The Satan Bug

Hello Everyone! Welcome, or welcome back to my blog. Today I am back with another book review. The last one I had posted was about The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Along with being science fiction, it was also a bit of a thriller. So today I decided to go with and out and out action thriller book that I hope you will enjoy a lot. One of my favorites from the Master of Action and Suspense – The Satan Bug, By Alistair MacLean.

About the Author:

Alistair MacLean was born in 1922 and was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. His father was a Scot minister. In 1941, when he was eighteen years old, he joined the Royal Navy. For two and a half years, he served aboard a cruiser; it later gave him the background and idea to write his first novel, an outstanding documentary of war at sea – the bestseller HMS Ulysses. After World War II, he applied for and received an English Honours degree at Glasgow University, after which he became a school master. In 1983, he was awarded a D.Litt. from the same university.

His writing skills landed him the title of one of the top-ten bestselling authors in the world, and the top selling Briton, by 1970. Currently he is recognized as one of the outstanding writers of the 20^th Century. His most popular novels The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, Fear is the Key, and Ice Station Zebra have been turned into films. Apart from these, he wrote twenty-five bestsellers which have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Alistair MacLean died in 1987 at his home in Switzerland.

Review:

The Satan Bug is his eighth novel, and one of my favourites. It is a gripping, action-packed novel that move at lightning-fast pace, and is sure to capture total attention of anyone who starts reading it. The thing which this book lacks – fortunately, in this case – is a lot of description, which does not slow down the pace of the story. It is not one of those books that fall into the genre of a thriller, but in the end makes you plough through it.

The story revolves around two main things – The Mordon Research Centre, and Special Agent Pierre Caville. Mordon is a big, eyesore of a building, that looks more like a medieval torture chamber than anything else. Electric barbed wires, highly trained security , Doberman Pinschers, and a sign which simply says that trespassers will be shot completes the image. A little outside London, Mordon is believed by common public to be a production center medicines and vaccines. But little do they know, Mordon produces the stuff against which medicines and vaccines are produced.

In the center, a certain virus, called the Satan Bug, is produced. With terrifying powers of destruction and virtually no antidote, this virus is capable of finishing off the world’s population within months. It is kept safely locked up in a cupboard in a laboratory in the E-block. Despite five strands of high voltage wire, 200 yards of bare ground, and everything else, Mordon Research Center has been broken into. And, a scientist has been murdered behind the locked doors of E-block.

After some time, a letter is delivered, threatening to release the virus unless its demands are met and Mordon is destroyed. This is where special agent Cavell comes in. He has helped solve many dangerous missions till date, and must solve this one too. But none of his training and experience could have helped him to deal with such a situation. He is given just twenty-four hours to do it all. Solve the mystery of the break-in, identify and capture the person responsible, and prevent a plague-born apocalypse.

This is a books for all action-thriller lovers that is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seats. It is also very different in the sense that most of the action takes place in a small area near Mordon, instead of all over the city or country. All the different characters in the books have distinct roles and play their part perfectly. It makes the book an excellent read, and not just for the first time.

So, that’s it for today, guys! One main reason why I chose to review The Satan Bug was because it speaks of certain circumstances that we might have heard before. It is interesting for me to see that Alistair MacLean in 1962 had imagined a situation that he well may have considered to be purely fictional. But, we are now actually experiencing a slightly moderate version of the same nowadays.

So, I hope that all of this inspires you to take up this book. I will keep posting many such reviews on the most interesting books. If you haven’t already checked out my other posts, please do so. Also, do follow my blog. It’s fun, and it’s free and you will get notified each time I post something. If you liked this post, stay tuned for more; if you didn’t, still do the same. Who knows? Maybe you will like the next one. Au revoir!