Seawitch is pretty typical MacLean. Outlandish action, crazy heroics, witty banter, women to save, asses to kick, you know, the standard fare.

"I don't care who's responsible." The stenographer's voice was plaintive. "Does anyone know where I can get a nuclear shelter, cheap?"

It'd never win awards, and I doubt if he ever had that sort of thing in mind. They're just, good plain fun. Completely unbelievable, the hero always pulls of any manner of crazy stunts that are utterly unfeasible, but it's just the same as any action flick. It's not real, it's absurdly overdone, but it lets you escape reality and go off where the hero is always going to kick some badguy ass. MacLean was also a product of his time, and as such his turns of phrase are not always ...very PC... but I overlook it because the stories are such a great ride.

"I know what you mean and I don't believe you. I saw him shaking."
"You poor, silly, stupid, foolish ninny. You don't deserve him."
She stared at him in disbelief. "What did you say?"
"You heard me." Roomer sounded tired and the doctor was looking at him in disapproval. He went on in a sombre voice: "Kowenski and Rindler are dead men. They have minutes to live. [...]" He smiled faintly. "I'm afraid he takes care of things in a rather final way."

My rating is utterly subjective. If I weighed this against, say, Dostoevsky, it'd get around half marks. But this is not objective, this is good clean fun, and as far as MacLean goes this was a solid ride. ( )

I've heard good things about MacLean's books but even at the halfway point in this book I just wasn't engaging with the plot or the characters. ( )

Seawitch is my least favorite of Alistair MacLean's novels. It reads like a screenplay, or like a work by a tired, disengaged author going through the motions. The characters are uninteresting and stereotyped, and the action dull and not believable. I have kept every one of his novels except this one, for whatever thay may indicate. ( )

MacLean just doesn't seem to have it any more. The characters are so flat, they fit between the pages. ( )

In the 1970s, a secret group of oil tycoons hire a mercenary to destroy their rival's oil rig off the Texas coast. In the process Cronkite blows up an oil tanker, hijacks a second tanker, kidnaps Lord Worth's two daughters, and involves warships from Russia, Venezuela and Cuba. Two private investigators attempt to save the oil rig and rescue the daughters before it's too late.
Somewhat dated, but a good escape-read thriller, vintage Alistair Maclean. ( )