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Fear Is the Key cover art

Fear Is the Key

By: Alistair MacLean
Narrated by: Jonathan Oliver
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Summary

A classic audiobook of ruthless revenge set in the steel jungle of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico - and on the seabed below it.

A sunken DC-3 lying on the Caribbean floor. Its cargo: $10.25 million in gold ingots, emeralds and uncut diamonds guarded by the remains of two men, one woman and a very small boy.

The fortune was there for the taking, and ready to grab it were a blue-blooded oilman with his own offshore rig, a gangster so cold and independent that even the Mafia couldn't do business with him and a psychopathic hired assassin.

Against them stood one man, and those were his people, those skeletons in their watery coffin. His name was Talbot, and he would bury his dead - but only after he had avenged their murders.

©1961 Devoran Trustees Lts (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Guns, gangsters, sudden death, terrific action on land and under the sea... Fear is the Key has a plot that will require a lot of willpower to stop you looking at the last page." ( Sunday Mirror)
"Keeps tension at screaming point." ( Daily Express)
"Excitement and violence...the pace never slackens." ( Scotsman)

What listeners say about Fear Is the Key

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Edge of your seat thriller!

An edge of your seat thriller from the sadly missed 'Daddy' of all thriller writers!!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Nobody did it better than Maclean

I first read the book when I was 13 years old and saw the film in my local cinema about 5 times. One of the greatest car chases ever filmed. And what a terrific adventure story to follow. I had waited for quite some time for an audio version and was tragically, at the age of 62, like that 13 year old boy excited to be reunited with one of my heroes. Although, a sheer delight to rekindle my love of this wonderful set of characters and the genius of Maclean's writing, I hate to say that Oliver's performance is pretty dire. Don't let it put you off though. This is a story so worth sitting back and sharing time with.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Much better from Oliver

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Oliver’s other performances? How does this one compare?

The Maclean Classic given the audible treatment. This delivery is much better from Oliver, although it has to be said that there are much fewer foreign accents in this book, when compared to the poor performance in 'The Guns of Navarone" where he really struggled. The producers/editor should take a some of the blame for that too. At the very end of the book, his narration (under the circumstances) is very good. However, he still needs to work on his fluidity.

Is it work a credit?... Yes.

Hoping for 'When Eight Bells Toll' sometime soon!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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One of his best.

Read this first over 50 years ago and still as exciting as my first read. Also an interesting bit of social history and so much better than Bond.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

not great

I struggled to finish, didn't enjoy the narrator and ended up stopping half way through

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Deserving more...

An action packed story, as you would expect from AM, but I found the narration poorly accomplished. The narrator seems to drone in my ears, and the characterisation is a dull monologue of various different voices.
Such a pity, the novel deserves more.

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