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A review by rosseroo
Marazan by Nevil Shute
3.0
This debut novel from Shute draws heavily upon his experience as a pilot and sailor in an attempt to create a heavily lacquer of realism for what is more or less a potboiler of a plot. Set in the mid-1920s, the story revolves around Stenning, a WWI pilot who now works for a commercial airline company, ferrying people and planes around England and Europe. One day he crashes badly in a field while flying solo and is rescued by an escaped convict who happens to be hiding out in nearby woods.
Since the guy saved his life, he decides to help him in return, and is soon neck-deep in plans to get the convict out of England on a small boat. Without spoiling the story, this then leads him into even more sinister waters, involving an Italian drug smuggler. To a certain extent, there's a great deal of fun to be had with the idea of the everyman who finds himself in an unusual situation -- very Hitchcockian in that regard. However, the plot leans altogether too heavily on coincidences (for example Stenning has an old Italian flying buddy who just happens to be perfectly placed to help him out.)
If you're prepared to overlook the contrivances, it's a decent little page-turner. Even though it was his first published novel, Shute's already got a keen sense of how to incorporate technical details (here about flying and sailing) in a way that's both interesting and not overwhelming. Probably really only likely to be of interest to fans of Shute.
Since the guy saved his life, he decides to help him in return, and is soon neck-deep in plans to get the convict out of England on a small boat. Without spoiling the story, this then leads him into even more sinister waters, involving an Italian drug smuggler. To a certain extent, there's a great deal of fun to be had with the idea of the everyman who finds himself in an unusual situation -- very Hitchcockian in that regard. However, the plot leans altogether too heavily on coincidences (for example Stenning has an old Italian flying buddy who just happens to be perfectly placed to help him out.)
If you're prepared to overlook the contrivances, it's a decent little page-turner. Even though it was his first published novel, Shute's already got a keen sense of how to incorporate technical details (here about flying and sailing) in a way that's both interesting and not overwhelming. Probably really only likely to be of interest to fans of Shute.