There were only fifteen passengers for the British Airways flight at Victoria Airport on the island of Mahe in the oceanic republic of the Seychelles. But one olone made the others seem insignificant by the sheer splendour of her physical presence.
Once aboard she becomes a brutal and fanatical terrorist, spearhead of an international organisation intent on holding the world's powers to ransom. The stench of death is only a bullet away as terrorist chief Peter Stride takes up the bloody trail of destruction.
The search for the power brain controlling the shadowy destroyers pits raw force against piracy and naked violence. And the explosive passions aroused by the beautiful hijacker reach an forgettable climax in the sun-scorched deserts of Galilee.

Please:

• make a journal entry when the book arrives
• try to read it within a month
• ask the next on the list for his/her address*)
• make a new journal entry when finished (short review)
• wrap it up well and send it on.
• PM me in case of any problems/unforseen delay

*)Hint: Ask for the address of the next on the list before you have finished reading; sometimes it takes a while before you get a reply. Some people don't get PM's. You may have to look for an e-mail address on their profile, or leave an ISO message on the forum. Cheapest postage rate is fine.

Happy reading!

Here is the posting list:-

1. Book-man (Germany)...can post Int'l -»»»»»» 3/Oct/2006
2. perryfan (USA)...can post Int'l
3. back to me....

Posted to Book-man-8 »»»»»»3 Oct'2006, enjoy!!!

I just got it in the mail. Thanks for sharing and sending!

This book was first published in 1979. And I felt this nearly on every page. Those thrillers don't age well... It's in fact a good story, but it's a little bit outdated. It has a lot of a "James-Bond-feeling" in it. What I liked is the start in the Seychelles, with the mention of the "Reef Hotel", a place I stayed in the mid-seventies! But it's good to read such a book. It confirms, that if you own today's thrillers, it's better to release them through BookCrossing, because 20 or 30 years from now you won't read them again...

RELEASE NOTES:

It's off to "Perryfran"!

Received today - thanks book-man-8 for sending it so quickly and menalima for including me. I have about 3 other bookrings in front of this so it may take a few weeks before I get to it. I have enjoyed other Smith novels so I'm looking forward to this one - we'll see how it holds up.

Update 12/13/06: Will start reading this today. Hope to have it finished in a week or two, time permitting.

I agree that this novel is somewhat dated. However, even though the novel involves countries, situations, and politics that have changed since its publication in 1979, I still found the story to be full of action and appeal and a pretty good thriller. After all, a lot has changed regarding terrorists, airport security, etc. since 9/11. I especially liked the beginning sequence with the hijacking of the airliner and rescue in South Africa as well as the rescue of Stride’s kidnapped daughter. I will admit that the plot was a little bit predictable, especially in the revelation of the identity of “Caliph” but overall, I enjoyed the book. It’s been a few years since I have read any Smith novels but I also enjoyed and would recommend “The Eye of the Tiger” and “Shout at the Devil”.

One other tidbit was provided in the novel that I found interesting: information about the coco-de-mer. This is the “grotesque fruit” native to the Seychelles referred to as “love nuts” because the double globes of the fruit look like a pair of human buttocks. These were used by the terrorists to smuggle grenades into the hijacked airliner. I had never heard of this fruit so of course I looked it up on the internet and found an interesting photo:


I will be sending this back to menalima soon. Thanks for including me in this bookring.


In the mail to menalima 12/23/06.

Book is safely home, thanks to everyone that participated:)