NekkidBlogger Bookblog » Desmond Bagley

The Tightrope Men, by Desmond Bagley

Nekkidblogger — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:26:04 +0000

The Tightrope Men is another of the high quality, exceptionally well written and very tightly plotted classic thrillers by Desmond Bagley. Bagley’s writing is among the best ever in the thriller genre.

Giles Denison has a strange experience. His life is turned upside down when he awakes to find himself in a luxurious hotel in Oslo and, peering into the bathroom mirror, discovers the face of another man!

Denison has been kidnapped from his flat in London and transformed into famous Finnish scientist, Dr Harold Feltham Meyrick. Compelled to adjust to his new persona (including meeting his daughter) and to play out the role assigned to him by his captors, he embarks on a dangerous escapade from Norway to Finland and across the border into Soviet Russia.

As many other Bagley thrillers, this too has a plot that actually twists and characters that actually develop without too much unnecessary detail. The great use of geographical description – giving you the feeling that you are there, looking, seeing the place, along with the fast pace keep the pages turning. The Tightrope Men is another great read from an author who deserves to be much better known than he is.

Running Blind, by Desmond Bagley – classic thriller

Nekkidblogger — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:28:42 +0000

Running Blind is another of the thrillers by English thriller master Desmond Bagley that has been made into a movie. It is a great, very suspenseful roller-coaster of a novel that tied me to me chair. The twisting plot in this book keeps you glued almost from the first page. I actually read it in two sittings!

It all begins with a simple errand – a package to deliver. “It’ll be simple”, they said at the Department. “You’ll just be a messenger boy.” But to Alan Stewart, on a deserted road in Iceland with a murdered man at his feet, it looks anything but simple. Almost immediately, he finds himself in a maze of bluffs and double-bluffs. Set amongst some of the most dramatic scenery in the world, Stewart and his girlfriend, Erin, are faced with treacherous natural obstacles and deadly threats, as they battle to carry out the mission.

Stewart escapes a very cunning trap and in doing so stumbles, almost by accident, on the scary possibility that a top official in British intelligence may actually be a Russian mole. What follows is a spellbinding sequence of action involving the mole, the Russians, some stray CIA agents in fascinating pursuit all across Iceland.

Running Blind culminates in a shootout that contains a huge surprise, and a shocking conclusion.

An excellent thriller! The language and descriptions are excellent, the plot full of surprising twists, and the suspense almost intolerable. Running Blind moves at a faster pace than the average Bagley novel. Still very well worth reading!

High Citadel, by Desmond Bagley

Nekkidblogger — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:00:43 +0000

Desmond Bagley is an almost forgetten English master thriller writer. But his books are still very well worth reading – elegant, extremely suspenseful, good characters and smart plots. High Citadel is one of his best.

A plane is forced down in the Andes. The survivors – a pilot, two businessmen, an ex-president, his bodyguard and his niece, a school teacher, and two academics – are forced to battle altitude sickness, freezing temperatures, and a band of Communist guerillas.

And as they try to organize their effort to improve their situation, we start to find out that the people involved are not what they say they are. Each has their own past. And, in addition, it soon becomes evident that the survivors have a traitor in their midst.

They manage to get down to a mining camp. There another bad surprise awaits them. What follows is tense, tightly scripted action. The party of survivors gets holed up on one side of a gorge, trying their best to holding off attackers with limited weapons and ammunition and a homemade crossbow. Their hopes rest on a small number who have volunteered to climb the other side of the mountain looking for help.

Every character in High Citadel plays an important role. The action is very tense, and the suspense is present all the time. This is one of Bagley’s best books, well written, exciting and a great read. It is highly recommended for all thriller fans.