Buy Used
Used - Good See details
Price: £1.48

or
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Ice-Cold in Alex (CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS) [Paperback]

Christopher Landon
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Special Offer until June 30, 2013: Receive an additional £5 promotional Gift Certificate, when you trade-in at least £10 worth of books. Learn more.

Book Description

4 Mar 2004 CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS

They served it ice-cold in Alex - pale amber Rheingold beer in tall, dewy glasses. This is the image that haunts Captain George Anson. Stationed in the North African desert just before the fall of Tobruk, an ice-cold lager seems a million miles away.

When Anson is detailed to escort two nursing sisters to Alexandria, it looks as though his wish is finally about to come true - a routine assignment, with a lager at the end of it as his reward. But what starts out as a routine journey soon becomes an epic. Forced to drive further and further south in order to escape the advancing German Army, Anson and his small party are soon on the edge of the Great Sand Sea. As they battle with the physical agonies of a six- hundred-mile drive through the desert it soon becomes apparent that each member of the group has his or her own private struggles to resolve. Not only that, but with a Nazi agent in their midst, it is clear that not all of them are going to make it to Alexandria...



Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Phoenix; New edition edition (4 Mar 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0304366250
  • ISBN-13: 978-0304366255
  • Product Dimensions: 1.9 x 12.7 x 19 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 62,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Book Description

The bestselling novel which inspired the Hollywood movie starring John Mills.

About the Author

Christopher Landon served with the 51st Field Ambulance in North Africa during WWII. After the war he wrote several novels, including A Flag in the City, Stone Cold Dead in the Market, and Hornet's nest. His most famous novel, however, was Ice Cold in Alex, which was made into an internationally famous movie, starring John Mills.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars There'll always be Alex 25 Oct 2006
Format:Paperback
It would be hard to find anyone who, having seen the film version of this book, doesn't find the film moving. It is rightly proclaimed to be one of the best World War Two films made.

Set against the book, the film is pretty accurate, and despite one or two deviations from the original text, is thoroughly moving. What you get with the book though is a deeper sounding of what is up with Captain Anson and the relationship he has with Sergeant Major Tom Pugh.

The hero's journey is here laid out in greater detail than could ever be seen in the format of a film. Both Anson and Pugh, and the character Zimmermann (van der Poel in the film) and Nursing Sister Diana Murdoch, evolve through the novel and all can claim to have made a breakthrough change by its conclusion. The book is charged throughout with `hope' and ends with the sun going down on the characters' long rite of passage and talk of a new voyage starting tomorrow.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A master story-teller at work 22 Jan 2010
Format:Paperback
I had never heard of this book, first published more than fifty years ago, but saw it mentioned online in an interview with Patrick Hennessey the young author of current English bestseller,The Junior Officers' Reading Club (see my review of that book). Apparently the film version of Ice Cold in Alex is a UK classic. Having read the book, I hope to see the film one day. But the book itself is most satisfying. Landon's story-telling skills reminded me very much of another UK author, Nevil Shute. I have read at least a dozen Shute books and enjoyed them all. There is something about his modest, understated way of telling a good story that draws you in and keeps you turning the pages eagerly, wondering what will happen next. Ice Cold in Alex is a story like that. It is a novel of war, but without the violence. The characters are non-violent non-combatant types, simply trying to do their jobs in the best way possible, and suddenly pitted against a much larger and impersonal enemy - the empty wastes and desert of North Africa. Using an omniscient point of view, Landon allows his readers to get inside the heads of all four characters, and makes them all, in the end, extremely human and good people. There is also a Shangri-La element added, as Captain Anson tells Sister Murdoch of a mythical oasis somewhere in the Great Sand Sea called Zerzura. Indeed the bar in Alex, with its tall glass of ice cold amber-colored beer, may be the Zerzura they finally find. This is a most satisfying read. The one jarring note here is my discovery that the book is out of print, and not just here in the U.S., but in the UK too. My copy is a 2004 Cassell reprint which I was able to find used. The DVD of the film, starring John Mills, however, is still available.... Read more ›
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars 'Ice cold' is still rather cool 28 Dec 2010
Format:Paperback
The iconic war film was based on this pacy short novel, drawn from the author's own experience in the WWII North African campaign. An alcoholic officer and his faithful NCO are ordered to escort two nurses out of Tobruk port, about to fall to the Afrika Korps eastwards to the safety of 'Alex' (Alexandria). To avoid the advancing Axis forces they have to head south and cross the hostile desert in a rickety ambulance. On this arduous off-road trip they pick up a 'South African' officer they believe to be a German spy. Drama ensues as themes of redemption, reconciliation and even romance are explored. The focus is on action rather than analysis, but this is a taught tale, undeniably cinematic and still very readable as it exposes the stress, strangeness and uncertainty of war. Like the characters you'll want that ice cold beer after finishing.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars As good as the film 30 May 2008
Format:Paperback
If you love the film you will love this! A few bits differ from the film but makes it more interesting.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
5.0 out of 5 stars Best read 6 Jun 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is one of the easiest books to read. The story is well written and not at all dated. I enjoyed the story and also have the dvd.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
5.0 out of 5 stars Christopher Landon - Ice Cold in Alex 1 Aug 2012
Format:Paperback
"The thought of ice-cold lager, as served in Alexandria, haunted Captain Anson living on whisky - and his nerves - in doomed Tobruk. It became an obsession when he, his sergeant-major and two nurses set out in the ambulance Katy to break through Rommel's encircling panzers. Their desperate journey ran full tilt into action, excitement, personal drama - and Captain Zimmerman, who claimed to be a South African..."

"The tension of this nightmare drive will grip you" - MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS

"Finely imagined, finely told" - BIRMINGHAM POST

"Wholly realistic and believable" - GUARDIAN

A classic war novel by a British veteran of the Western Desert and Persian campaign in the Second World War.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The story-line makes for an enjoyable read and provides an interesting picture of human experiences & attitudes in WW2.
In the process it explains the British "North-African-Desert" campaign and is of particular interest to those with family members who earned the nickname of "Desert Rats" whilst serving with the Eighth Army.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Nobody reads on the loo do they ? not really - and yet so many people have books in the loo ! 15 1 minute ago
Novels set in or about pubs? 11 31 minutes ago
Spend an erotic night of BDSM, Domination/submission, and exhibition with Jim and Kay this weekend.. 41 1 hour ago
Self-published books: pain or gain? 6122 2 hours ago
Fed up with all the books not having an Ending? 34 8 hours ago
Ideas for gentle reads for more mature people 66 10 hours ago
New Historical Fiction Novel - based on a true story 20 18 hours ago
Historical fiction - for guys 62 1 day ago
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback