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Breakheart Pass: A compelling historical western adventure novel
A magnificent tale of heart-stopping suspense from the highly acclaimed master of the genre. The Rocky Mountains, Winter 1873… One of the most desolate stretches of railroad in the West. Travelling along it is a crowded troop train, bound for the cholera-stricken garrison at Fort Humboldt. On board are the Governor of Nevada, the daughter of the fort’s commander and a US marshal escorting a notorious outlaw. Between them and safety are the hostile Paiute Indians – and a man who will stop at nothing, not even murder…
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
173 people are currently reading
861 people want to read
About the author
Alistair MacLean
347 books1,208 followersAlistair 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
September 5, 2022
[7/10]
‘You killed him.’ Deakin could barely catch the husky words. ‘But that’s murder!’
‘Every man needs a hobby.’
Reading Alistair MacNeal is a trip down memory lane for me, to the teenage years when I thought his action packed adventures and his zingers in dialogue were the ultimate in terms of cool.
I should probably leave these memories unsullied by the critical eye of an older reader, but I tend to have a relapse from time to time, with mixed success.
Breakheart Pass is at first glance a departure from MacLean’s usual style, being set up as a western and not as a war novel or a spy thriller. Actually, there is a lot of familiarity with regards the characters and the plot to his earlier novels. In the end, it was the setting of the present story that truly makes it memorable.
In a very short introduction to the novel, the author makes a bullet list of why the year 1873 and Nevada are his choices for sending a military train up a mountain in a blizzard, with Paiute Indians, outlaws and mysterious other bad actors on board bent on making the journey a hell ride.
I would recommend bookmarking this list and the short sketch of the train structure, as they will help you visualize better the proceeds and understand the reasoning behind the betrayals in the correct context.
In my case, the novel reads like a movie script [pared down to the bare essentials in exposition and driven by dialogue] for two simple reasons:
- in his later career, MacLean worked in parallel for both movie producers and for his novelizations which were published simultaneously
- I am a big fan of Charles Bronson and I have seen the movie version of this novel at least twice in its original theatrical run
On the plus side: very familiar style, breakneck speed in pacing and a very appealing lead character in John Deakin / Bronson as a shifty gambler / gunman with some experience in medicine. I am not going to explain the action or present the secondary characters, because the author likes to spring some surprises and plot twists at the reader. It is better to suspect everyone and prepare for some serious bloodshed.
On the minus side: limited appeal beyond the teenage audience.
Hesitantly, she moved forward. ‘You think there’ll be shooting?’
‘Well, there won’t be too many rose petals thrown, and that’s a fact.’
The token feminine presence is mostly eye-candy in the novel: Marica, the daughter of the Arizona governor, who heads up to Fort Humboldt to deal with an emergency.
In the movie, Marica is given a more substantial role, not really surprising when you know Jill Ireland was the lead actor’s wife at the time, but she does a great job with the material she is offered.
Which brings me to my last commentary: it doesn’t really matter if you watch the movie or you read the novel – they are basically the same, with a slight edge for the silver screen because of the good choices for the cast and for the amazing outdoor filming of the steam train in the high mountains.
‘You killed him.’ Deakin could barely catch the husky words. ‘But that’s murder!’
‘Every man needs a hobby.’
Reading Alistair MacNeal is a trip down memory lane for me, to the teenage years when I thought his action packed adventures and his zingers in dialogue were the ultimate in terms of cool.
I should probably leave these memories unsullied by the critical eye of an older reader, but I tend to have a relapse from time to time, with mixed success.
Breakheart Pass is at first glance a departure from MacLean’s usual style, being set up as a western and not as a war novel or a spy thriller. Actually, there is a lot of familiarity with regards the characters and the plot to his earlier novels. In the end, it was the setting of the present story that truly makes it memorable.
In a very short introduction to the novel, the author makes a bullet list of why the year 1873 and Nevada are his choices for sending a military train up a mountain in a blizzard, with Paiute Indians, outlaws and mysterious other bad actors on board bent on making the journey a hell ride.
I would recommend bookmarking this list and the short sketch of the train structure, as they will help you visualize better the proceeds and understand the reasoning behind the betrayals in the correct context.
In my case, the novel reads like a movie script [pared down to the bare essentials in exposition and driven by dialogue] for two simple reasons:
- in his later career, MacLean worked in parallel for both movie producers and for his novelizations which were published simultaneously
- I am a big fan of Charles Bronson and I have seen the movie version of this novel at least twice in its original theatrical run
On the plus side: very familiar style, breakneck speed in pacing and a very appealing lead character in John Deakin / Bronson as a shifty gambler / gunman with some experience in medicine. I am not going to explain the action or present the secondary characters, because the author likes to spring some surprises and plot twists at the reader. It is better to suspect everyone and prepare for some serious bloodshed.
On the minus side: limited appeal beyond the teenage audience.
Hesitantly, she moved forward. ‘You think there’ll be shooting?’
‘Well, there won’t be too many rose petals thrown, and that’s a fact.’
The token feminine presence is mostly eye-candy in the novel: Marica, the daughter of the Arizona governor, who heads up to Fort Humboldt to deal with an emergency.
In the movie, Marica is given a more substantial role, not really surprising when you know Jill Ireland was the lead actor’s wife at the time, but she does a great job with the material she is offered.
Which brings me to my last commentary: it doesn’t really matter if you watch the movie or you read the novel – they are basically the same, with a slight edge for the silver screen because of the good choices for the cast and for the amazing outdoor filming of the steam train in the high mountains.
February 2, 2021
Real Rating: 3.5* of five, rounded down because it ain't one I'll ever re-read
Precisely ninety-eight minutes after I started this re-read, I completed it. Well, no sense in dawdling, now is there, when there's really nothing much to "see" or what-have-you. MacLean wasn't a descriptive writer, had no ear for dialogue, and wasn't familiar with the US West; go fight them odds.
He also wrote such awful women...names with a tic or two to prevent them from melting into the walls too far to be even detected...but he was *aces* at "omigawdwhathappensnextomigawd"ness. And, to my surprise, at the greyness of real-life motivations. His Native American (called in period style "Paiutes" which, well, just ain't one thing and...nevermind) aren't Bad Guys. They want what they want to reclaim their ancestral way of life, not to blood-thirstily murder white mens and rape they womens.
The first time I read this ancient hardcover was in 1974. My older sister the bookstore lady was going to send it back to the publisher unsold and I successfully wheedled it out of her. I don't remember how long it took me to read the book, but it couldn't have been a lot longer than this re-read took. There simply isn't enough there there to demand a close, attentive read.
It did pass the ninety-eight minutes well enough, which is really all I asked of it.
Now I feel I should, really should, review in depth the 1975 Charles Bronson-Jill Ireland movie. I am so eager to hear from the "You're doing it wrong!" whiny little adolescent controllers who are so *angry* when I dare to bring film reviews into their (please note possessive) book site!
Honestly, the film was really not good, took the few characters' greynesses away entirely, and was such a craptastic boom-fest that I don't feel like it. But I had to include just a *little* bait.
Precisely ninety-eight minutes after I started this re-read, I completed it. Well, no sense in dawdling, now is there, when there's really nothing much to "see" or what-have-you. MacLean wasn't a descriptive writer, had no ear for dialogue, and wasn't familiar with the US West; go fight them odds.
He also wrote such awful women...names with a tic or two to prevent them from melting into the walls too far to be even detected...but he was *aces* at "omigawdwhathappensnextomigawd"ness. And, to my surprise, at the greyness of real-life motivations. His Native American (called in period style "Paiutes" which, well, just ain't one thing and...nevermind) aren't Bad Guys. They want what they want to reclaim their ancestral way of life, not to blood-thirstily murder white mens and rape they womens.
The first time I read this ancient hardcover was in 1974. My older sister the bookstore lady was going to send it back to the publisher unsold and I successfully wheedled it out of her. I don't remember how long it took me to read the book, but it couldn't have been a lot longer than this re-read took. There simply isn't enough there there to demand a close, attentive read.
It did pass the ninety-eight minutes well enough, which is really all I asked of it.
Now I feel I should, really should, review in depth the 1975 Charles Bronson-Jill Ireland movie. I am so eager to hear from the "You're doing it wrong!" whiny little adolescent controllers who are so *angry* when I dare to bring film reviews into their (please note possessive) book site!
Honestly, the film was really not good, took the few characters' greynesses away entirely, and was such a craptastic boom-fest that I don't feel like it. But I had to include just a *little* bait.
April 5, 2024
Четеше ми се уестърн и се поогледах в Читанка за нещо подходящо.
Спрях се на "Проходът на сломените сърца" и не съжалявам - кратка история, която обаче излезе повече криминална такава, отколкото уестърн.
Слабата ми оценка е заради лошо изградените герои и колебливия български превод - на моменти дори ми се струваше, че части от текста умишлено са съкратени…
Би излязъл приличен филм обаче.
Моята оценка - 2,5*.
Определено очаквах повече от Маклейн!
P.S. Хареса ми корицата на българското издание.
Спрях се на "Проходът на сломените сърца" и не съжалявам - кратка история, която обаче излезе повече криминална такава, отколкото уестърн.
Слабата ми оценка е заради лошо изградените герои и колебливия български превод - на моменти дори ми се струваше, че части от текста умишлено са съкратени…
Би излязъл приличен филм обаче.
Моята оценка - 2,5*.
Определено очаквах повече от Маклейн!
P.S. Хареса ми корицата на българското издание.
April 11, 2023
My first read of Alistair MacLeans that I found in a thrift store and had fun with this western/adventure story.
It follows an Army train headed to Fort Humboldt where the soilders have been struck down with sickness. Also on board is the Governor of the state, his niece, US Marshall Pearce and his prisoner John Deakin. The train is headed in the dead of winter to the Fort and I particularly enjoyed the writing on the landscape and snow. Maclean really has a knact for describing the cold.
Now not everyone aboard this train is who they seem to be and its cargo is not the medical supplies we first believe it to be. What is really happening at Fort Humboldt and who can be trusted?
Its has good mystery elements along with decent action scenes and character development. I can see why MaClean was thought of as a master of the adventure novel and will check out his other novels which are held in more regard than this book. I will also have to check out the movie of the same name based on this book. 3.5 rounded down to 3.
It follows an Army train headed to Fort Humboldt where the soilders have been struck down with sickness. Also on board is the Governor of the state, his niece, US Marshall Pearce and his prisoner John Deakin. The train is headed in the dead of winter to the Fort and I particularly enjoyed the writing on the landscape and snow. Maclean really has a knact for describing the cold.
Now not everyone aboard this train is who they seem to be and its cargo is not the medical supplies we first believe it to be. What is really happening at Fort Humboldt and who can be trusted?
Its has good mystery elements along with decent action scenes and character development. I can see why MaClean was thought of as a master of the adventure novel and will check out his other novels which are held in more regard than this book. I will also have to check out the movie of the same name based on this book. 3.5 rounded down to 3.
November 16, 2019
Electrifying, fast-paced western thriller by a master storyteller: Mr. Alistair MacLean (1922-1987).
And the movie is very good too. MacLean wrote the screenplay and the film was directed by Tom Gries with exciting action scenes (the last film of the legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt), a good score by Jerry Goldsmith and a wonderful cinematography by Lucien Ballard.
Great fun.
And the movie is very good too. MacLean wrote the screenplay and the film was directed by Tom Gries with exciting action scenes (the last film of the legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt), a good score by Jerry Goldsmith and a wonderful cinematography by Lucien Ballard.
Great fun.
December 3, 2012
It's a good story, but the quality of the writing is abominable. It reads like a first draft.
September 25, 2025
Słuchałem superprodukcji Audioteki.
Książka przeciętna, takie typowe macleanowskie zabili go i uciekł, tym razem na dzikim zachodzie: książka jest krótka, więc do przełknięcia, za to Audioteka zrobiła wszystko, żeby zrobić z niej parodię, tandetną, zbyt głośną muzyczką. Do tego słysząc głos Piotra Adamczyka od razu widzę Zygzaka McQueena - nic na to nie poradzę :)
Książka przeciętna, takie typowe macleanowskie zabili go i uciekł, tym razem na dzikim zachodzie: książka jest krótka, więc do przełknięcia, za to Audioteka zrobiła wszystko, żeby zrobić z niej parodię, tandetną, zbyt głośną muzyczką. Do tego słysząc głos Piotra Adamczyka od razu widzę Zygzaka McQueena - nic na to nie poradzę :)
August 11, 2018
"The Long Arm of Coincidence..." Is That a Thing?!
Winchester Repeaters. Train ride through a snow-filled wilderness of Nevada. A not-quite-classic Western train mystery that barrels its way down the track from start to finish. First published in 1974, it may not be old enough to be a classic yet, but it is certainly a genre from another era. I won't be giving any spoilers, but it is definitely worth a read. The expression, 'The Long Arm of Coincidence" appears more than once. That's a new one on me, though I have heard of the 'Long Arm of the Law.' But, the book is full of the language of another time period.
Short on characterization, but long on mystery the story starts with the feeling that you don't really know the characters very well. The author gives a printed list of the characters and a map of the train layout at the beginning, and I found myself referring back to that list until almost a third of the way through the book. There seemed to be no main character for quite a while. But, this was the nature of the mystery. As things start peeling down to the wire, you are counting off suspects, and everything falls into place before the train ever slows down. So, you couldn't bail if you wanted. I suggest starting this one early enough in the morning that you don't end up reading all night, because you won't be able to put it down.
I read this from a used hardback from the kind of thoughtless Amazon 3rd party sellers who (like horse thieves) advertise ragged public library discards as very good condition. Where's the Calvary and the Feds when you need them?
Winchester Repeaters. Train ride through a snow-filled wilderness of Nevada. A not-quite-classic Western train mystery that barrels its way down the track from start to finish. First published in 1974, it may not be old enough to be a classic yet, but it is certainly a genre from another era. I won't be giving any spoilers, but it is definitely worth a read. The expression, 'The Long Arm of Coincidence" appears more than once. That's a new one on me, though I have heard of the 'Long Arm of the Law.' But, the book is full of the language of another time period.
Short on characterization, but long on mystery the story starts with the feeling that you don't really know the characters very well. The author gives a printed list of the characters and a map of the train layout at the beginning, and I found myself referring back to that list until almost a third of the way through the book. There seemed to be no main character for quite a while. But, this was the nature of the mystery. As things start peeling down to the wire, you are counting off suspects, and everything falls into place before the train ever slows down. So, you couldn't bail if you wanted. I suggest starting this one early enough in the morning that you don't end up reading all night, because you won't be able to put it down.
I read this from a used hardback from the kind of thoughtless Amazon 3rd party sellers who (like horse thieves) advertise ragged public library discards as very good condition. Where's the Calvary and the Feds when you need them?
August 7, 2014
3.6 is the average rating and exactly right. This was fun, and I can see why it was made into a movie. The female character was less weak than MacLean's usual useless beauties and actually helped the situation. I couldn't put it down.
Definitely a fun beach/pool/recuperating from back injury book.
Definitely a fun beach/pool/recuperating from back injury book.
April 4, 2012
Please read my complete review at Casual Debris.
When I was a kid in the mid-to-late 1980s my parents were among the last in the neighbourhood, perhaps even the western hemisphere, to purchase that bulky hunk of metal known as a video cassette recorder. Popularly known at the time as a VCR, it was a piece of medieval technology that could both record and play back movies using a cheap, slim strip of plastic encased in a large rectangular hard plastic casing (known as a cassette). Oddly, at times appropriately, the hard casing was worth more than the flimsy strip that contained the data. This massive cassette slipped inside that box of metal, often getting stuck, which in turn was hooked to your television set--not that sleek and slim apparatus in your living room, bedroom, washroom, etc., but that massive 100-inch frame that held your sixteen-inch monitor and needed at least six people to help cart away to the nearest garbage heap when, with a startling puff of smoke, one of the glass tubes blew up.
(Most of you are probably laughing at my wild fantasy, but this was reality back in those dark ages.)
One evening before supper my mom ushered me out of the house to pick up a movie. My brother didn't want to come and the pressure to find a good film gripped me during that ten-minute walk to our video rental store. (Yes, this was a dark era when to watch a movie at home you had to first leave the house.) I dreaded the chore, knowing that if I picked a bad film my mom, being a film lover, and my brother, being an older brother, would never let me hear the end of it. Days it seemed I searched those shelves of videocassette boxes for something we all would enjoy, until my eye was caught by a photo of Charles Bronson covered in western garb hanging from a train overlooking a ravine. That film was (obviously) Breakheart Pass, a film scripted by the novel's author, Alistair MacLean.
Fans of MacLean consider Breakheart Pass to be among the oddest of his novels, and it flopped on its initial release. A later MacLean work, it focuses as usual primarily on action and plot, but is his first novel set in the American West. It deals with a motley crew of white gun-runners, US Army soldiers and Paiute Indians, rather than his normal array of spies, soldiers and other evildoers. I have little opinion on all this since I haven't read any of MacLean's work prior to this one. Wanting to have a go at popular authors I've been ignoring, MacLean came to mind, and it's my memory of the film that peaked my interest in the novel. Though it's been twenty-plus years, I recall quite a bit about the movie, and I enjoyed it at the time, which is a lot more than I can say about the novel.
Breakheart Pass is a quick adventure, and despite a fairly decent premise, a wide range of colourful characters, plenty of mystery and a train (there's just something about a good story/movie set on a train), it all ends up derailing. Yes, even the train. The problems are many, but really what killed it for me was MacLean's unfair treatment of information and the all-too uninteresting tough-guy hero John Deakin.
Information appears to be revealed at the most convenient of times. Hero Deakin knows so much more than the reader, and smiles knowingly not only at the bad guys and the token woman who hates/is hot for him, but he seems to also be grinning at us. (Hey reader, he seems to be saying, this is gonna be cool.) Perhaps this mess is the result of an attempt to make us feel as though we too are on that chaotic train, but it's most likely the consequence of rushed writing and laziness. The novel is written so haphazardly and with such unbelievable lines as "She gave him a look as cold as ice," that I doubt MacLean spent too much time in the composition, or perhaps this quick straightforward and unimaginative style was his bid for the contract to write the screenplay, which was eventually offered to him.
As for Deakin he is a man of few words, but his few words are so vacuous and expected that it would have been better had he been mute. He comes across as abrasive and unpleasant, and the film producers lucked out in nabbing the abrasive yet far more charming tough guy Bronson to take on the role. On paper Deakin is too clever both for the plot and the reader, concocting not too exciting methods of escaping the train and dealing with the evildoers, methods he keeps to himself and, well, keeps to everyone but the reader, saying things like "I've got a plan" fittingly at the end of the chapter, allowing the author to jump to another scene at the opening of the next chapter and leaving us in the dark. And what Deakin comes up with usually consists of blowing something up.
The opening was a little slow but half-way through I was quite into it, soon losing interest and speeding through the rest so quickly that I had to pause and wait for the train to catch up with me before I could go on. Finally I was done, and had to face that final pitiful exchange between Deakin and Marica.
Sadly I'm left to wonder if re-watching the movie would kill that twenty-something year memory of a "good" film.
When I was a kid in the mid-to-late 1980s my parents were among the last in the neighbourhood, perhaps even the western hemisphere, to purchase that bulky hunk of metal known as a video cassette recorder. Popularly known at the time as a VCR, it was a piece of medieval technology that could both record and play back movies using a cheap, slim strip of plastic encased in a large rectangular hard plastic casing (known as a cassette). Oddly, at times appropriately, the hard casing was worth more than the flimsy strip that contained the data. This massive cassette slipped inside that box of metal, often getting stuck, which in turn was hooked to your television set--not that sleek and slim apparatus in your living room, bedroom, washroom, etc., but that massive 100-inch frame that held your sixteen-inch monitor and needed at least six people to help cart away to the nearest garbage heap when, with a startling puff of smoke, one of the glass tubes blew up.
(Most of you are probably laughing at my wild fantasy, but this was reality back in those dark ages.)
One evening before supper my mom ushered me out of the house to pick up a movie. My brother didn't want to come and the pressure to find a good film gripped me during that ten-minute walk to our video rental store. (Yes, this was a dark era when to watch a movie at home you had to first leave the house.) I dreaded the chore, knowing that if I picked a bad film my mom, being a film lover, and my brother, being an older brother, would never let me hear the end of it. Days it seemed I searched those shelves of videocassette boxes for something we all would enjoy, until my eye was caught by a photo of Charles Bronson covered in western garb hanging from a train overlooking a ravine. That film was (obviously) Breakheart Pass, a film scripted by the novel's author, Alistair MacLean.
Fans of MacLean consider Breakheart Pass to be among the oddest of his novels, and it flopped on its initial release. A later MacLean work, it focuses as usual primarily on action and plot, but is his first novel set in the American West. It deals with a motley crew of white gun-runners, US Army soldiers and Paiute Indians, rather than his normal array of spies, soldiers and other evildoers. I have little opinion on all this since I haven't read any of MacLean's work prior to this one. Wanting to have a go at popular authors I've been ignoring, MacLean came to mind, and it's my memory of the film that peaked my interest in the novel. Though it's been twenty-plus years, I recall quite a bit about the movie, and I enjoyed it at the time, which is a lot more than I can say about the novel.
Breakheart Pass is a quick adventure, and despite a fairly decent premise, a wide range of colourful characters, plenty of mystery and a train (there's just something about a good story/movie set on a train), it all ends up derailing. Yes, even the train. The problems are many, but really what killed it for me was MacLean's unfair treatment of information and the all-too uninteresting tough-guy hero John Deakin.
Information appears to be revealed at the most convenient of times. Hero Deakin knows so much more than the reader, and smiles knowingly not only at the bad guys and the token woman who hates/is hot for him, but he seems to also be grinning at us. (Hey reader, he seems to be saying, this is gonna be cool.) Perhaps this mess is the result of an attempt to make us feel as though we too are on that chaotic train, but it's most likely the consequence of rushed writing and laziness. The novel is written so haphazardly and with such unbelievable lines as "She gave him a look as cold as ice," that I doubt MacLean spent too much time in the composition, or perhaps this quick straightforward and unimaginative style was his bid for the contract to write the screenplay, which was eventually offered to him.
As for Deakin he is a man of few words, but his few words are so vacuous and expected that it would have been better had he been mute. He comes across as abrasive and unpleasant, and the film producers lucked out in nabbing the abrasive yet far more charming tough guy Bronson to take on the role. On paper Deakin is too clever both for the plot and the reader, concocting not too exciting methods of escaping the train and dealing with the evildoers, methods he keeps to himself and, well, keeps to everyone but the reader, saying things like "I've got a plan" fittingly at the end of the chapter, allowing the author to jump to another scene at the opening of the next chapter and leaving us in the dark. And what Deakin comes up with usually consists of blowing something up.
The opening was a little slow but half-way through I was quite into it, soon losing interest and speeding through the rest so quickly that I had to pause and wait for the train to catch up with me before I could go on. Finally I was done, and had to face that final pitiful exchange between Deakin and Marica.
Sadly I'm left to wonder if re-watching the movie would kill that twenty-something year memory of a "good" film.
March 16, 2015
"Ο ριψοκίνδυνος", εκδόσεις ΒΙΠΕΡ.
Αυτό είναι το τέταρτο βιβλίο του Άλιστερ Μακλίν που περνάει στη λίστα με τα διαβασμένα και μπορώ να πω ότι είναι καλύτερο από τα υπόλοιπα.
Έχοντας δει την ταινία λίγες μέρες πριν, θυμόμουν πολλές σκηνές και ήξερα τι θα γίνει, αλλά ήθελα οπωσδήποτε να διαβάσω το βιβλίο. Οι διαφορές ελάχιστες και όχι τόσο σημαντικές, σίγουρα όμως ο σκηνοθέτης έκανε καλή δουλειά, η μεταφορά του βιβλίου στην οθόνη ήταν αξιόλογη.
Η υπόθεση απλή, ένα τρένο διασχίζει τα Βραχώδη Όρη το 1873, έχοντας ως προορισμό ένα απομακρυσμένο οχυρό που είναι χτυπημένο από χολέρα. Στο τρένο επιβάτες είναι στρατιώτες, ο διοικητής του οχυρού, ο κυβερνήτης της Νεβάδα, η ανιψιά του, ένας Μάρσαλ, ένας περιβόητος παράνομος και διάφοροι άλλοι. Αλλά τα φαινόμενα απατούν και οι εκπλήξεις είναι πολλές και οδυνηρές. Μπορεί η περιπέτεια του βιβλίου να αργεί, κυρίως εμφανίζεται στα τελευταία κεφάλαια, μέχρι τότε όμως υπήρχε αρκετό μυστήριο και πολλές ύποπτες κινήσεις - όπως και φόνοι.
Η εξέλιξη της υπόθεσης ήταν κλιμακωτή, με το φινάλε δυνατό και ενδιαφέρον. Η εξιστόρηση πολύ καλή, η ατμόσφαιρα εξαιρετική, οι χαρακτήρες πολλοί και συνάμα απλοί, δίχως ιδιαίτερο βάθος, αλλά δεν νομίζω ότι είναι και απαραίτητο αυτό, οι διάλογοι ρεαλιστικοί και φυσικοί, με αρκετές σαρκαστικές ατάκες του περιβόητου παρανόμου, γενικά ένα καλογραμμένο μυθιστόρημα με σασπένς, μυστήριο και δράση.
Η ελληνική μετάφραση ήταν εντάξει, αλλά υπήρχε ένα μικρό πρόβλημα με την επιμέλεια, τίποτα το σημαντικό όμως. Ο Άλιστερ Μακλίν μπορώ να πω ότι μου ταιριάζει απόλυτα και γι'αυτό το λόγο είμαι χαρούμενος που έχω και τα 25 βιβλία του που έχουν μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά (μπορεί να υπάρχουν και άλλα, αλλά δεν νομίζω).
Αυτό είναι το τέταρτο βιβλίο του Άλιστερ Μακλίν που περνάει στη λίστα με τα διαβασμένα και μπορώ να πω ότι είναι καλύτερο από τα υπόλοιπα.
Έχοντας δει την ταινία λίγες μέρες πριν, θυμόμουν πολλές σκηνές και ήξερα τι θα γίνει, αλλά ήθελα οπωσδήποτε να διαβάσω το βιβλίο. Οι διαφορές ελάχιστες και όχι τόσο σημαντικές, σίγουρα όμως ο σκηνοθέτης έκανε καλή δουλειά, η μεταφορά του βιβλίου στην οθόνη ήταν αξιόλογη.
Η υπόθεση απλή, ένα τρένο διασχίζει τα Βραχώδη Όρη το 1873, έχοντας ως προορισμό ένα απομακρυσμένο οχυρό που είναι χτυπημένο από χολέρα. Στο τρένο επιβάτες είναι στρατιώτες, ο διοικητής του οχυρού, ο κυβερνήτης της Νεβάδα, η ανιψιά του, ένας Μάρσαλ, ένας περιβόητος παράνομος και διάφοροι άλλοι. Αλλά τα φαινόμενα απατούν και οι εκπλήξεις είναι πολλές και οδυνηρές. Μπορεί η περιπέτεια του βιβλίου να αργεί, κυρίως εμφανίζεται στα τελευταία κεφάλαια, μέχρι τότε όμως υπήρχε αρκετό μυστήριο και πολλές ύποπτες κινήσεις - όπως και φόνοι.
Η εξέλιξη της υπόθεσης ήταν κλιμακωτή, με το φινάλε δυνατό και ενδιαφέρον. Η εξιστόρηση πολύ καλή, η ατμόσφαιρα εξαιρετική, οι χαρακτήρες πολλοί και συνάμα απλοί, δίχως ιδιαίτερο βάθος, αλλά δεν νομίζω ότι είναι και απαραίτητο αυτό, οι διάλογοι ρεαλιστικοί και φυσικοί, με αρκετές σαρκαστικές ατάκες του περιβόητου παρανόμου, γενικά ένα καλογραμμένο μυθιστόρημα με σασπένς, μυστήριο και δράση.
Η ελληνική μετάφραση ήταν εντάξει, αλλά υπήρχε ένα μικρό πρόβλημα με την επιμέλεια, τίποτα το σημαντικό όμως. Ο Άλιστερ Μακλίν μπορώ να πω ότι μου ταιριάζει απόλυτα και γι'αυτό το λόγο είμαι χαρούμενος που έχω και τα 25 βιβλία του που έχουν μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά (μπορεί να υπάρχουν και άλλα, αλλά δεν νομίζω).
May 5, 2025
My mum used to read Alistair MacLean many years ago, so I thought I would give him a go. He certainly spins a good yarn, and has a surprisingly literary quality in his writing. I could be tempted to go back for more. This one, having looked at some of the others, seems to be a bit unusual in that it is essentially a traditional western, but it has all the pace and plot twists of a good thriller, so time period aside, ticks the boxes.
September 12, 2025
Huh, I didn't know Alistair MacLean wrote westerns. And this one was good in a typical MacLean style - fast-paced action from the first page to the last, convoluted plans and just so many plot twists. Adding to that nicely described setting, approaching the usual tropes from a different side and we have a really good, engaging story.
October 29, 2025
“When a man is a killer, arsonist, a cheat and a coward, it's hardly surprising if he turns out to be a liar as well.”
I feel like the movie adaptation is way more enjoyable.
I feel like the movie adaptation is way more enjoyable.
September 20, 2023
A story from the wild west written in MacLean's style - a lot is happening, things are changing, agents are working in secret.
A special military mission sets off to a fort where a cholera epidemic has broken out. The story takes place on a moving train, and the speed of the action corresponds to its speed.
A special military mission sets off to a fort where a cholera epidemic has broken out. The story takes place on a moving train, and the speed of the action corresponds to its speed.
March 10, 2018
I've been a big fan of Alistair MacLean's ever since I read all of his earlier, i.e., "good" books (that is, everything from 1955's HMS Ulysses through 1968's Force 10 From Navarone), but for some reason this one has sat unread on my bookshelf for years - probably in a stash of paperbacks I salvaged when my mom passed away - until I suddenly had the urge to see just how bad MacLean's sole Western could really be.
Well, the short answer is really frickin' horrible; although if that's not enough, the somewhat longer answer follows:
PLOT: The whole book reads like a cross between bad Agatha Christie (Murder on the Oregon Express?) and a mediocre episode of "Wild Wild West," (which had gone off the air four years before this was published). For the first half of the book I honestly couldn't recall if I'd read it before - despite the Western setting, the characters and predictable plot twists were so familiar from MacLean's earlier stories that it almost read as a parody of his own work.
NARRATIVE: MacLean was always at his best writing in the first person, but this third-person narrative is particularly grating. Much of that is probably due to his patented British suave-cum-flippant tone sounding wildly off key in this setting and historical period; but I suspect a lot was also due to what is generally seen as his overall mid-career slump into sloppiness. Consider the following random samples:
...he had about him the look of a divine on the qui vive for a pair of horns and forked tail.
Pearce wasn't demonstrably happy, but he certainly couldn't have been described as ebullient.
For every man aboard those coaches, death must have supervened instantaneously.
Claremont manfully quelled what was clearly an incipient attack of apoplexy.
Deakin staggered and sat down heavily then, after a few seconds during which the other men averted their faces in shame for lost manhood, dabbed some blood from a split lip.
Fairchild spoke weightily in his impressively gubernatorial manner.
...because of his rapidly increasing tiredness which was not but one step removed from exhaustion.
He ignited the tube of blasting powder, judged his moment to what he regarded as a nicety, then tossed it out the opening.
And MacLean's DIALOGUE isn't much better. Good guys, bad guys, Indians - all sound similar and generally British, ("We don't want any of those nasty ricochets flying about inside the cab,") or in the case of the really bad Indian, positively Confucian ("in weather such as this, the wise man does not linger"). We also get exchanges like this:
"By God, Deakin, you'll pay for that insinuation!"
Deakin said wearily: "Hark at who's talking about insinuations."
And a final quote, which I liked for just a whole bunch of reasons (including three "that"s in the course of just ten words):
"Not that there's any reason to assume that they think that there is anything wrong in Fort Humboldt. But chances we cannot take."
Considering my long relationship with MacLean, I'd really hate to say good-bye to him with Breakheart Pass (which btw is a cool sounding title - although the pass only plays a minor role in the story for about 10 pages near the end). Luckily, I don't think I've reread The Guns of Navarone since the 60's - and so will add that to my to-read list, just so that I can end my half century relationship on an up note. Because quite frankly, other than that, further chances I cannot take.
Well, the short answer is really frickin' horrible; although if that's not enough, the somewhat longer answer follows:
PLOT: The whole book reads like a cross between bad Agatha Christie (Murder on the Oregon Express?) and a mediocre episode of "Wild Wild West," (which had gone off the air four years before this was published). For the first half of the book I honestly couldn't recall if I'd read it before - despite the Western setting, the characters and predictable plot twists were so familiar from MacLean's earlier stories that it almost read as a parody of his own work.
NARRATIVE: MacLean was always at his best writing in the first person, but this third-person narrative is particularly grating. Much of that is probably due to his patented British suave-cum-flippant tone sounding wildly off key in this setting and historical period; but I suspect a lot was also due to what is generally seen as his overall mid-career slump into sloppiness. Consider the following random samples:
...he had about him the look of a divine on the qui vive for a pair of horns and forked tail.
Pearce wasn't demonstrably happy, but he certainly couldn't have been described as ebullient.
For every man aboard those coaches, death must have supervened instantaneously.
Claremont manfully quelled what was clearly an incipient attack of apoplexy.
Deakin staggered and sat down heavily then, after a few seconds during which the other men averted their faces in shame for lost manhood, dabbed some blood from a split lip.
Fairchild spoke weightily in his impressively gubernatorial manner.
...because of his rapidly increasing tiredness which was not but one step removed from exhaustion.
He ignited the tube of blasting powder, judged his moment to what he regarded as a nicety, then tossed it out the opening.
And MacLean's DIALOGUE isn't much better. Good guys, bad guys, Indians - all sound similar and generally British, ("We don't want any of those nasty ricochets flying about inside the cab,") or in the case of the really bad Indian, positively Confucian ("in weather such as this, the wise man does not linger"). We also get exchanges like this:
"By God, Deakin, you'll pay for that insinuation!"
Deakin said wearily: "Hark at who's talking about insinuations."
And a final quote, which I liked for just a whole bunch of reasons (including three "that"s in the course of just ten words):
"Not that there's any reason to assume that they think that there is anything wrong in Fort Humboldt. But chances we cannot take."
Considering my long relationship with MacLean, I'd really hate to say good-bye to him with Breakheart Pass (which btw is a cool sounding title - although the pass only plays a minor role in the story for about 10 pages near the end). Luckily, I don't think I've reread The Guns of Navarone since the 60's - and so will add that to my to-read list, just so that I can end my half century relationship on an up note. Because quite frankly, other than that, further chances I cannot take.
July 5, 2019
Sure, it’s an army train – U. S. Marshall Nathan Pearce knew that before Colonel Claremont refused his request to hitch a ride to Fort Humboldt to arrest Sepp Calhoun. Arresting criminals isn’t the army’s business and Claremont wants no part in it. But when Pearce arrests a man – John Deakin – who is guilty of crimes against the people and the army, Claremont grudgingly allows them onto his train.
As the train hurtles through the uninhabited wilderness towards the remote outpost, it becomes immediately obvious that a saboteur is aboard and intends to cripple the army’s force through murder and destruction. But who amongst the tiny group of passengers would have such nefarious plans? And what exactly is awaiting the train in Fort Humboldt?
Discussion.
Superb. I’ve complained before that MacLean writes tangled stories in which no one is who we think they are – not even the hero – and the plot line is foggy. I’m happy to say that Breakheart Pass rose above those trademarks and presented a story with a tight plot and solid characterization. Oh, sure, the characters are shaken up and rearranged for our pleasure, but the stakes and setting are cogent.
The hero is a little cavalier in his approach to killing his enemies. I do believe that if another person is trying to take your life you are justified in using lethal force to defend yourself, but MacLean portrays human life as a tad too expendable for my taste.
Conclusion. By far the most interesting MacLean novel I’ve read yet.
As the train hurtles through the uninhabited wilderness towards the remote outpost, it becomes immediately obvious that a saboteur is aboard and intends to cripple the army’s force through murder and destruction. But who amongst the tiny group of passengers would have such nefarious plans? And what exactly is awaiting the train in Fort Humboldt?
Discussion.
Superb. I’ve complained before that MacLean writes tangled stories in which no one is who we think they are – not even the hero – and the plot line is foggy. I’m happy to say that Breakheart Pass rose above those trademarks and presented a story with a tight plot and solid characterization. Oh, sure, the characters are shaken up and rearranged for our pleasure, but the stakes and setting are cogent.
The hero is a little cavalier in his approach to killing his enemies. I do believe that if another person is trying to take your life you are justified in using lethal force to defend yourself, but MacLean portrays human life as a tad too expendable for my taste.
Conclusion. By far the most interesting MacLean novel I’ve read yet.
January 12, 2025
Rereading an old favorite is always fun, I’m not going to insult somebody’s literature feelings and claim this to be high literature, it’s not none of Alistair MacLean’s novels have ever been that. But they are es ape literature of the finest kind, and of those Maclean was a master. Particularly with breakheart pass fir which he stepped outside his normal genre, but did he really. For all intents and purposes, breakheart pass is a western, making but fairly unique among MacLeans books. Having all the trappings, gun fights, stout lawmen, the cavalry, outlaws and even a band if hostile indians.
But then on second glance one notices the hallmark of MacLean as well,tough men, resourceful and nit always being what they appear to be. Secrets and misdirection. A lady thrown in, mainly for decoration, as romantic subplots never bothered him, they got in the way of the action. And action there is plenty, so much that a star studded adaptation, didn’t need to alter the story at all.
Don’t trust my word on this, as I’m hopelessly obsessed with this author since i was 13 years old, but to this day I love those silly novels that are so much a product of their time, and yet still manage to thrill me.
But then on second glance one notices the hallmark of MacLean as well,tough men, resourceful and nit always being what they appear to be. Secrets and misdirection. A lady thrown in, mainly for decoration, as romantic subplots never bothered him, they got in the way of the action. And action there is plenty, so much that a star studded adaptation, didn’t need to alter the story at all.
Don’t trust my word on this, as I’m hopelessly obsessed with this author since i was 13 years old, but to this day I love those silly novels that are so much a product of their time, and yet still manage to thrill me.
April 27, 2016
As much as I love Alistair MacLean, I'm afraid this book is one of his worst. Cluttered with adverbs and entertaining a somewhat predictable plot, with thin and stereotypical characters and poor dialogue, it reads like a first draft (typos included), and a sad one at that.
It could never live up to the standard set by his other works, such as HMS Ulysses, San Andreas and Ice Station Zebra, not to mention the Navarone duo (The Guns of Navarone/Force 10 from Navarone).
It could never live up to the standard set by his other works, such as HMS Ulysses, San Andreas and Ice Station Zebra, not to mention the Navarone duo (The Guns of Navarone/Force 10 from Navarone).
July 5, 2016
This book takes place on an Army train in the American West in the 19th century after the Civil War. The train, under the command of Colonel Claremont, is full of relief troops and supplies, headed to Fort Humboldt, a remote mountain fort in Paiute Indian territory. The train also has on board a Marshall who is escorting a captured Federal prisoner named John Dekin. On its journey, there will be murders, conspiracies, sabotage, ambushes, rooftop fights, and Indians seeking revenge. The action is non-stop, and at times it is somewhat hectic, with one plot twist after another. My only complaint is that a whole lot of characters are introduced at the beginning of the book, and without much character description, it was difficult for me to keep them straight for awhile. Basically, this book is all about action and suspense, and it does an excellent job of delivering both.
February 5, 2017
An entertaining thriller. Almost every scene is tense from start to finish. A part of the book is a brilliant whodunnit and then it's out and out action. It's my first time reading a novel with a western american setting, you know, saloon bars, gunslingers, etc. and I enjoyed it very much.
This is also my first time reading Alistair MacLean and I like his writing style. Going to read more of his books if they promise the same amount of thrilling action all through the book.
This is also my first time reading Alistair MacLean and I like his writing style. Going to read more of his books if they promise the same amount of thrilling action all through the book.
July 22, 2010
Alistair MacLean is my favorite spy novelist from the 1950s and 1960s. Although this one, veers off into new territory by taking place after the civil war. Still suspenseful and exciting. Still fun. Very nostalgic. I cut my teeth on these when I was in Junior High/High School.
April 1, 2012
Fast-paced, small (192 pages), action packed; to be precise, a typical MacLean thriller (though this one's a western). Not great as some of his other works, mind you, but not boring either.
December 15, 2019
One of my favorite MacLean novels. I have read it several times.
July 10, 2024
Oldschoolowe indianie kontra kamboje z pyskatym bohaterem pośrodku. Fajnie się słuchało w formie aktorskiej na audiotece
September 27, 2018
Good Yarn
Some minor inconsistencies here and there, probably due to Mr. MacLean being English. But a fun read with some twists and turns. The book also spawned a rarely decent film.
Some minor inconsistencies here and there, probably due to Mr. MacLean being English. But a fun read with some twists and turns. The book also spawned a rarely decent film.
October 19, 2017
I have read a few of his books, including the more well known, Where Eagles Dare, HMS Ulysees and Ice Station Zebra. I enjoyed this one far more than any of these probably because I particularly like historic novels based in the 19th Century. This one is set in 1873 on a steam train travelling across the Rockies in the deep west of USA. Apart from Clive Cussler's Isaac Bell series, I don't think I've read a book of this specific genre, albeit Cussler's books are set slightly later in time.
The author's writing is superb, as always. The characters are all well described and you can easily picture them in your head, always a good sign. The plot is great, involving a wide range of both renegades and good guys, not to mention the red indians. If you like this period of American History, this is definitely worth a read.
The author's writing is superb, as always. The characters are all well described and you can easily picture them in your head, always a good sign. The plot is great, involving a wide range of both renegades and good guys, not to mention the red indians. If you like this period of American History, this is definitely worth a read.
April 25, 2015
The story starts with a troop train traveling through the Rocky Mountains in the winter of 1873 with a destination of a remote Army outpost in Nevada that is supposedly plagued with cholera. On the train are relief troops, medical supplies, other provisions and a wanted outlaw in the custody of a United States Marshal. Once the train gets underway, everything changes. The story takes several twists and turns filled with action and adventure. No one, with the exception of few, are what they appear to be. It can be a little unbelievable at times, but the superb writing skills of Alistair MacLean makes this an enjoyable read.
June 27, 2016
How could a Scotsman possible write a decent Western? I was dubious, and therefore my critical faculties were on hair trigger as I read through the first couple of chapters of the book. Nevertheless, I became more and more absorbed in this suspenseful tale of a train ride through wintry wilderness to an Army fort stricken with illness. Something is amiss, someone is not what they seem, and MacLean is such a master of plot that you can't figure out how it's going to end. Yep, I'm recommending people read this western by a Scot. You'll enjoy it.
February 21, 2017
MacLean is a mixed author for me, with some books I love, and some books I hate, and this is one that occupies the middle space, so it's OK as a quick, cheap read when you're on a long car ride or something; otherwise, Breakheart Pass isn't special, and quickly forgettable. It has some nice dialogue, but I just felt that the characters were all rather flat and undeveloped. Still, and OK read, which I give 5/10, or in the case of Goodreads: 2/5. Please visit my blog for more Reviews, Parent Guides, and Chapters of my own book: http://ibrahiemreviews.blogspot.com.tr/
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