Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. MacLean's first novel was about the World War II Allied convoys across the Arctic, terminating at Murmansk in northern Russia. German U-boats, aerial attacks and the weather ensured that the life expectancy for personnel on these ships was short. The story centres on the battle cruiser that was ultimately responsible for the protection of the other 32 ships, but which, despite her best attempts, could not stop the fleet being slowly decimated. Only five vessels completed the voyage, most suffering terrible damage.
What was the name of this novel?
2. This novel tells of a secret government biological research facility in Wiltshire, and what happens when dangerous substances fall into the wrong hands. Our hero, Pierre Clavell, only has a couple of days to save the population of England and the world from total annihilation. What is the name of MacLean's 1962 release?
3. A mixed lot of passengers who survived their ship being sunk include a retired brigadier, an old, very British biddy, a Dutchman who may be a goody or a baddie, a Muslim priest, a young soldier suffering from battle fatigue, two nurses, various sailors and officers and a two-year old boy. Also aboard are two very precious cargoes that the Japanese will stop at nothing to get their hands on.
Name that novel.
4. A Formula One champion driver appears to lose his nerve on the track, a young lady who still believes in him when everyone else has seemingly deserted him, unexplained accidents, drug trafficking and very fast cars. This short paragraph could only be describing which book?
5. Interpol's Paul Sherman is on the trail of drugs in the Netherlands, but the bad guys know he is coming. Crooked cops, chases on barges in the Zuider Zee, attractive nuns, barrel organs and a grisly murder by pitchfork all join in to make this, in my opinion, one of the best thrillers he wrote. Name it.
6. The San Andreas Fault, the White Wolf Fault, and other earthquake faults are the focus of this 1977 MacLean offering. A tenuous connection to a town in the Philippines, a castle in the Californian hills, a hydrogen bomb with the rather innocuous name of 'Aunt Sally', a police sergeant and his son whose family are kidnapped, an actor doubling for the US President. What book title connects all of these things?
7. A submarine plunging towards the bottom under the Arctic ice, a burnt-out weather reporting post with two Russian spies lurking, film of American missile bases en route to Moscow. Dr Carpenter is the hero in this book, but what is it called?
8. Set in the Scottish Western Highlands and Islands, the premise of this 1966 novel is the hijacking of five bullion cargo vessels. Helicopter crashes, kidnapped wives and daughters, a Greek millionnaire and his battered wife, searches of remote islands, and a showdown in a lonely boathouse.
Which book?
9. MacLean's sole foray into the US Wild West period was released in 1974. As with most of his novels, all is not as it seems. A mission to help the cholera-stricken Fort Humboldt hides more sinister undertones, involving a convicted murderer, hostile Indians, a band of outlaws, and a Nevada governor. Which book, which was made into a movie starring Charles Bronson, was this?
10. MacLean's early works were all war stories, overlain with treachery, traitors, and heroes that were the strong, silent type. One such hero was Mallory, who was the leader of a small group of brave men in MacLean's only sequel. The first book involved a island just off the Turkish coast, that controlled access to the Aegean shipping lanes. The sequel involved the same island, but was written over ten years later. What was the name of the island?
Source: Author
ozzz2002
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
