Book Club Blog

One of Dean Koontz's favorite authors is Alistair McLean. Being a Koontz fan, I've read a lot of his books in which he credited some of the inspiration to Maclean in the afterword.

I'm pretty skeptical and never bothered to try him out. Last week, I was so... bored. I left the library with an armload of Alistair Maclean and Jack Higgins novels starting off with Higgins and assuming Maclean would be boring. Was I in for a surprise!

I'm not yet done with Goodbye California but I think I'm already a fan. The tension, the breaking of all the rules under the sun... everything. I can see everything clear as daylight in front of me, and I can't put it down (okay, I put it down to write this).

I'll post an update when I'm done.

Update:

A nuclear facility is broken into and a bunch of nuclear physicists and two women are kidnapped. The nuclear material which the terrorists lifted from the plant is used as a bargaining material. The intent of the terrorists? Blow up a 3.5 megaton nuclear device in one of the Californian faults, and California -- especially Silicon Valley -- falls into the sea.

Morro, the leader of the terrorist group hasn't counted on having police Sergeant Adler on the case. His wife was unfortunately for Morro, one of the two women taken. Together with his son -- who's also with the police -- he sets out to crack the case, breaking all the rules and using interrogation means that would have been deemed illegal. He's cool and collected, and speaks his mind -- even when talking to the Director of the FBI!

When his daughter is taken hostage to keep him off, it becomes more personal. Morro and his group are going to regret ever getting on the wrong side of him.