North Star

by Hammond Innes

Michael Randall flees to the wild seas around the Shetlands to escape an impossible dilemma. There he finds a North Sea oil rig and the unlikely possibility of a new life. But one stormy night this glimmer of hope for the future, and Randall's life itself, is thrown into jeopardy.

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

318 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 1974

About the author

Ralph Hammond Innes was an English novelist who wrote over 30 novels, as well as children's and travel books.He was awarded a C.B.E. (Commander, Order of the British Empire) in 1978. The World Mystery Convention honoured Innes with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bouchercon XXIV awards in Omaha, Nebraska, Oct, 1993.

Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex, and educated at the Cranbrook School in Kent. He left in 1931 to work as a journalist, initially with the Financial Times (at the time called the Financial News). The Doppelganger, his first novel, was published in 1937. In WWII he served in the Royal Artillery, eventually rising to the rank of Major. During the war, a number of his books were published, including Wreckers Must Breathe (1940), The Trojan Horse (1941) and Attack Alarm (1941); the last of which was based on his experiences as an anti-aircraft gunner during the Battle of Britain at RAF Kenley. After being discharged in 1946, he worked full-time as a writer, achieving a number of early successes.

His novels are notable for a fine attention to accurate detail in descriptions of places, such as in Air Bridge (1951), set partially at RAF Gatow, RAF Membury after its closure and RAF Wunstorf during the Berlin Airlift.

Innes went on to produce books in a regular sequence, with six months of travel and research followed by six months of writing. Many of his works featured events at sea. His output decreased in the 1960s, but was still substantial. He became interested in ecological themes. He continued writing until just before his death. His last novel was Delta Connection (1996).

Unusually for the thriller genre, Innes' protagonists were often not "heroes" in the typical sense, but ordinary men suddenly thrust into extreme situations by circumstance. Often, this involved being placed in a hostile environment (the Arctic, the open sea, deserts), or unwittingly becoming involved in a larger conflict or conspiracy. The protagonist generally is forced to rely on his own wits and making best use of limited resources, rather than the weapons and gadgetry commonly used by thriller writers.

Four of his early novels were made into films: Snowbound (1948)from The Lonely Skier (1947), Hell Below Zero (1954) from The White South (1949), Campbell's Kingdom (1957), and The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959). His 1973 novel Golden Soak was adapted into a six-part television series in 1979.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book in a bus station, in between watching the dramatic partings and exciting arrivals while I was waiting for my own bus. So my memories of North Star will always be an odd mixture of the Central de Norte in Mexico City and the North Atlantic ocean off the Shetland Isles. I received a few strange looks every so often when I became so caught up in the story that I forgot I was not on a small ship patrolling around a drilling rig hoping to stop saboteurs from creating a disaster.

Our hero, Mike Randall, is running from his troubled past and from a situation he does not know how to cope with. He is also trying to learn something about his father, who died when Mike was a baby. As always with Innes, this was a tense, fast-moving tale. Not quite as heart-stopping as Atlantic Fury , the most recent Innes title I have read, but certainly captivating and well worth taking along on a trip. If you don't mind a few strange looks now and then.

[Leela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, very well researched and detailed setting, but more on the decisions and politics would have rounded it off

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some critics dismiss Hammond Innes' novels as being mere adventure tales, stories with no character development. This assessment is not only unfair, it's absolutely wrong. North Star provides ample evidence of that. In fact, you can see examples of strong character development in most of his other novels as well, excepting perhaps those written during the first years of World War II. What happens with his protagonist, here, Mike Randall, however, is a gradual maturing. From political nitwittery and childish indecision to moral commitment and decisiveness. That is the story of North Star. The background noise of political espionage and terrorism is just that, background noise. In this instance, Innes even foregoes his sometimes unfortunate tendency to inflict a tidy romantic ending on things, although such is alluded to as being just around the corner in the final page or two.

Also at work here: Randall is the clear hero of this story. There is no off centering of story advancement to someone other than the main narrator of things. Too, by 1972-74, Innes is becoming more and more concerned with nature conservancy and what might be termed by some today as environmentalism. In the future, that preoccupation would cloud some stories and make the books weaker. But here it is a tangible and workable part of the storyline, not intrusive, and, in fact, necessary for bringing Randall out of the bookish world of playing with ideas to experiencing the solid consequences of his actions, instead of his words and dreams. That Innes did this while endorsing the large scale buildup of Britain's North Sea oil industry is all the more impressive.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit of a tall order, since it required me to deal with a lot of oil technology and shipping vocabulary. But I found the tone to be typically Innes, with the loner seeking to live his life on his own terms and by his own set of ethical standards. There always is some menace lurking to mess things up and which is revealed in a pleasing manner over the course of the story. The strength of the book is definitely the plot, its twists and turns, and the location setting in the North Sea area. Some aspects of the book might seem a bit dated, but would you consider that a criticism of a "classic" work by, e.g., Dickens? I think not; if anything, it hearkens back to a time that I actually lived through. The connections to World War II were interesting as well. Even the "villians" are not cookie-cutter ones, but have some complexity in their motivations.

[Ronnie Mcdiarmid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like it obviously, it's the third time I've read it, I'd been looking through my bookshelf and wondering why I didn't have any Hammond Innes books there, I had read many during my teen years, the first time I read this was whilst I was working in Shetland in 1977, I bought it at the newspaper stall at Sumburgh Airport, this was a time when your choice at these kind of places was Hammond Innes, Alister Maclean or Mills and Boon (not that there would be many Mills and Boon moving at Sumburgh at the time)
I can visualise many of the places visited in the book, so it has rekindled many memories, it is also a great story
I'd forgotten how good a story teller Hammond Innes was. This particular type of book is not my first choice of read anymore to be honest. But this was like catching up with an old friend.

[Bryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

generic plot-driven thriller, not really my sort of thing. Cardboard characters and too many inconsistencies as detail is alternately presented and discarded to suit the plot. Detail is superficial and incompletely understood, really not an accurate picture of life on on oil rig at all. Plot is convoluted and you either like this sort of thing, or you don't. Found it discarded in a desk drawer on a supply boat, which sums it up really.

[Philip S · Rating 3 out of 5]

A salvaged ship.
A remote location in Shetland.
Enigmatic women.
A search for a father.
Oil rigs.
Crime, sabotage and a trial.
A storm in the ocean.
All the typical ingredients of an Innes mystery adventure.

You'll need a good map of Shetland to follow this story closely. I love the Innes protagonists, a man's man that knows how to weld, salvage ships, and pilot them through the worst storms.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was presently surprised by this book. I didn’t know anything about it and picked it up at a book swap. I also don’t know anything about sea life, but I enjoyed learning a little about it while reading this book. The background stories and connections within the characters was interesting and kept me interested throughout the book.

[Frederick Tan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superb listen Or so my husband says. Good story and plot. Worth a credit :) well read by the narrator.

[Mark Rudd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the lead character very hard to understand. He appeared to make totally illogical decisions and was easily lead. However, it is a good yarn and keeps you involved until the end.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story!

[Helen]

This isn't the type of book I normally would pick up to read, but it was in a bag of books that a friend gave me. I wasn't sure about it when I first started reading it...but I was drawn into the story and soon found myself caught up into the hard life of Michael Randall aboard a ship in the North Sea.

[Colin Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tale of North Sea oil platforms and the stormy environment to which people are exposed. Recommended if you like adventure tales.

The writing style is typical from the decade in which it's written. Get into it and you'll share the adventure.

[Michael O'Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ripping yarn. A good read. Not easy to read. Language of the Shetlands. Language of the sea, storms and boats. Language of militant anarchy and capitalism.

Good use of intense scene and then joining scenes. A good ending.

The map at the front helped.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great sea adventure thriller

[Rick Piatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only way I can describe the experience of reading any Hammond Innes book is to say it feels like I'm reading a 1950's black & white movie. A very good black & white movie.

[Rick Piatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only way I can describe the experience of reading any Hammond Innes book is to say it feels like I'm reading a 1950's black & white movie. A very good black & white movie.

[Verfaille Dirk]

suspence