Review by hammet (2006-07-02)
One of Maclean's early books that continues to see the author developing what will become his trademark style of action and characters that are not who they appear to be. Set amid the fall of British Singapore in 1942, the book proceeds with constant maritime adventure as a diverse set of characters try and outrun the Japanese who seem bent on capture versus killing. Maclean calls upon his own WW II naval experience and his being captured by the Japanese during the war. Not the strongest of Maclean's works, but worth reading to see a young author maturing his writing which he preferred to call story telling.