The Dark Crusader
Encyclopedia
The Dark Crusader is a 1961
thriller novel
by Scottish author Alistair MacLean
. It was released in the United States
under the title: The Black Shrike and under the pseudonym
Ian Stuart; it was later republished under MacLean's own name.
.
from a mission in Turkey
involving the theft of information about British missiles. Eight top scientists have disappeared, after responding to advertisements that have been placed in newspapers, for top level scientists in different fields of research, all offering very attractive rates of pay, but with the precondition that all applicants to be married with no children. All eight scientists disappear either in Australia
, or en route there. Bentall is paired with Marie Hopeman, another agent posing as his wife. No James Bond
, Bentall is much the stumbling self-deprecating fool who gets things wrong from the start, and ends up in the position that the villains want him.
Bentall and Hopeman are kidnapped at an unscheduled stop in Fiji
, but escape to Island Vardu a remote coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
. Island Vardu is currently home to Professor Witherspoon, an archaeologist of some note, but with no radio transmitter or boat scheduled to arrive for three weeks. But there is something about Dr Witherspoon that Bentall finds suspicious. Later Bentall discovers that Witherspoon is actually LeClerc, the mastermind behind a plot to steal a British missile -- the Dark Crusader, for an unnamed foreign power. The plot becomes even more complicated when Bentall and Hopeman find themselves falling in love even as they try to unravel a plot to steal highly classified missile technology. However, typically for MacLean, neither the female agent, nor the situation is quite as it seems. The novel really has two endings, one in which Bentall must chose between saving Hopeman and preventing the theft of the missile, and a second in which Bentall finally unravels the last details of the plot with his boss. Although not a standard literary device, the double ending packs considerable emotional punch.
1961 in literature
The year 1961 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First English production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui*Michael Halliday publishes his seminal paper on the systemic functional grammar model....
thriller novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Scottish author Alistair MacLean
Alistair MacLean
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers or adventure stories, the best known of which are perhaps The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare, all three having been made into successful films...
. It was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
under the title: The Black Shrike and under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Ian Stuart; it was later republished under MacLean's own name.
.
Plot introduction
Bentall, a British physicist deployed for counterespionage duties, is suddenly recalled to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from a mission in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
involving the theft of information about British missiles. Eight top scientists have disappeared, after responding to advertisements that have been placed in newspapers, for top level scientists in different fields of research, all offering very attractive rates of pay, but with the precondition that all applicants to be married with no children. All eight scientists disappear either in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, or en route there. Bentall is paired with Marie Hopeman, another agent posing as his wife. No James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
, Bentall is much the stumbling self-deprecating fool who gets things wrong from the start, and ends up in the position that the villains want him.
Bentall and Hopeman are kidnapped at an unscheduled stop in Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, but escape to Island Vardu a remote coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. Island Vardu is currently home to Professor Witherspoon, an archaeologist of some note, but with no radio transmitter or boat scheduled to arrive for three weeks. But there is something about Dr Witherspoon that Bentall finds suspicious. Later Bentall discovers that Witherspoon is actually LeClerc, the mastermind behind a plot to steal a British missile -- the Dark Crusader, for an unnamed foreign power. The plot becomes even more complicated when Bentall and Hopeman find themselves falling in love even as they try to unravel a plot to steal highly classified missile technology. However, typically for MacLean, neither the female agent, nor the situation is quite as it seems. The novel really has two endings, one in which Bentall must chose between saving Hopeman and preventing the theft of the missile, and a second in which Bentall finally unravels the last details of the plot with his boss. Although not a standard literary device, the double ending packs considerable emotional punch.