Fear Is the Key

By: Alistair MacLean

Narrated by: Jonathan Oliver

A classic novel of ruthless revenge set in the steel jungle of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico – and on the sea bed below it.

A sunken DC-3 lying on the Caribbean floor. Its cargo: ten million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in gold ingots, emeralds and uncut diamonds guarded by the remains of two men, one woman and a very small boy.

The fortune was there for the taking, and ready to grab it were a blue-blooded oilman with his own offshore rig, a gangster so cold and independent that even the Mafia couldn’t do business with him and a psychopathic hired assassin.

Against them stood one man, and those were his people, those skeletons in their watery coffin. His name was Talbot, and he would bury his dead – but only after he had avenged their murders.

©1961 Devoran Trustees Lts

Critic reviews

‘Guns, gangsters, sudden death, terrific action on land and under the sea … Fear is the Key has a plot that will require a lot of willpower to stop you looking at the last page.’
Sunday Mirror

‘Keeps tension at screaming point.’
Daily Express

‘Excitement and violence … the pace never slackens.’
Scotsman

Refreshingly Unique

I have found a new favorite author.
For some reason I expect to be disappointed and exactly the opposite occurs.
The writing was brilliant and the performance was Justice brilliant.

Thrill ride

Awesome and gripping. Truly an E-ticket ride into the vortex of a EF-5 tornado. This is one of Alistair MacLean’s best.

Awesomest!!!

One of the best books I've read and reread and repeated for a zillion times, and Mr Oliver has done 200% justice to it. Very well narated!

Great yarn, beautifully read (by an actual human)

The narrator was excellent. So clearly understood MacLean’s laconic hero. The story is terrific and the characters are quickly but well drawn

Poor Narrator

Loved this book since first released in hardback, and never found fault in anything. This version had me incredibly annoyed with the voices and the emphasis put on certain words and sentences. Got the book out and checked and no it was not the sentence it was the way that words were emphasized. Love Alastair MacLean but don't think I'll buy any more.