Night Without End

By: Alistair MacLean

Narrated by: Jonathan Oliver

Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

From the acclaimed master of action and suspense. The all-time classic.

An airliner crashes in the polar ice cap. In temperatures 40 degrees below zero, six men and four women survive.

But for the members of a remote scientific research station who rescue them, there are some sinister questions to answer – the first one being, who shot the pilot before the crash?

©2017 Alistair MacLean (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Admirably written – one gasps and freezes and burns with the frightful cold." ( Sunday Times)

"Hair-raising! MacLean has done it again." ( Manchester Evening News)

Not one of his better novels

This novel has some similarities in story format to Ice Station Zebra (Artic murder mystery that needs solved before everyone dies). But it lacks the better character development and pacing, as well as most of the suspense of that better novel. In addition, Alistair MacLean writes some pretty flimsy female characters but the flight stewardess in this novel is pretty badly written, even for the era in which the novel was written.

The earlier portion of the book that deals with the airplane crash and subsequent suspicions is pretty good. The latter half that deals with the trek to safety and the outing of the responsible party is not. Not really a pacing issue but lacks in character development and near the climax the whole story is getting pretty hard to believe.

Entertaining... the night could have gone on

A good entry into the MacLean cannon and overall one of the better ones. The first 1/2 of the book is very well done framing the tension and driving the cold arctic conditions deep into your soul. The novel loses a little momentum in the 2nd half but remains an interesting and entertaining story that could have gone on longer with pleasure.

The narrator, Jonathan Oliver did a good job with this one lending interest and characteristics to his voices that suited the story. I felt he did a terrible job on the excellent HMS Ulysses where he lent the wrong voice and inflection to main characters draining the untypical first MacLean of some of its intensity, but Oliver was well suited to this book.

Overall very enjoyable and well written 5th novel from Maclean's better early period.

Suspense thriller from 1959

Scottish author Alistair MacLean was well known for his suspense thrillers. NIGHT WITHOUT END is one of his earlier novels. The novel is set in northern Greenland where a plane crashed. It includes elements of murder and espionage, but is mostly constant suspense and uncertainty as the survivors try to survive in some of the lowest temperatures on earth. Narration is okay.

For me, a time capsule

This was a story from my childhood. I enjoyed it as much now as I did then. Alister McClean has always been a favorite of mine.

Keep in mind this book is from 1959

I enjoyed the book. I kept wondering what would happen next. The book is very dated. The characters are stereotyped. I had as much trouble figuring out “ the who dunnit” as the main character did.
The story telling isn’t smooth and the main character is at times laughable by today’s standing.
It is an interesting, suspenseful story with an original plot - at times poorly written but nonetheless intriguing. I’ve heard the author’s other books are better.

The Master of Suspense strikes again!

Read this book forty-five years ago. Despite the massive changes in technology, it is still a crackling good story. The characters have to survive in one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet.

Pull up your chair in front of a roaring fire, wrap yourself in a warm blanket and prepare to be entertained!

couldn't stop listening.

really enjoyed this book. my husband recommended it to me and I finished it in a week.

Non-stop narrative!

This was a fun story. A mix of characters in dire situations, scientific/technical jargon without slowing the story, and a great pace.
The narrator was great.

A Maclean I didn't like

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The main character makes an annoying number of mistakes. Not what I expect from Maclean.

Would you ever listen to anything by Alistair MacLean again?

Yes. I bought this based on other titles that were more interesting.

Which character – as performed by Jonathan Oliver – was your favorite?

IDK

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Any additional comments?

Disappointing story. Narrator was fine.

The story is very good

The narrator is terrible! This is the second Alistair Maclean audio book I have heard with the same narrator and as far as I am concerned, he has no concept how to read a book, especially a book of Alistair Maclean's!