On the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook's successful navigation to the coast of Australia, this is Alistair MacLean's absorbing story of one of Britain's great national heroes, from his obscure beginnings to his sudden and violent death at the age of fifty-one.

 When James Cook was hacked to death by Hawaiian islanders on 14 February 1779, he was already considered the greatest explorer of his age. Born in obscurity but gripped by a boundless passion for new horizons, he became the greatest combination of seaman, explorer, navigator, and cartographer that the world had ever known. He still is. He had driven himself mercilessly, and his men likewise, and yet the surgeon's mate on the Resolution was able to write: 'In every situation he stood unrivalled and alone; on him all eyes were turned; he was our leading star, which at its setting left us involved in darkness and despair'.

 Between 1768 and 1779, Captain Cook circumnavigated the globe three times in voyages of discovery that broke record after record of exploration, endurance, and personal achievement. He explored and charted the coasts of New Zealand, landed in Botany Bay, explored the Paci?c, mapped its islands, and travelled further south than any man before him; he explored the Great Barrier Reef and travelled thousands of miles north to tackle the North-West Passage. He excelled in all aspects of his craft and inspired in his men an affection for him and an enthusiasm for his undertakings that provoked constant loyalty and unfailing endeavour in frequently savage conditions.

 Alistair MacLean presents a graphic and lively account of this great explorer, his three amazing voyages and the adventures that befell him, his crews, and his ships in lands that until he sailed were in many cases unknown. Cook's life was a resounding success and the story of it is a thrilling exemplification of his own description of himself as a man 'who had ambition not only to go farther than anyone had done before, but as far as it was possible for man to go'.

Captain Cook

Someone wants revenge, and the target is the President's plane. When the mission looks impossible, the world calls upon UNACO.

 The world's most ingenious international criminal is bent on revenge.

 Two men with the same name and the same face

 And six of the most important men in the world aboard the President's plane.

 Who pushed the button that destroyed Air Force One?

 Why must everyone be killed?

 Are they really dead?

 In this game of deception only UNACO and its daring team can be trusted to join the gamble - but can they win?

Air Force One is Down

An undercover mission beyond the Iron Curtain to recover a defected scientist goes disastrously wrong - a classic early Cold War thriller from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.

 Doctor Jennings, a noted scientist in possession of a precious secret, has gone over to the Soviet Union. It is Michael Reynolds' mission to get him back.

 To penetrate behind the Iron Curtain and reach his quarry will be difficult enough, especially with the fearsome Hungarian Secret Police watching his every move.

 Then, from inside that terrifying organisation, comes the offer of help - the question is: can it be trusted?

The Last Frontier

The classic World War II thriller from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.

 Winter 1943, and US General Carnaby has been captured by the Nazis. He is being held in a fortress high in the Bavarian Alps. headquarters of the German Secret Service, and in his head are plans for the invasion of Normandy.

 A special team of British commandos, a US Army ranger and a female secret agent is hurriedly assembled. Their mission: parachute into the area, break in to the alpine Castle, and rescue General Carnaby before the Germans can interrogate him.

 But unknown to all, there is another mission, and someone in the group is a traitor.

Where Eagles Dare

The tense tale of a deadly terrorist plot set in Holland, from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.

 AMSTERDAM AIRPORT HAS DISAPPEARED

 BLACKMAILThe mass of water in its place is the work of the FFF - an Irish terrorist group who want to force Britain's hand.

 SUBTERFUGEThe Dutch call in Detective Lieutenant van Effen - feared interrogator and undercover intimate of the criminal Krakers gang - to sabotage the FFF's plan.

 DISASTERIf van Effen fails and the FFF get control of the vital dyke, either Holland will sink beneath the sea or Britain will be awash with blood.

Floodgate

Gripping and tense story of secret agents, even more secret government facilities, and a deadly virus, from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.

 HELL IS ABOUT TO BE UNLEASHED.

 Five strands of high-voltage wire, 200 yards of bare ground and double barbed wire fences patrolled by armed guards with dogs separated Mordon Research Centre from the outside world.

 Yet behind the locked doors of E block, a scientist lies dead, and a new toxin of terrifying power has vanished.

The Satan Bug

The classic tale of espionage set in Cold War Europe, where the world's greatest circus acrobat must break into an impenetrable fortress, from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.

 Bruno Wildermann of the Wrinfield Circus is the world's greatest trapeze artist, a clairvoyant with near-supernatural powers and an implacable enemy of the East European regime that arrested his family and murdered his wife.

 The CIA needs such a man, and recruits Bruno for an impossible raid - on the impreganble Lubylan fortress, where his family is held.

 Under cover of a circus tour, Bruno prepares to return to his homeland. But before the journey even begins a murderer strikes twice. Somewhere in the circus there is a communist agent with orders to stop Bruno at any cost.

Circus

The 50th anniversary edition of this classic World War 2 adventure set in south-east Asia.

 February, 1942: Singapore lies burning and shattered, defenceless before the conquering hordes of the Japanese Army, as the last boat slips out of the harbour into the South China Sea. On board are a desperate group of people, each with a secret to guard, each willing to kill to keep that secret safe.

 Who or what is the dissolute Englishman, Farnholme? The elegant Dutch planter, Van Effen? The strangely beautiful Eurasian girl, Gudrun? The slave trader, Siran? The smiling and silent Nicholson who is never without his gun? Only one thing is certain: the rotting tramp steamer is a floating death trap, carrying a cargo of human TNT.

 Dawn sees them far out to sea but with the first murderous dive bombers already aimed at their ship. Thus begins an ordeal few are to survive, a nightmare succession of disasters wrought by the hell-bent Japanese, the unrelenting tropical sun and by the survivors themselves, whose hatred and bitterness divides them one against the other.

 Written after the acclaimed and phenomenally successful HMS Ulysses and The Guns of Navarone, this was MacLean's third book, and it contains all the hallmarks of those other two classics. Rich with stunning visual imagery, muscular narrative power, brutality, courage and breathtaking excitement, the celebration of the 50th anniversary of South by Java Head offers readers a long-denied chance to enjoy one of the greatest war novels ever written.

South by Java Head

Cela ne sera pas si beau dans ma nécrologie ", a déclaré Schaffer.

J'ai écrit chaque livre en trente-cinq jours à plat - juste pour terminer la chose sacrée.

Je ne suis pas un romancier, je suis un conteur. Il n'y a pas d'art dans ce que je fais, pas de mystique.

Bowman lui tourna le dos et commença à fouiller l'endroit méthodiquement et exhaustif. Lorsque l'on cherche à n'importe quel endroit, que ce soit une caravane gitane ou un manoir baronial, méthodiquement et exhaustif, il faut le détruire complètement dans le processus. Ainsi, de manière ordonnée et systématique, Bowman a commencé à réduire la caravane de Czerda à une ruine totale.

Elle avait le meilleur type de courage, ou peut-être le pire, le genre qui vous cause des ennuis.

Il n'y a pas d'hommes courageux et d'hommes lâches dans le monde, mon fils. Il n'y a que des hommes courageux. Naître, vivre, mourir - qui prend suffisamment de courage en soi, et plus que suffisant. Nous sommes tous des hommes courageux et nous avons tous peur, et ce que le monde appelle un homme courageux, lui aussi est courageux et effrayé comme le reste d'entre nous. Seulement, il est courageux pendant cinq minutes de plus.

...les hommes de l'Ulysse n'avaient pas à avoir honte...beaucoup avaient découvert, ou découvraient, que le point de non-retour n'était pas nécessairement le bord du précipice : ce pouvait être le fond de la vallée, le début de la longue ascension sur la pente opposée, et lorsqu'un homme avait entamé cette ascension, il ne regardait jamais en arrière vers l'autre côté.

Je ne suis pas un écrivain né et je n'aime pas écrire.

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