Sorry for the slow posting recently on this blog ... usual reasons of work etc.However, I thought I should do a quick shout out to the sterling work of fellow Blogger and spy thriller fan Phil Eastwood who runs the Desmond Bagley Running Blind website.
Checking on it recently I also took the opportunity to read his new(ish) blog covering the works of UK-thriller writer Bagley more extensively, beyond the single book covered in his main website.
It's definitely worth checking out that he's added a series of podcasts by his friend and fellow Bagley-ite Nigel Alefounder, who runs a Bagley fansite. They're pretty interesting - I finished a couple of months ago my copy of Running Blind, having not read it before, and it's a great story.
The podcasts look in some detail at all aspects of Bagley's life; others look at the research techniques employed (like Deighton famously did) by Bagley to provide real verisimilitude to his stories; and a look at the silver screen adaptations of Bagley's works. Worth checking them out; they're on iTunes on or the site linked to above.
Whilst in my university days gaining undergraduate degree, we as a group of students chipped in coins to buy novels by Ian Fleming and Alistair McClean. We were impressed by the erudite style of Alistair MacLean while appreciating the Bond Character created by Fleming. Maclean as an ex-teacher was impressive in his narrative, and his novel, The Guns of Navarone for us, the WWII history enthusiasts was a very welcome novel, and the film version of it preceding the first Bond film release was a joy to be shared by watching it, so much so that we watched it many times!
ReplyDeleteMy busy postgraduate years in USA in early 1970s were spent in borrowing Desmond Bagley books from the local library near my apartment. This small library stacked a number of shelves of thrillers as the librarian there , a nice American lady was a great fan of thrillers. The first Bagley book I read was Freedom Trap which was recommended by this librarian, after she chatted about Bagley’s novels. For some reason Running Blind, a better thriller in my opinion than Freedom Novel was not considered ahead of Freedom Trap, which became the film version, The Mackintosh Man in which Paul Newman gave a very creditable performance. Bagley’s gripping thrillers were a testament to his versatility as a writer.