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Maelstrom

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Maelstron centres around a young woman who travels to Norway to claim an inheritance. She finds herself involved in the mysterious dealings of the family of her deceased benefactor - and that someone is out to kill her.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

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About the author

Michael J. Bird

7 books1 follower
Michael John Hereford Bird (31 October 1928– 11 May 2001) was an English writer.

He was best known for four television drama series he wrote for the BBC, set in the Mediterranean. The Lotus Eaters and Who Pays the Ferryman? were set in Crete, The Aphrodite Inheritance was set in Cyprus, and The Dark Side of the Sun took place on Rhodes.

Bird formed his own production company, named Gryphon Productions, and negotiated a number of co-productions with the BBC.

He was also the author of The Town That Died: a Chronicle of the Halifax Disaster, released in 1962.

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5 stars
19 (38%)
4 stars
21 (42%)
3 stars
8 (16%)
2 stars
2 (4%)
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
6 reviews
December 31, 2015
This is a MUST read if you enjoy a great mystery that keeps you guessing to the end.

I totally enjoyed this book from start to finish . I had not read anything by this author before, but I will be looking for more books by him.

In this story things are twisted until you don't know who is doing what not only in the present but also in the past. Give it a read if you dare.
Profile Image for Sherry Thompson.
Author 16 books15 followers
December 31, 2019
Good summary of the BBC series. Terrible editing.

I watched the BBC non-profits back, what was it, 20 years ago? And I loved it, even adding the series to my Amazon wishlist. When I was clearing out some entries from the list a few days ago, I saw the entry complete with the original video cover photo. But no one seemed to be offering that now.
A friend helpfully sent me an Amazon entry for the Region 2 video. I live in the U.S.
So I went back to the book entries on Amazon and found this in the Kindle store.
I was very glad to find it, and I still am! It's the next best thing to being able to view the mini series after all. While I still vividly remembered many scenes from the series, I had forgotten others, so it was a delight being reminded of the ones I had forgotten! I finished reading the book in two days . Trust me, I'm an extremely slow reader so this even astonished me but this was truly a book I couldn't put down.
Now the downside. Given the terrible punctuation and especially the blank lines right in the middle of paragraphs, I can only hope that Michael J Bird was hired to do a novelization of the film. I find it virtually impossible to believe that any author could even produce so many errors. [by the way, I'm an author] There is no way any publisher would have allowed this into print as it is. But, for me, I'm just grateful for the chance to reacquaint myself with the story!
Mystery, romance, Norwegian culture and geography, sailing. Mental illness 'posing as' a creepy supernatural thriller.
Profile Image for Helen.
788 reviews2 followers
June 21, 2026
I'm giving this 5 stars for pure 80s nostalgia :) I remember the TV series really capturing my imagination when I was about 14 and I never forgot about it. I was delighted to find the novelisation recently at a jumble sale and devoured it in one sitting!
Profile Image for Lynn Smith.
2,047 reviews37 followers
April 30, 2021
Totally enjoyed this suspenseful romantic thriller which i read after watching the bbc tv series.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews