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Fear Is the Key

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Fear Is the Key

By: Alistair MacLean
Narrated by: Jonathan Oliver
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About this listen

 A classic novel of ruthless revenge set in the steel jungle of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico – and on the sea bed below it.

A sunken DC-3 lying on the Caribbean floor. Its cargo: ten million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in gold ingots, emeralds and uncut diamonds guarded by the remains of two men, one woman and a very small boy.

The fortune was there for the taking, and ready to grab it were a blue-blooded oilman with his own offshore rig, a gangster so cold and independent that even the Mafia couldn’t do business with him and a psychopathic hired assassin.

Against them stood one man, and those were his people, those skeletons in their watery coffin. His name was Talbot, and he would bury his dead – but only after he had avenged their murders.

©1961 Devoran Trustees Lts (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Action & Adventure Crime Thrillers Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Suspense Technothrillers Thriller Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Crime Mafia Detective Technology Caribbean

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Critic reviews

‘Guns, gangsters, sudden death, terrific action on land and under the sea … Fear is the Key has a plot that will require a lot of willpower to stop you looking at the last page.’
Sunday Mirror

‘Keeps tension at screaming point.’
Daily Express

‘Excitement and violence … the pace never slackens.’
Scotsman
All stars
Most relevant  

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Oliver’s other performances? How does this one compare?

The Maclean Classic given the audible treatment. This delivery is much better from Oliver, although it has to be said that there are much fewer foreign accents in this book, when compared to the poor performance in 'The Guns of Navarone" where he really struggled. The producers/editor should take a some of the blame for that too. At the very end of the book, his narration (under the circumstances) is very good. However, he still needs to work on his fluidity.

Is it work a credit?... Yes.

Hoping for 'When Eight Bells Toll' sometime soon!

Much better from Oliver

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An edge of your seat thriller from the sadly missed 'Daddy' of all thriller writers!!

Edge of your seat thriller!

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Good plot, great build up to the twist on the end. Nice and clear delivery.

great listen!

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I first read the book when I was 13 years old and saw the film in my local cinema about 5 times. One of the greatest car chases ever filmed. And what a terrific adventure story to follow. I had waited for quite some time for an audio version and was tragically, at the age of 62, like that 13 year old boy excited to be reunited with one of my heroes. Although, a sheer delight to rekindle my love of this wonderful set of characters and the genius of Maclean's writing, I hate to say that Oliver's performance is pretty dire. Don't let it put you off though. This is a story so worth sitting back and sharing time with.

Nobody did it better than Maclean

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Read this first over 50 years ago and still as exciting as my first read. Also an interesting bit of social history and so much better than Bond.

One of his best.

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I struggled to finish, didn't enjoy the narrator and ended up stopping half way through

not great

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An action packed story, as you would expect from AM, but I found the narration poorly accomplished. The narrator seems to drone in my ears, and the characterisation is a dull monologue of various different voices.
Such a pity, the novel deserves more.

Deserving more...

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