A Thrill a Minute Trivia Quiz

Answer: Desmond Bagley

In "Running Blind" (1970), we are introduced to Alan Stewart, a former spy who had once worked for MI-6. He is coerced by his former boss to do a simple mission. All he has to do is drop a parcel off to a man in Iceland. Why him? Well, his girlfriend lives there, and he knows the country so well and speaks the language fluently.

Right from the start he is attacked by a KGB agent and he soon finds himself in a desperate race across one of the most desolate and inhospitable landscapes on the planet, while dealing with the realization that his former boss is a double agent.

Answer: Desmond Bagley

Joseph Reardon, in "The Freedom Trap" (1971), is a very clever thief who's been talked into accepting a job by the British government to help them destroy a gang, known as the Scarperers. This is a mob that had gained considerable notoriety breaking out long term prisoners from prison. He is set up to rob a postman of a package of diamonds. It's a crime that will incarcerate Reardon for a considerable length of time and the diamonds he's stolen, should be an attractive proposition to draw out the Scarperers.

Reardon sees this as an easy score but the deal soon goes awry when he finds out that the Scarperers have their own agenda for him and his life is now on the line.

Answer: Desmond Bagley

"The Enemy" (1977) opens up with Malcom Jaggard appearing, for all the world, to be a boring old economist but, what his girlfriend doesn't know is that he's an undercover British intelligence officer. That girlfriend, also the love of his life, is Penny Ashton, with whom he plans to spend the weekend at her parents house.

However, things start to go pear shape when Penelope's sister is attacked and seriously injured. Jaggard decides to use his contacts and do a little digging into Penelope's parents' background, only to find that that information is highly classified.

While he tries to find out who Penelope really is, he is informed that he must protect her family at all costs. Who is Penelope really? Who are her parents and what danger lies in wait for him?

Answer: Jack Higgins

"The Eagle Has Landed" (1975) opens up with the successful rescue, by a crack German unit, of Hitler's close ally, Benito Mussolini, from a highly fortified Italian prison. As the plan had worked so well the idea was floated to run a similar mission in England except, instead of rescuing someone, the plan this time will be the audacious kidnapping of the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and have him ferried across to the Third Reich.

Answer: Jack Higgins

"A Prayer for the Dying", which was published in 1973, introduces us to Martin Fallon, an IRA hitman whose last mission goes horribly wrong, and he winds up killing a busload of schoolchildren. He flees to England seeking to find the resources to escape to the United States and vowing never to kill again.

He's coerced into one last job for a local gangster in exchange for passports and cash. He completes his mission, but the murder is witnessed by a local priest. Fallon immediately goes into the church, enters the confessional and confesses his sin, thereby invoking the sacramental seal and ensuring the priest's silence. That, however, represents a loose end for the local gangster and he orders the death of the priest. Fallon refuses, and he now has the gangster, the police and the IRA pursuing him.

Answer: Jack Higgins

Liam Devlin, a former IRA hitman, is the main protagonist in "Touch the Devil" (1982) and he is looking to break his best friend, Martin Brosnan, out of a French prison. Not only is Brosnan both a scholar and a killer, he is also the best man that Devlin knows to help him to track down an IRA terrorist named Frank Barry, before Barry can steal the plans to the latest NATO missile system and deliver it to the Russians.

Answer: Craig Thomas

What do you do in a situation such as the one described in "Rat Trap" (1976)? You have a plane that's been hijacked by terrorists. These hijackers demand the release of a certain prisoner. In the process of transporting that prisoner to the airport, the prisoner escapes. As the time to the delivery deadline draws near that same prisoner is located but, in the attempt to recapture him, he is killed. What do you do?

You replace him with an imposter with the hope of getting inside the plane and upsetting the hijacker's scheme. There is only one problem with this plan... there is an element within the hijacking team that has no plan for any negotiation to take place and their ultimate aim is an ending that is decidedly violent.

Answer: Craig Thomas

"Firefox" (1977) takes us to the heights of the Cold War, where the Russians have developed the MiG-31, a jet fighter that is far superior to anything that the Americans and the British possess. The Russian jet is blessed with hypersonic speed, above Mach-5, stealth technology and a thought guided weapons system that will enable the Soviets to rule the skies.

The CIA has decided that they need to have one of these planes. Major Mitchell Gant, an extraordinary pilot, is called upon to steal it.

Answer: Craig Thomas

The setting for "Winter Hawk" (1987) is the eve of the signing of a historic agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. This pact will significantly reduce the amount of nuclear arms that both nations are holding on Earth. "Earth" is significant because there is nothing in the agreement about weapons in space and, on this same day, the Soviets are set to launch a highly secret space-based laser battle station. What the Russians don't know is that it is not as secret as they thought... the Americans know about it, but they have no proof.

Their dilemma now is how can they (the Americans) sign a treaty that will be putting their nation at a great disadvantage.

Answer: Alistair MacLean

An American weather station, the eponymous "Ice Station Zebra" (1963), in the Arctic has been severely damaged by fire and a US submarine is racing beneath the ice to rescue the survivors. In truth, the station was a CIA listening post that had received a package containing the location of every US nuclear site.

The Russians know this, and they are desperate to get their hands on it. What the Americans don't know is that the Soviets have already infiltrated the station and were the cause of the fire. Those very same Russian spies have now been rescued and are on board the submarine... and their mission is not yet complete.

Answer: Alistair MacLean

"Breakheart Pass" (1974) is MacLean's attempt at a western styled thriller. The action takes place on board a train that is making a perilous journey through the Sierra Nevada mountains at the height of a blizzard. Among the passengers on board the train are the Nevada State governor, his daughter, who is an infectious diseases expert, and a US Marshall transporting a dangerous criminal. Bodies soon start to appear and it becomes evident that no-one is who they appear to be and the lines between good and bad have been distinctly blurred (oxymoron intended).

Answer: Alistair MacLean

In "Where Eagles Dare" (1967), a group of commandos are assigned the task of rescuing a US Brigadier General, who has been prominent in the planning of the assault on the Western Front. The General has been captured by the Germans and is being held in the impenetrable Schloss Adler, a fortress built on top of a mountain with only a single, but heavily guarded, entry point.

When members of the commando team start getting murdered, we soon realize that there is more to this mission than meets the eye.