There's A Rather Nasty Germ Going Around....... (The Satan Bug - Alistair MacLean)

Member Name: keeperofthematri

Product:	The Satan Bug - Alistair MacLean
Date:	07/10/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pacy, Interesting Storyline, Well Written

Disadvantages: Some people may dislike the lack of depth in most of the characters

This was one of a number of Alistair MacLean books I bought years ago but then for some reason never got around to reading. I'd seen the film version of it some years ago but couldn't actually remember very much about it so I decided it was time to see what the book was like.


The author:

Alistair MacLean was born in Scotland in 1922 and served in the Royal Navy during World War II. His first novel, HMS Ulysees drew on his wartime experiences and was a success. Specialising in the genres of adventures stories, spy stories and war stories MacLean wrote 28 novels and a collection of short stories during his career. The Satan Bug was the his 9th novel and was originally published under the pseudonym of Ian Stuart. A number of his novels were turned into films featuring major film stars of the day. These included Where Eagles Dare (Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood), Breakheart Pass (Charles Bronson), Bear Island (Donald Sutherland, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee), Ice Station Zebra (Rock Hudson) and The Guns of Navarone (Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and David Niven). Alistair MacLean died in 1987.


Plot:

The Mordon Research Establishment is surrounded by wire fences, guard dogs and ground so flat there isn't even a bush to hide behind. Why? Because it's where Britain's germ warfare research is based.

When head of security, Neil Clandon, is found dead and it's noticed that the time settings on the door of a lab have been altered alarm bells start to ring. Have any germs strains been removed from the lab, and if so, who has taken them?

Initial suspicion falls on Pierre Cavell, Clandon's predecessor who was fired from Mordon and has a history of being "difficult". However, it's soon clear that he has nothing to do with the events at Mordon and due to the fact that he knows the security procedures at Mordon, the staff who works there and various other bits of history and information he's asked to help with authorities with enquiries.

It soon become apparent that a number of botulinum ampoules have been stolen. Exposure to the botulinum germ causes a painful death but the germ itself is oxidised by the atmosphere within 24 hours. If that wasn't bad enough a couple of ampoules of a new polio strain named "The Satan Bug" have been stolen as well. They make the botulinum germ look like a minor irritant as there is no cure for "The Satan Bug" and it doesn't oxidise after exposure to the atmosphere. Once released it would, in time, kill everything on earth.

As Cavell and his colleagues investigate the staff at Mordon it appears that the botulinum and The Satan Bug have fallen into the hands of a madman. Threats are sent to the news agencies demanding that work at Mordon be stopped and that the place be pulled down. The release of the botulinum germ in East Anglia and subsequent deaths there convince the government that the madman means business.

Events step up a gear as Cavell and his colleague are trapped in a shed and a botulinum ampoule smashes on the floor whilst the madman is on his way to London to arrange the release of another ampoule.......


Style:

Unlike some thriller writers Alistair MacLean never created a series of novels featuring one main character, or indeed a group of recurring characters. Despite this his novels do conform to a particular style and some of them share elements in common.

Perhaps the first thing you notice about a MacLean novel is that, generally speaking, any female characters don't usually play much of a major role. If there is any sort of relationship between the "hero" and a female character it's dealt with in rather a matter of fact fashion. You won't find much love, romance or sex in a MacLean novel. This is very evident in "The Satan Bug" when you look at the relationship between Pierre Cavell and his wife Mary. There's no banter or repartee between Pierre and Mary and very little affection shown between them aside from the concern that Mary has for Pierre's physical state of health. They don't act in quite the way that you would expect a newly married couple to act.

In the absence of love and romance most of MacLean's novels concentrate on action and adventure with the main character(s) usually being tested in some way or pushed towards the physical limit of his abilities. A number of novels are set in locations which are either isolated or which experience extreme weather conditions or both.

Some novels are written in the first person and some in the third person. This is one of those which is written in the first person. It's narrated by central character Pierre Cavell.


Opinion:

This book was first published in 1962 and whilst some elements of it have dated other parts of it remain as relevant now as they were in the 60s. As Dr. Gregori, one of the scientists at Mordon points out:- "From a nuclear attack, no matter how intense, there will always be survivors. The Americans have calculated that even a full-scale Soviet attack on their country would cause no more than 70 million deaths, with possibly several million others as a result of radiation. But half the nation would survive, and in a generation or two that nation would rise again. But a nation attacked by the Satan Bug would never rise again: for their would be no survivors."

You only have to look back at the number of lives that the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 caused (around 50 million worldwide) to realise the potential that a virulent strain of manufactured germ bacteria might have if Mother Nature can rack up as many as 50 million deaths without even trying. Stories about germ and biological warfare capability appear in the press from time to time, indicating that this is still an area of concern, and although Russia might be viewed as being more of a friend now than she was in the 60s, there are various Islamic countries that the Western press have had concerns about in the past such as Iraq.

So, what's the book like?

It's a fairly quick read and at 224 pages will take you no more than a couple of hours to get through. MacLean's style of writing is accessible and the language he uses is straightforward and undemanding. There's obviously some science contained within the narrative about research and germ warfare but this is in no way technical and readers should have no problems at all in following those particular aspects of the storyline.

Plotwise there are no "spy devices" in this story. No Aston Martins with ejector seats, miniature listening devices, explosive booby traps or any other sort of "specialist equipment" that you might expect to find in a James Bond / action type of book. Instead MacLean gives us a central character, Pierre Cavell, who isn't in tip-top health by any means. He has a problem with one of his legs and with one of his eyes. This makes him, in one sense, a more human and sympathetic hero. He's an everyman character who arrives at his conclusions through his own powers of observation and his questioning of suspects.

In another sense, however, Cavell does come across as a more superhuman character. As well as his initial physical condition, plus some injuries sustained during the course of the story we, as readers, are meant to accept that he barely has any sleep in the 36 hours or so that the story takes place over and that, close to the climax, he still has enough strength left to put up a degree of resistance to one of the "baddies". I suppose he's a sort of forerunner to Jack Bauer in "24", although this book doesn't have quite so frenetic a pace or quite as much shooting, and, obviously, the action doesn't just take place over the course of a single day.

The rest of the characters in the book are really there to drive the story along and provide suitable suspects in the hunt for the person or persons responsible for the theft of the ampoules from Mordon. We don't really get to know anything much about them as people in their own right because that's not their purpose within the storyline. What the reader does get to know are snippets of information about their family setup, what their financial situation is, what their living arrangements are, what job they perform and whether there might be any dubious incidents in their past. It's this information that Cavell uses to work out how and why the theft took place and who is responsible. The reader can, of course, reach the same conclusion as Cavell if they pay enough attention to the information given and apply a little thought to the situation.

Cavell's fairly likeable as a character and the fact that he's had a problem with authority in the past automatically gives him the reader's sympathy. How many times have we, as people, hated something that our superior's at work have done or said or wished we could tell them to "stick it"? As narrator we obviously get to know him a lot better than the rest of the other characters in the novel and, despite his almost superhuman stamina after being sleep deprived for almost 36 hours, you, as a reader, want him to succeed and stop those germs being released.

On the upside this is a fairly pacy book, with just about enough information given for you to reach the same conclusions that Cavell does. The germ warfare storyline is still as relevant today as it was when the book was written and there are enough characters acting suspiciously to allow the reader to get totally involved in who was behind the theft and why. The only downside, as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that Cavell, who isn't into tip-top physical shape when the book starts can get injured further during the course of the story, have practically no sleep, and still be in a fit enough state to function almost 36 hours later. That perhaps stretches credulity a little too far.

Overall though, if you enjoy a good thriller look no further than this one, and remember, things are never quite what they seem!


Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Harper; New Ed edition (6 May 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0006157505
ISBN-13: 978-0006157502

Summary: The Satan Bug