15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Running Blind - the most un-put-down-able book EVER!!!, 15 Nov 2000
By A Customer
'Running Blind' is a book for anyone who has even a passing interested in the international struggles of the Cold War in the 60's/70's and is a well researched insight into the underworld of secret and double agents. The book has a confident, well thought out plot and there are enough twists, without entering into the heavy text of spy's coming in from cold places, to keep the reader guessing to the last page.
Alan Stewart (the central character) is from Scotland and as a land owner and ex-special agent is skilled with a rifle. Bagley, as in all his books, has researched his subjects fully. Few books cover the art of rifle shooting this accurately. You won't find any gun laden nymphomaniacs popping off police cars at a hundred yards with a .22 hand gun whilst running at full speed towards a speeding 4x4! Damn!
Stewarts past catches up with him in Scotland and, with Erin (his Icelandic Girlfriend), he is pursued through the hostile scenery of Iceland. Too many coincidences start Stewart questioning motives and the plot thickens when the Americans are added to an Anglo/Russian feud. The twisting plot keeps the reader glued from the first page and you just wish you had all day to read it - plug in the intravenous drip and get started!
Bagley writes so descriptively about Iceland that you feel you have lived there for ever. This book should be for sale in every Icelandic Tourist information office. 'Running Blind' is THE desert island book. For a young lad, as I was when I first read it, 'Running Blind' awakened me to the incredible possibilities that lay ahead in the world of good spy/action writing.
Read 'Running Blind' and then the rest...... Bagley wrote plenty.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What opened up the world of novels for me, 30 Jun 2007
I was so gripped by Bagley's novels I used to read them walking down the road. I was 12-13 years old at the time, so I'm not sure how well these would stand up to being read by an adult. And they are also somewhat dated, I'm sure, in the way Old Spice aftershave is. Nevertheless, within the confines of the genre, Bagley produced masterpieces and this is the one that stands out in my memory.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A side of one, 13 May 2004
This review is from: Running blind (Paperback)
Desmond Bagley's 'Running Blind' is a very good, fast-paced crime/spy novel. His hero, Stewart, is a retired secret agent with a special attachment to Iceland.
Forcibly retired after making a fuss about a series of double-crosses in his previous assignment, Stewart retires to his family's ancestral lands in Scotland to make a quiet living with his deer herds.
However, when his Department finds itself with a manpower shortage, they approach Stewart to run a delivery errand on his adopted turf in Iceland - an errand which seems deceptively simple at first glance.
However, Stewart has powerful enemies, and not just among his own people. The infamous Kennikin of the KGB has his own, personal reasons for wanting Stewart stopped, and they don't have much to do with the packet that Stewart is carrying.
Set in the dramatic scenery of Iceland, with its wild countryside and peaceable, scattered population, Stewart's mission is complicated by the presence of his long-term girlfriend, Elin Ragnarsdottir, and his enigmatic chief, Slade.
Can he fulfill his mission without starting an international incident, and most importantly, will he want to?
This novel has a great plot, with an unusual setting and some very believable characters, and will keep you guessing right up until the last moment. Definitely a must for those moments in the departure lounge.
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