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Department Z #26
Dead or Alive
It’s a race against time to rescue a kidnapped scientist in this suspenseful tale by an Edgar Award–winning author.
The world is under threat of destruction. As the politicians hedge their bets with atomic weapons, it seems no one is safe.
The only hope? A brilliant professor who knows how to make nations and people invulnerable to atomic attack. The only problem? Professor Julian Conway has been kidnapped by power-hungry men wishing to use his expertise for themselves.
At British intelligence’s top-secret Department Z, Gordon Craigie assigns agent Peter Ross to get the professor dead or alive. Complicating the case, though, is the fact that Ross is in love with two beautiful one of them the professor's daughter, and the other a possible key to the whole mystery . . .
The world is under threat of destruction. As the politicians hedge their bets with atomic weapons, it seems no one is safe.
The only hope? A brilliant professor who knows how to make nations and people invulnerable to atomic attack. The only problem? Professor Julian Conway has been kidnapped by power-hungry men wishing to use his expertise for themselves.
At British intelligence’s top-secret Department Z, Gordon Craigie assigns agent Peter Ross to get the professor dead or alive. Complicating the case, though, is the fact that Ross is in love with two beautiful one of them the professor's daughter, and the other a possible key to the whole mystery . . .
260 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1951
About the author
John Creasey
723 books79 followersAKA Gordon Ashe, M E Cooke, Norman Deane, Robert Caine Frazer, Patrick Gill, Michael Halliday, Charles Hogarth, Brian Hope, Colin Hughes, Kyle Hunt, Margaret Lisle, Abel Mann, Peter Manton, J.J. Marric, Richard Martin, Rodney Mattheson, Anthony Morton, Jeremy York, Henry St. John Cooper and Margaret Cooke.
John Creasey (September 17, 1908 - June 9, 1973) was born in Southfields, Surrey, England and died in New Hall, Bodenham, Salisbury Wiltshire, England. He was the seventh of nine children in a working class home. He became an English author of crime thrillers, published in excess of 600 books under 20+ different pseudonyms. He invented many famous characters who would appear in a whole series of novels. Probably the most famous of these is Gideon of Scotland Yard, the basis for the television program Gideon's Way but others include Department Z, Dr. Palfrey, The Toff, Inspector Roger West, and The Baron (which was also made into a television series). In 1962, Creasey won an Edgar Award for Best Novel, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Gideon's Fire, written under the pen name J. J. Marric. And in 1969 he was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
John Creasey (September 17, 1908 - June 9, 1973) was born in Southfields, Surrey, England and died in New Hall, Bodenham, Salisbury Wiltshire, England. He was the seventh of nine children in a working class home. He became an English author of crime thrillers, published in excess of 600 books under 20+ different pseudonyms. He invented many famous characters who would appear in a whole series of novels. Probably the most famous of these is Gideon of Scotland Yard, the basis for the television program Gideon's Way but others include Department Z, Dr. Palfrey, The Toff, Inspector Roger West, and The Baron (which was also made into a television series). In 1962, Creasey won an Edgar Award for Best Novel, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Gideon's Fire, written under the pen name J. J. Marric. And in 1969 he was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 24, 2018
I would like to thank the John Creasey Estate for a review copy of Dead or Alive, the twenty-sixth novel in the Department Z series, originally published in 1951.
When Professor Julian Conway, Britain's foremost nuclear deterrent expert, is kidnapped agent Peter Ross is tasked with rescuing him. Nothing, however, is as simple as it seems because there is more than one group after the professor and his knowledge and they are prepared to do almost anything to get it.
I thoroughly enjoyed Dead or Alive which is a twisty thriller with plenty of action and a high body count. It is very much a novel of its time being written near the start of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race so nuclear secrets were a hot topic and engendered fear everywhere. It is also interesting to see we were still a nation with secrets worth stealing!
The plot is exciting with some good twists and, unusually for this series, the bad guys and their motive are not identified from the start. It adds to the mystery and turns the novel into a good puzzle. I spent most of it trying to work out who was on which side and failing miserably, I should add.
As usual the main agent has a love interest, although in this case Peter Ross has two. He is engaged to Mae but is also attracted to the professor's daughter, Alice. How modern, how tangled and it adds a certain something to the read. Apart from this dilemma Peter Ross is the standard Department Z agent, smart, daring, resourceful and patriotic. Mr Creasey makes a stab at exploring his emotions but it's not really his forte so Peter can stifle them easily and get on with the job.
Dead or Alive is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.
When Professor Julian Conway, Britain's foremost nuclear deterrent expert, is kidnapped agent Peter Ross is tasked with rescuing him. Nothing, however, is as simple as it seems because there is more than one group after the professor and his knowledge and they are prepared to do almost anything to get it.
I thoroughly enjoyed Dead or Alive which is a twisty thriller with plenty of action and a high body count. It is very much a novel of its time being written near the start of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race so nuclear secrets were a hot topic and engendered fear everywhere. It is also interesting to see we were still a nation with secrets worth stealing!
The plot is exciting with some good twists and, unusually for this series, the bad guys and their motive are not identified from the start. It adds to the mystery and turns the novel into a good puzzle. I spent most of it trying to work out who was on which side and failing miserably, I should add.
As usual the main agent has a love interest, although in this case Peter Ross has two. He is engaged to Mae but is also attracted to the professor's daughter, Alice. How modern, how tangled and it adds a certain something to the read. Apart from this dilemma Peter Ross is the standard Department Z agent, smart, daring, resourceful and patriotic. Mr Creasey makes a stab at exploring his emotions but it's not really his forte so Peter can stifle them easily and get on with the job.
Dead or Alive is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.
October 30, 2012
Peter Ross, one of Craigie's agents (and not a recurring characher from prior books), is engaged to Mae Harrison. He has taken the evening off from work to spend time with her, but the two quarrel and she returns his ring. Meanwhile, Professor Conway, an expert on atomic weapons defense, is kidnapped. Ross wonders whether the kidnapping would have happened if he had been on the job. Craigie asks Ross to get the professor back "dead or alive" before he can give information to his captors.
From there the book becomes a great adventure caper. Villains come and go. The professor's daughter is also kidnapped. Ross becomes a target at the same time as he is pursuing the criminals.
Unlike most of the Department Z novels, this one has a subtext. Ross has internal debates about whether he can carry on with his assignment if he is in love. Is having emotions a drawback to being a successful Department Z agent? Should someone with self-doubts resign? I found this to be a very interesting addition to the story.
This is set late in the series, post WWII. Loftus is Craigie's second in command. There is no mention of another leading agent.
On a side note, the cover image of someone in a lab coat working with various colored liquids in beakers and test tubes does not have any related scenes in the book (no chemistry, no experimental drugs).
From there the book becomes a great adventure caper. Villains come and go. The professor's daughter is also kidnapped. Ross becomes a target at the same time as he is pursuing the criminals.
Unlike most of the Department Z novels, this one has a subtext. Ross has internal debates about whether he can carry on with his assignment if he is in love. Is having emotions a drawback to being a successful Department Z agent? Should someone with self-doubts resign? I found this to be a very interesting addition to the story.
This is set late in the series, post WWII. Loftus is Craigie's second in command. There is no mention of another leading agent.
On a side note, the cover image of someone in a lab coat working with various colored liquids in beakers and test tubes does not have any related scenes in the book (no chemistry, no experimental drugs).
July 3, 2021
Riveting, thrilling, engrossing!!! One of the best in the series.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews