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The Burning Shore
THE BURNING SHORE is set in Malaya, where Hugh Copland is appointed manager of a jungle airstrip menaced by Communist guerillas. He soon becomes dangerously involved in a struggle for power between the Sultan of Tamarah and elusive enemies. "...nicely calculated to give pleasure in the best sense of the word...the more the author writes, the better he does." (Eastern Daily Press)
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First published August 1, 1971
10 people want to read
About the author
Elleston Trevor
134 books27 followersAuthor has published other books under the names: Adam Hall, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Trevor Dudley-Smith, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Simon Rattray, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, Lesley Stone.
Author Trevor Dudley-Smith was born in Kent, England on February 17, 1920. He attended Yardley Court Preparatory School and Sevenoaks School. During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. After the war, he started writing full-time. He lived in Spain and France before moving to the United States and settling in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1946 he used the pseudonym Elleston Trevor for a non-mystery book, and later made it his legal name. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Adam Hall, Simon Rattray, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, and Lesley Stone. Even though he wrote thrillers, mysteries, plays, juvenile novels, and short stories, his best-known works are The Flight of the Phoenix written as Elleston Trevor and the series about British secret agent Quiller written as Adam Hall. In 1965, he received the Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for The Quiller Memorandum. This book was made into a 1967 movie starring George Segal and Alec Guinness. He died of cancer on July 21, 1995.
Author Trevor Dudley-Smith was born in Kent, England on February 17, 1920. He attended Yardley Court Preparatory School and Sevenoaks School. During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. After the war, he started writing full-time. He lived in Spain and France before moving to the United States and settling in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1946 he used the pseudonym Elleston Trevor for a non-mystery book, and later made it his legal name. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Adam Hall, Simon Rattray, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, and Lesley Stone. Even though he wrote thrillers, mysteries, plays, juvenile novels, and short stories, his best-known works are The Flight of the Phoenix written as Elleston Trevor and the series about British secret agent Quiller written as Adam Hall. In 1965, he received the Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for The Quiller Memorandum. This book was made into a 1967 movie starring George Segal and Alec Guinness. He died of cancer on July 21, 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 7, 2024
It’s circa 1957, and Malaysia – back then, the Federation of Malaya – has just achieved independence. This makes the communist Chinese very angry. They engage in guerrilla operations and terrorist attacks aimed at the Malaysians, the British, and especially, His Highness, the Sultan, who lives under constant threat of assassination.
In this bit of the country, with its septic weather, and expansive jungle, you never know how to interpret a fallen tree. Is it just a tree brought down by the massive downpour of rain? Is it a roadblock, hastily created by the communist terrorists, who follow your movements around town?
Ram through it with your Range Rover, and you might just kill the car, while they gunfire you, like a sitting duck. Turn back, and they might just be waiting for you down the road. Step out of the car, and you’re a dead man walking. It’s a lose-lose-lose deal.
I confess, I bought the The Burning Shore second-hand, without knowing the author or the subject, purely because I liked the cover.
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I often do. This is mainly because authors with taste don’t let publishers print shit versions of their work, and - few people would disagree – authors with taste write infinitely better novels, than authors without taste.
It is, therefore, statistically more likely that if you pick up an interesting leather or clothbound hardcover with gilt edges, you’ll find literature inside, rather than a piece of trash fiction.
Exceptions exist. For the first three-quarters of its length, The Burning Shore was engaging and gripping; executed with well-thought-out exposition, and full of interesting, morally dubious characters. Unfortunately, the novel takes a disappointing nose-dive by the end. You’ll read the final chapters with raised eyebrows.
My knowledge of aviation is so limited, I’m in no position to argue whether it’s technically possible to crash-land a bomb-damaged plane at night, in the middle of the Malayan jungle, and have survivors. Yet, I’m not quite so willing to suspend my disbelief on the events which follow the plane crash:
I don’t believe it’s necessary to elaborate why a novel, which begins with a fairly decent depiction of life’s complexities, shouldn’t end with And they lived happily ever after .
In this bit of the country, with its septic weather, and expansive jungle, you never know how to interpret a fallen tree. Is it just a tree brought down by the massive downpour of rain? Is it a roadblock, hastily created by the communist terrorists, who follow your movements around town?
Ram through it with your Range Rover, and you might just kill the car, while they gunfire you, like a sitting duck. Turn back, and they might just be waiting for you down the road. Step out of the car, and you’re a dead man walking. It’s a lose-lose-lose deal.
I confess, I bought the The Burning Shore second-hand, without knowing the author or the subject, purely because I liked the cover.
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I often do. This is mainly because authors with taste don’t let publishers print shit versions of their work, and - few people would disagree – authors with taste write infinitely better novels, than authors without taste.
It is, therefore, statistically more likely that if you pick up an interesting leather or clothbound hardcover with gilt edges, you’ll find literature inside, rather than a piece of trash fiction.
Exceptions exist. For the first three-quarters of its length, The Burning Shore was engaging and gripping; executed with well-thought-out exposition, and full of interesting, morally dubious characters. Unfortunately, the novel takes a disappointing nose-dive by the end. You’ll read the final chapters with raised eyebrows.
My knowledge of aviation is so limited, I’m in no position to argue whether it’s technically possible to crash-land a bomb-damaged plane at night, in the middle of the Malayan jungle, and have survivors. Yet, I’m not quite so willing to suspend my disbelief on the events which follow the plane crash:
I don’t believe it’s necessary to elaborate why a novel, which begins with a fairly decent depiction of life’s complexities, shouldn’t end with And they lived happily ever after .
September 5, 2022
Read in Danish a long time ago.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews