Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. A trip to a remote island in the north Atlantic, with a film crew on board, ostensibly to make a movie. Crewmen poisoned by a deadly chemical called aconite. Almost every one of the film crew are being blackmailed for some reason or other. These are just some of the sub-plots in this very complicated story. What is the name of this book, written in 1971?
2. A superb athlete tightrope-walking on an icy cable, into a Russian secret installation to rescue his family, oh, and also save the world from total annihilation. Throw in a few murders, a couple of kidnappings and a very attractive CIA agent and you have the plot of the novel released in 1975.
3. In 1970, Alastair MacLean published a novel about gypsy life, and deaths- lots of them! Throw in a very over-the-top aristocrat, gourmet, and all-round busybody with the impressive name of Le Grand Duc Charles de Croytor, who drives a very conspicuous Rolls Royce. Bullfights with killer bulls, Chinese arms-dealers- all are part of the many threads in this intriguing novel. Its title?
4. A luxury cruise ship touring around the Caribbean is hijacked by pirates and is forced to accept some unexpected passengers and cargo, even a coffin! The baddies use the cruise ship to intercept another ship laden with gold. A missile called the Twister inspires terror. Which book?
5. The start of this novel tells of a cargo aircraft being shot down in the Gulf of Mexico. Jump forward a couple of years to a shootout and kidnapping in a courtroom, a rich businessman, and an oil-rig in the Gulf. Add in the theft of a small submarine, and you have most of the plot of one of my favourite MacLean books. Which one is it?
6. Our hero, Michael Reynolds, is trying to free a captured British scientist from the clutches of the Hungarian secret police. He has assistance from the Hungarian underground resistance, but still has to match wits with the formidable Colonel Szendrô and his henchman. Reynolds is drugged with mind-bending substances, indulges in hand-to-hand combat on top of a train, in a blizzard, has to be rescued from impossible situations, but still manages to get missile scientist, Harold Jennings, out of the country. What is the British title of this one?
7. In 1980, MacLean released a book set in US and Canadian oilfields. Pipelines were sabotaged, pumping stations were bombed and people were being murdered at regular intervals. Enter troubleshooters Dermott and Mackenzie, and their boss, Jim Brady, who are kept off-balance by the villains. With hundreds of miles of pipeline to protect, and millions of dollars of equipment, plus the oilmen themselves, their task seems hopeless. Which book, which shares the name of a real North American location, am I describing?
8. A NATO ship is stationed in the Aegean Sea when a jet loaded with nuclear weapons crashes into the sea. Does the crash have any connection to the sinking of a millionaire's yacht, in the same area, just minutes later? Why does the US President call the ship's captain? This was Alistair MacLean's last novel- what was it called?
9. Amsterdam's main airport is flooded and a Northern Ireland terrorist group claims responsibility. Can undercover cop, Peter Van Effen, infiltrate the group and survive? Dykes being bombed, and fanatics holding the low-lying Netherlands to ransom. Name the novel!
10. In a very brazen moment, the US President and a pair of Arab royal personages are kidnapped and held hostage. The asking price- $500 million! Also held captive are many journalists and FBI agents, with our hero Paul Revson posing as a cameraman. Messages and weapons are passed to and fro via an ambulance, and various other devious methods. The name of the book is the same as the location of most of the action, so what is the name of the book?
Source: Author
ozzz2002
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
LadyCaitriona before going online.
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