperation'( Andrea in the Navarone novels ) who is often said to have an infinite capacity for alcohol like 'the Count' in " The Last Frontier". I loved that book as a teenager and often go back to it just to relive the depiction of Communist Hungary in the late 1950s and the opening cat-and-mouse game between the Count and Michael Reynolds. Reynolds was the kind of hero I want to have in a thriller, someone with a ruthlessly-incessant pursuance of his target, completely at-home with violence but never wantonly cruel and a lack of inclination towards romantic dalliances, the opposite of which became a staple of James Bond novels in the same era. In some ways, a McLean hero is an antithesis of James Bond. He is not glamorous, he is tough and not very good-looking, he doesn't go after women, he doesn't have theatrical habits like a predilection for Vodka Martini 'shaken not stirred'.In 'the Satan bug, McLean openly mocks at the Ian Fleming genre of novels when Cavell refutes his cigar as an explosive device. Bond is known for using such unbelievable explosives from Q's lab like bombs hidden in spectacles, pen, lapel-pin, tie-pin, cuff-link etc. But all the McLean hero owns is a gun like a Luger ( Force 10 from Navarone, Where Eagles dare), a Japanese Hanyatti ( The Satan Bug ) and sometimes a knife and he is likely to lose both and resort to hand-to-hand combat with an aching back, tired limbs, bleeding lips and drained muscles.If I go on, I might write a book on Mclean but I am tired of typing. Thus ends this review-cum-case-study of Mclean literature.
In the book, the reader makes the acquaintance of Pierre Cavell, the former head of security at the Mordon (I love that name, with its almost subliminal suggestion of death!) Microbiological Research Establishment, and now working as a private detective. Cavell is handed the case of his life when Mordon's current security chief is found murdered on-site, one of its head scientists disappears...and eight vials containing deadly botulinus toxin AND the so-called Satan Bug (a strain of the polio virus that has been made a million times more deadly, a single spoonful of which could shortly wipe out all life on Earth!) are discovered to be missing! And as the clock ticks down to an attack on the heart of London, matters grow even more dire for Cavell, as his beautiful bride of just two months is abducted by the madman....“The Satan Bug," for its first 2/3, with Cavell evincing the sharp ratiocination abilities of The Thinking Machine. In its final third, the novel dishes out some tremendous chase and action sequences. Cavell, during this case, must sift through the alibis of a good two dozen or so Mordon suspects, and every character, it seems, has something to hide. It is the sort of book in which no one can be trusted; where virtually everyone is playacting or double-dealing for his or her own end...even the "good guys." Cavell goes through some fairly physically grueling treatment during the course of his 48-hour investigation, and it is no small wonder that he emerges both alive at the book's end and that he is able to figure out the culprit in this very complexly plotted affair. Cavell impresses the reader with both his mental agility AND his ability to carry on against near insuperable odds. The book features much in the way of surprises (Cavell's exact relationship with his boss, The General, did surely catch me off guard!), and as far as the reader's ability to figure out the identity of the culprit.Having said that, I must also report that "The Satan Bug" is not a perfect book, and that MacLean can justly be accused of having made a few flubs during the course of his complicated story. Most egregiously, a character named Tom Hartnell on page 75 is called Roger Hartnell by page 128! MacLean tells us that the city of Tornio is in Sweden, whereas it is actually in Finland, on the Swedish border.The bottom line is that the book is a smashing success, and some kind of pure entertainment. "The Satan Bug," by the way, was initially released under MacLean's pseudonym of Ian Stuart, just to see if one of his books would sell successfully under another byline. It did, of course, but with a thriller like this, that should hardly come as a surprise.
Do You like book The Satan Bug (1995)?
Sometimes the movie is better than the book. One of the great thrillers of the sixties is a dud in the book that preceded it. A strange mixture of genres: part thriller and part espionage novel that begins like a private eye book, THE SATAN BUG is written in an utterly pedestrian style. Characters are given unpleasant personalities to create artificial conflict, not a conflict that comes from normal people having conflicting needs or goals. It is difficult to understand 40 years later why MacLean’s books were bestsellers. I gave up at the end of chapter two.
—Mike Jensen
Interesting to see that biological weapons were as much of a threat 50 years ago as they are today. SPOILER ALERT: The actual "Satan Bug" is largely a MacGuffin here for what is basically a whodunit with a little action at the end, rather than an espionage or political thriller. This is also the second MacLean book I know of where the defeated bad guy chooses the "honorable" path and kills himself by jumping out of a plane rather than face trial - not sure if this is some quaint British code of honor from that period.This book is still from MacLean's "good period," before he started going downhill after Force 10. I've now somehow read most of them the past year or so, but this should be it for a while - no more from Mom and none at the library except a few of his final works which were generally pretty bad. Still have never read HMS Ulysses or South by Java Head, and would like to sometime - but they're not available in Singapore so will have to wait until we get back to Virginia someday.
—Philip
Okay so it's not one of Mr. MacLean's stronger novels, but it works. It works. Yes it's what would now be known as a "mashup" with all the attending flaws of those books. It crosses into different genres. Detective, mystery, espionage and thriller and as a result is a bit muddled at times. I've read that with this novel (which MacLean originally wrote under the pen-name Ian Sturat) he was trying to see if he could write a hard-boiled detective novel. For whatever reason he decided to write under
—Checkman
