Seawitch

by Alistair MacLean

The tale of murder and revenge set on a remote oil rig, from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.

SEAWITCH

The massive oil-rig is the hub of a great empire, the pride of its billionaire owner.

Lord Worth, predatory and ruthless, has clawed his way to great wealth. Now, he cares for only two things - Seawitch and his two high-spirited daughters. One man knows this:

John Cronkite, trouble-shooter for the world's top oilmen and Worth's ex-victim, is spoiling for revenge.

In one terrifying week, Worth's world explodes.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Adventure, Mystery, Suspense, Crime, Action

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Alistair Stuart MacLean (Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair MacGill-Eain), the son of a Scots Minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941, at the age of eighteen, he joined the Royal Navy; two and a half years spent aboard a cruiser were to give him the background for HMS Ulysses, his first novel, the outstanding documentary novel on the war at sea. After the war he gained an English Honours degree at Glasgow University, and became a schoolmaster. In 1983, he was awarded a D. Litt. from the same university.

Maclean is the author of twenty-nine world bestsellers and recognised as an outstanding writer in his own genre. Many of his titles have been adapted for film - The Guns of the Navarone, The Satan Bug, Force Ten from Navarone, Where Eagles Dare and Bear Island are among the most famous.

Reviews

[Catyj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Alistair MacLean novel that I first read as a teenager (my father's selection of books has a lot to answer for). Again, there are no surprises. Our hero is beyond skill and beyond reproach. His love interest is weak and flat and silly, and just a tad whiny. The bad guys have destruction of epic proportions in mind. And the US military is easily flummoxed and deceived. Seawitch remains another of my favourite MacLean novels - alongside Circus, The Golden Gate and River of Death.
Alistair MacLean (1922-1987) brought us a swathe of novels with heroes who go beyond, who dare. At least 18 of his books have been made into movies, including Force 10 from Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra, The Guns of Navarone, and Lawrence of Arabia. I will possibly always like MacLean's novels, simply for the break from reality they provide. I don't particularly like the characters but for me, reading these books isn't about the characters, it is simply about the action and that is pretty much non-stop all the way.
:)

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amazing 18 of Alistair MacLean's books have been turned into movies, sadly this is not one of them. The plot was a bit lackluster, implausible and lacking the suspense and drama that is is usually associated with MacLean's books. None of the main characters had much depth and were all unremarkable.

It's a quick adventure yarn at less than 300 pages. Enjoyable enough but don't expect a whole lot from it.

[Piers Platt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love "Where Eagles Dare," but Seawitch is...frankly, a mess. Characters are one-dimensional, plot stretches credulity at several points, and I honestly thought my ebook was corrupted and missing a few pages. Then I realized that no, the author actually intended to wrap up the entire book's plot with a five page climax. Skip it.

[Glen · Rating 1 out of 5]

loathed the smug "heroes",particularly Lord Worth.a rare misfire from Maclean

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. The absolute worst MacLean book I've read. A rushed, unbelievable plot, cardboard characters who are also annoying, ramped up sexism, and just lazy writing. I won't be revisiting this one again.

[Lenny Husen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clearly the Alcoholism had set in during the writing of this one. I love MacLean and enjoyed the book for the old-fashioned early 20th Century romanticism/sexism but it was a boring read.

[Daniel Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a bestseller in 1977? Wow. I guess the death of Elvis just numbed everyone's common sense. The plot was boring and predictable and the characters were flat. I only finished it because our Internet was out.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't say that this was my favourite MacLean novel - it sort of felt a bit of mess, with chapters jumping between different viewpoints and lots of characters for such a short novel. I'm not sure I completely bought into the plot either, although a bit of nonsense now and again is usually fine by me!

Basically, a bunch of rich and powerful oil magnates (assorted Americans, Russians and Cubans) decide to gang up on another rich and powerful oil magnate (who happens to be British) who is getting too rich and powerful. They set a rough, tough rogue of a man onto him, who from the off totally ignores their orders that there should be no violence. He promptly kidnaps the daughters of his target, who has already found out about the plot, stolen some weapons from the Army and has fortified his super-dooper oilrig. Step in two discredited, but obviously superb ex-policemen, who are in love with the two daughters and who come up with a plot to get them back and foil the bad guys. This seems to involve getting trapped on the oilrig, being shot and easily killing off quite a lot of people. Everything sort of comes out ok in the end, although the body count is astronomically high and nuclear weapons are used to get rid of the evidence - so happy ever after!

So an ok read, but a bit strange - and don't get me started on the two cardboard cut-out daughters - if anyone in the history of the world had ever spoken or acted as they do, I'd eat my proverbial hat!

[Thanasis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Μάγισσα της Θάλασσας

ΒΙΠΕΡ Νο 1560

[Astrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most books of this genre, you know who's the hero and who's the bad guy, and who's going to survive from quite early on (and of course the heroes are about as bad as the villains, but I guess that is a unwritten (or was it written...) rule of the action/adventure genre. )

This book involves a millionaire with a modern oil drilling/ searching platform, his ex police- officer friends and of course some villains that are jealous of the millionaires enterprise. They decide to get rid of the threat that he is to their own oil ventures by any means possible, and it's up to the two loyal friends to keep the millionaire, and his daughters, safe.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sea Witch is an oil drilling platform in the North Sea. A group of terrorists attempt to capture and destroy the rig. One man has to prevent this.

[Teri-K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy this good, straight-forward adventure story.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Alastair MacLean’s early work. This one is a complete dud. It plays out like a bad 1970s TV movie that aired only once until some cable station aired it again at 3 am 20 years later.

[Marcin Boruchowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another MacLean’s poem, another with ship. This time is a unique one.
The Sea Witch is a unique drilling platform that brings colossal profits to its owner and is a thorn in the side of other oil tycoons. So a meeting is called and a specialist is hired to destroy the Sea Witch. Its owner, a billionaire and lord in one person, finds out about the conspiracy and decides to protect his property. Two detectives, lovers of his daughters, lead the rescue operation.
Quite chaotic action.

[George K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Μάγισσα της θάλασσας", εκδόσεις ΒΙΠΕΡ.

Ποια είναι η υπόθεση: Ένας λόρδος έχει καταφέρει να φτιάξει μια πλατφόρμα πετρελαίου, την Μάγισσα της θάλασσας, όπου μπορεί να αντλεί πετρέλαιο με αρκετά χαμηλό κόστος και να το πουλάει σε επίσης χαμηλές τιμές. Αυτό όμως δεν συμφέρει τον ΟΠΕΚ και τους δέκα μεγαλύτερους επιχειρηματίες που πουλάνε πετρέλαιο, και έτσι προσλαμβάνουν έναν ειδικό στα εκρηκτικά και στις διάφορες αποστολές σαμποτάζ, για να βγάλει από την μέση την πλατφόρμα του λόρδου. Βέβαια ο λόρδος δεν είναι κανάς χαζός ή αθώος, κάνει και αυτός τις κινήσεις του, έχει τα δικά του ατού και ειδικούς σε πολεμικές επιχειρήσεις. Και γίνεται ένας χαμός μετά, όπου μπλέκονται πολλοί και μπορεί να ανάψει η σπίθα του πολέμου...

Ίδιο επίπεδο γραφής και ίδια ανάπτυξη χαρακτήρων με τα προηγούμενα βιβλία του, αλλά λίγο καλύτερη περιπέτεια και πιο δυνατές σκηνές. Και το τέλος αρκετά εντυπωσιακό και σίγουρα ταιριαστό. Αν αυτά είναι τα όχι και τόσο καλά του βιβλία, τότε θέλω να δω ποια είναι τα πραγματικά καλά του...

[Pat Camalliere · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out really good, but unfortunately disappointed before the end. The concept and the characters were rather unique and had a lot of potential, but they were never really developed well and did not react to events in a believable way. The villain, Cronkite, sets out to destroy Lord Worth, an oil tycoon. Almost all of his action in the story is second-hand and we never really get to see him. The hero, Mitchell is supposed to be excessively ethical, yet he kills with no compunction whatsoever. The so-called romantic interest seems to have no basis to exist. For action it’s pretty good, but story-blah! I have read that MacLean really did not enjoy writing at all, and did it just because readers seemed to like his work and it paid well. This book is a good example of what happens with disinterested writers.

[Lyman W Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun.

MacLean at the top of his game. Nobody does it any better than he does. Action, danger, what more can one ask?

[Robert A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Predictable and to me unnecessarily wordy. As an example
Mitchell took the phone
Lord Worth please
Hold on
Another voice came on what do you want
Lord Worth please
How do you know he’s here?
What does that matter?
Look here, I’m here to protect Lord Worth and I want to know how you know he’s here
Because he told me
When?
Last night
Who are you?
Mitchell
Why didn’t you say so?
Because I didn’t expect to get the third degree
Not very civil are you?
I’ve got a job to do
Lord Worth then please
He’s not here



What the hell! All that, two pages to say he’s not there.
The entire book is that way. If he took out all the dribble talk the book could be condensed into 50 pages. To me it’s frustrating because it adds nothing to a story.

[Matthew DeBettencourt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ten major oil investors plot against one of the most powerful oil tycoons in the world, a British Lord named Lord Worth. But when Lord Worth catches wind of their secret meeting, he comes up with a plan to defend the Seawitch--his most prominent oil rig--at any cost.

Believe it or not, I actually picked up this book because, shortly before seeing it, Alistair MacLean was a question (or answer?) on Jeopardy. So I read it, and I enjoyed it.
It is fast-paced, so despite the long chapters, the ride will be over before you know it!

[Neil Fulwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the last decade of his career, when he was known more for talky, bloated titles like ‘Athabasca’ and ‘Floodgate’ than the derring-do classics of old, ‘Seawitch’ does at least benefit from a succinct length and a plot that delivers at a decent rate of set-pieces on a chapter-by-chapter basis. On the minus side, the writing is sloppy, some of the action scenes are rushed (and, let’s face it, one reads MacLean for the action), and the whole thing is wildly implausible. Middling MacLean, then, but entertaining enough.

[Gannonl · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the world of big oil business' anything goes. Even if people may get hurt. That is the way that ten of the biggest oil magnates work. They hire a ruthless man to destroy the dream rig of their top rival. The only things that the ten magnates did not count on were the work of two private detectives, how ruthless their man actually was, and the connections millionaires have.
Allister MacLean writes a great novel filled with suspense, romance, and lots of action.

[Suby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A three legged oil drilling rig owned by a British Lord, 10 of his competitors who wants the lord and his rig destroyed to stabilize oil prices, a villain who will undertake the demolition of the lord and his rig and two ex cops turned private detectives - these are the characters.
The story is fast paced with all of Alistair MacLean intrigues and suspense. A good thriller to read for leisure.

[JasonReads · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good until the ending, which felt rushed and after the often over-the-top zaniness of the rest of the book (one of the main characters, Lord Worth, had his precious oil rig outfitted with stolen military weaponry that he himself had stolen!), it pretty well flopped. Otherwise, it was a fun read that I would recommend for anybody who likes old action movies.

⭐⭐⭐ out of 5.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel was very disappointing. Much of the action was unexplained, in terms of motivation. Events followed one another in random fashion, and the resolution of the conflict was unrealistically simple. Unsatisfying.

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This go round I listened to an audiobook version of this book. I've read it many times before, though. I like the boys in this. They're tough, men of integrity, and willing to do the hard things in order that the people they love stay safe. Oil rigs and action galore!

[Seamus Mahoney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like almost all of MacLean's books, even the late ones where they get kind of silly - there's not a ton of mystery to them, but they're still fun. I must not have read this one before, though, because I would have remembered how terrible it is.

There are roughly five distinct characters, who are copy-and-pasted to make a cast of a couple dozen, and additionally a few dozen more pieces of scenery who are vaguely shaped like characters, but trust me, they are not characters. I'm including Lord Worth's daughters as one of those five characters, but that's being very generous. The only character who seems to have had much thought put into him was, oddly, the geriatric doctor who shows up 3/5 of the way through the book. He seemed pretty fun. The guy who randomly appears out in the swamp seemed like he might have had something interesting going on, too, but unfortunately this is Seawitch, this isn't The Adventures of Swamp-Boot Guy.

Here are some weird plot holes for sub-plots that no one asked for in the first place:

-"Hijackers under orders from the main bad guy, Cronkite, stole a tanker and motored around the Gulf of Mexico, and then offloaded the oil and sank it or something (and killed the imprisoned crew, I guess), and then flew back, commercial, to get in on the final confrontation." I'm not a tanker captain but I don't think they had time to do all of that, the action in this book takes place over the course of about 48 hours. Also, their part of the operation seemed to be done, like they were just crooked sailors, not terrorist fanatics necessary to help secure and/or nuke the platform. I'm not sure why their part needed any elaboration beyond "they stole Lord Worth's second of three tankers and disappeared."

-Speaking of, the third tanker is another loose end on a sub-plot that doesn't matter. Did somebody sink it or steal it? I honestly don't remember.

-"Two PIs, friends and partners since childhood, are flying out to the Seawitch platform incognito; what kind of intricate planning will they have to do together in order to pull off oh wait one of them just got shot and is leaving the book now. And the other guy is taking out bad guys left and right with no difficulty. He's a SCUBA diver too, by the by. He can pretty much team up with whatever other hardcases you have lying around, it's not a problem because they're all the exact same character."

-"The protagonists are dismayed when the helicopter bringing the relief crew of oil drillers turns out to be full of bad guy mercenaries instead, and they're led by an even eviler version of the good guy mercenary leader, and they shoot a bunch of bazookas and flamethrowers at the good guy mercs and it's a total massacre." You're telling me Lord Worth didn't maybe cancel the normal crew rotation because of the ongoing terrorist crisis? Actually, it seems like maybe he did call them off, because when the bad guys come to kidnap the relief crew they're all still blind-drunk and definitely not ready to fly out and start working in the morning. He probably could have ignored them and just stolen their helicopter while they all slept it off. And then out at Seawitch, nobody goes, hey, a helicopter is approaching - whether or not it's expected, maybe we should be the slightest bit alert about that? Maybe we could have these anti-aircraft guns we stole do something relevant to the plot? Maybe MacLean thought this was some turnabout for Lord Worth getting away with passing off his two very obvious troubleshooters as "geologists and seismologists" who he happened to fly out during, again, a terrorist threat against the oil platform.

-"Cronkite didn't steal nukes with a sixty-minute timer and a big black disarm button, he stole the ones with a ninety-minute timer and no way to disarm them at all!" This literally doesn't matter even a bit, AND MacLean forgets he wrote this, because no one tries to disarm the bombs and they go off after sixty minutes anyway!

-Speaking of bombs, we have a big old Chekov's Bomb in the form of the oil storage tank introduced at the beginning of the book. There's a few worried conversations about how it'll blow up at the slightest disturbance, and EXTRA blow up if the nukes get set off. Well, the nukes get set off, and people do a lot of shooting and depth-charging near it, and the oil tank is strangely not heard from.

-One of the dumbest things of all, the oil barons who started the whole stupid thing by hiring Cronkite to destroy the Seawitch waste a few pages having a second big meeting. "OH MAN WE DIDN'T KNOW THE UNHINGED GUY WE HIRED FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WAS GOING TO USE VIOLENCE", they wail, and call off the actual navy ships they somehow convinced Venezuela and the USSR/Cuba to send. Also, "Lord Worth knows everything - one of us is clearly a spy, but I guess we'll never know who." Yeah, uh, I guess these vengeful oil tycoons won't bother trying to find out who blew their operation. Makes as much sense as anything!

So, basically, I didn't like it all that much. I'll give it this, it's a real fast read if you happen to find yourself in December, still a couple of books away from your yearly goal.

[Hazel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read lots of MacLean during my teens. Picked up the habit from my father.

[Nerissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprised they haven't made a cheap hollywood movie staring sean connery as the wealth oil mogul scot and steven segal as the renegade cop. Some very unbelievable scenarios that would suit hollywood.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've heard good things about MacLean's books but even at the halfway point in this book I just wasn't engaging with the plot or the characters.

[Ludo Theuns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het is ongelofelijk dat de reeks van techno trillers die zo lang geleden geschreven zijn, ook vandaag nog zonder moeite de lezer kunnen boeien, zonder ouderwets over te komen.