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Alistair MacLean
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The Guns of Navarone New Ed Edition, Kindle Edition

by Alistair MacLean (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 1,389 ratings

The classic World War II thriller from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.

The guns of Navarone, huge and catastrophically accurate, embedded atop an impregnable iron fortress in the Mediterranean Sea.

Twelve hundred British soldiers trapped on a nearby island, with no hope of rescue from Allied ships, waiting to die.

Keith Mallory, world-famous mountaineer, skilled saboteur. His mission: to lead a small team of misfits and silence the guns forever.

Reaching the island and scaling the sheer cliffs undetected will be hard enough; defeating the German forces and destroying the massive guns all but impossible. And as for getting out alive when there may be a traitor in the team…

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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0007289349
  2. Edition
    New Ed
  3. Publisher
    HarperCollins
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    22 July 2010
  6. Book 1 of 4
    Guns of Navarone
  7. Language
    English
  8. File size
    1.5 MB
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There are 4 books in this series.

Product description

Review

‘Could hardly be bettered.’
Sunday Times

‘Its strength comes from the speed of its narrative, its vivid creation of tensions and its power in handling descriptions of action.’
Evening Standard

‘Action sustained at a high pitch. From the outset there is a feeling of suspense: a problem that can only be solved by action involving danger and demanding courage … an insistently gripping tale.’
Scotsman

From the Inside Flap

vy had tried to silence the guns of Navarone and failed. Full-scale attacks had been driven back. Now they were sending in just five men, each one a specialist in dealing death.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0047T6W3Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 22 July 2010
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ New Ed
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.5 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 417 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0007289349
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 1 of 4 ‏ : ‎ Guns of Navarone
  • Customer reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 1,389 ratings

About the author

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Alistair MacLean

Alistair MacLean

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Alistair Stuart MacLean (Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair MacGill-Eain; 21 April 1922 – 2 February 1987) was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. His works include The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare – all three were made into popular films. He also wrote two novels under the pseudonym Ian Stuart.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
1,389 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book to be a fantastic read that surpasses its film adaptation, featuring a wonderful gripping story with plenty of twists. The writing is well-executed, with characters that come alive, and one customer notes the detailed descriptions of explosives. Customers appreciate the book's pacing, with one describing it as "great fun old-school."

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34 customers mention ‘Readability’34 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, with several noting it's better than the film adaptation.

"...Many will be familiar with the story, but it's so well told it's worth reading even if you have seen the film...." Read more

"This is an exciting read. The leader of the mission to put the guns of Navarone out of commission is a world-famous New Zealand climber...." Read more

"The book is brilliant even though the frequent references to the almost superhuman qualities of the characters tends to undermine belief in them a..." Read more

"I did enjoy the book, the characters came alive and I felt I really could empathize with them, found myself hoping that they would succeed, and very..." Read more

19 customers mention ‘Story quality’19 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story quality of the book, describing it as a wonderful gripping narrative with incredible moments, and one customer notes it has plenty of suspense and twists.

"...Alistair Maclean was a great storyteller and although it's some 60 years since this book was first published, it's a war story with a timeless..." Read more

"...been a decent man in civilian life, but on the whole this is a story of brave and righteous Allies fighting against evil and rather stupid Nazis...." Read more

"...There is plenty of detail on explosives and the narrative carries the reader along at a fair pace...." Read more

"great story" Read more

13 customers mention ‘Writing quality’13 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, with one customer noting it reads like a boy's own adventure, while another mentions there is no bad language.

"...Many will be familiar with the story, but it's so well told it's worth reading even if you have seen the film...." Read more

"The book is well written but the first 150 pages deals with the characters being stuck on a mountain side; very laborious reading, a bit like wading..." Read more

"Great author,great read apparently i am required to submit seventeen more words,but i ask you why?surely great read ,great author suffices" Read more

"Really enjoyed this book, reads like a boy's own adventure. Also, what's not to like about common, decent soldiers sticking it to the Nazis?..." Read more

5 customers mention ‘Pace’5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the pace of the book.

"...detail on explosives and the narrative carries the reader along at a fair pace...." Read more

"Fast paced, good old-fashioned war story! Tough men, no nonsense determination to achieve a virtually impossible mission...." Read more

"...The characters and plot and pace are so well conceived that it's hard to find any fault...." Read more

"...this time moves along at March ten pace good old fashioned storytelling MacLean at his explosive best" Read more

4 customers mention ‘Character development’4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, noting that the characters come alive and feel like authentic World War II soldiers.

"...The characters feel like real WW2 men; a couple are totally ruthless, another is a little cowardly and another complains that the mission is doomed..." Read more

"...The characterisation too is good, with the exceptions I’ve already mentioned...." Read more

"I did enjoy the book, the characters came alive and I felt I really could empathize with them, found myself hoping that they would succeed, and very..." Read more

"...The characters engage you from the start and once you're off you will be hooked for days ! This was my first Maclean novel...." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Detail’3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's detailed content, with one customer specifically noting its thorough coverage of explosives.

"...There is plenty of detail on explosives and the narrative carries the reader along at a fair pace...." Read more

"...Typical Alistair MacLean. Well written with a lot of good detail the book will keep you 'at it' until finished...." Read more

"Lots of detail, you can picture the various parts and imagine each part and more or less be there with them." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Enjoyment’3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable, with one describing it as great fun old-school and another noting it's exciting.

"An enjoyable and great read. The story kept you on your toes so to speak. Must better than the movie" Read more

"exciting! Differentapproach from the film" Read more

"Great fun old-school adventure..." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Pacing’3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, with one noting its timeless quality.

"...since this book was first published, it's a war story with a timeless quality and still feels fresh...." Read more

"...Overall I felt the setting was done very well – the rugged terrain, the sheer cliff-faces, the angry sea, the snow – no idyllic Greek island..." Read more

"Fast paced, good old-fashioned war story! Tough men, no nonsense determination to achieve a virtually impossible mission...." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Vicuña
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great storytelling; this is classic Maclean
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 March 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I've seen the film a few times over the years, but hadn't read the book until now. Alistair Maclean was a great storyteller and although it's some 60 years since this book was first published, it's a war story with a timeless quality and still feels fresh. Although Navarone is fictional, the story is based on actual events in the Aegean Sea area. A multinational group of saboteurs is tasked with capturing a German fortress.

    The story has all the elements; tough gritty men on a mission, spies, betrayal, sea action. The characters feel like real WW2 men; a couple are totally ruthless, another is a little cowardly and another complains that the mission is doomed to fail. Many will be familiar with the story, but it's so well told it's worth reading even if you have seen the film. I had a real sense of tension throughout and was willing certain things to happen.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • FictionFan
    4.0 out of 5 stars Mission impossible…
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 March 2024
    Verified Purchase
    1943 – The Aegean. Twelve hundred men are trapped on the small island of Kheros, off the coast of Turkey. Soon the Germans will arrive in force, and the men know that they will either die or be captured. All the forces of the Allies are unable to get to Kheros to evacuate the men, for on the island of Navarone, a few miles away, there is a massive cliff-top fortress guarding the channels between the islands, complete with a battery of massive guns…

    “The guns of Navarone.” Jensen paused for a long time, then repeated the words, slowly, expressionlessly, as one would repeat the name of some feared and ancient enemy. “The guns of Navarone. They make everything equal. They cover the Northern entrances to both channels. We could take the twelve hundred men off Kheros tonight – if we could silence the guns of Navarone.”

    Capatain Jensen, Chief of Operations for SEO in Cairo, has tried to silence the guns with raids from sea and air, but each time they have been repulsed with deadly force. Now he has put together a small team, each with special expertise, and tasked them to get onto the island of Navarone and spike the guns before the German force arrives to take Kheros. The team is headed by Captain Keith Mallory, a New Zealander who in pre-war days was probably the most famous mountaineer of his time. He has been fighting in the mountainous regions of Crete, alongside his Greek friend and companion-in-arms, Andrea, a ruthlessly courageous man who has personal reasons to hate the Germans and whose loyalty to Mallory is complete. Then there’s the American, Dusty Miller – an explosives expert, whose expertise as a field medic will come in useful too. Casey Brown, the Glaswegian, is an engineer, his skills developed in the shipyards of the Clyde. He’s the one who will have to get them to the island and who’s in charge of the vital radio equipment that will keep them in touch with HQ. And then there’s young Andy Stevens, another mountaineer and fluent in Greek, but hiding the secret of his own cowardice. As they make their way through hazards on sea and land, this group of disparate people will meld into a team, each reliant on the skills of the others to survive, and each with the knowledge that not only their own lives but the lives of twelve hundred men depend on the success of their mission…

    With this kind of adventure thriller, there’s a kind of sweet spot in the characterisation that makes the book either succeed or fail. Firstly the characters have to be likeable, but they also have to have flaws or they become unrealistic. Secondly they have to be heroic, but their heroism has to be at a level the reader can just about imagine achieving or they turn into superheroes – still fun, but no longer inspiring that feeling of empathy that brings the suspense of caring about their fates. Thirdly, they need to be in genuine jeopardy – this usually necessitates killing one or two of them along the way! On the whole, MacLean achieves all of these objectives, although Andrea rather falls into the superhero category and so never felt as real to me as the other characters. I also rather quickly tired of Andy Stevens’ obsession with his own feelings of cowardice – it was such an obvious ploy that he was going to find bravery at the crucial moment and redeem himself, so there was no real element of surprise to his story. The other three hit the sweet spot nicely, though, each having moments of failure to make their moments of heroism and success stand out more, and MacLean does an excellent job of showing them each gain more respect and admiration for the others as they learn to work together.

    The book was first published in 1957, which was probably too soon after the war for the patriotic jingoism to have completely worn off. MacLean does point out the futility of much of the death and destruction a couple of times, and occasionally he hints that a particular German might have been a decent man in civilian life, but on the whole this is a story of brave and righteous Allies fighting against evil and rather stupid Nazis. He gives a slightly odd depiction of the Greeks, as brave undoubtedly, but still not quite the equal of the English-speaking nations. It’s of its time and not nearly as off-putting as some writing of the era, but it still jars a little now. I was glad that he avoided making the Glaswegian either a comedy drunk or an aggressive fighting-cock of a man – being Glaswegian himself may have helped him avoid those stereotypes!

    Of course the story becomes incredible – don’t they always? These men are bashed over the head, shot, stabbed, blown up, starved, frozen, fall off cliffs, and yet they bounce back each time to carry out feats most of us couldn’t do even after six months of intensive training. They develop an all-for-one mentality which is in contrast to the nasty German habit of sacrificing their soldiers cheaply with no compunction. And again, so soon after the war, when most of the readership would either have served or had a father who served, there was no way that the good guys wouldn’t win – people still had to convince themselves that the sacrifices had not been made in vain, which for the most part was probably true. But MacLean does show the hard-headed heartlessness that those in charge sometimes had to adopt – sacrifices made for greater gains.

    Overall I felt the setting was done very well – the rugged terrain, the sheer cliff-faces, the angry sea, the snow – no idyllic Greek island vacation this! The characterisation too is good, with the exceptions I’ve already mentioned. And while the outcome of the plot is never in much doubt, it’s an exciting adventure getting there. Definitely a classic of its genre although, to me, that genre of WW2 adventures feels a little more dated than others now.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Andrew Low
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Guns of Navarone by Alistair Maclean
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 August 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This is an exciting read.
    The leader of the mission to put the guns of Navarone out of commission is a world-famous New Zealand climber.
    The team meets with many dangerous scrapes with the enemy and there is a formidable cliff to climb after reaching the Greek island.Stevens,a young Lieutenant,is injured during the climb but bravely continues up the cliff.
    There is a meeting with a German patrol lead by an honourable officer.
    There is plenty of detail on explosives and the narrative carries the reader along at a fair pace.
    This would interest people with like stories of special missions behind the lines.
    One person found this helpful
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  • ANTHONY MONTEITH
    5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 April 2025
    Verified Purchase
    brilliant
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  • Peter Thomas
    4.0 out of 5 stars The book is brilliant even though the frequent references to the almost superhuman ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 January 2015
    Verified Purchase
    The book is brilliant even though the frequent references to the almost superhuman qualities of the characters tends to undermine belief in them a bit.
    As with most older books given the Amazon treatment, or so I have experienced, there are problems. Usually the proof reading ranges from careless to disruptive. In this case, there are only a few proofreading errors but there are pages missing between Loc 1153 and Loc 1161.
    My impression is that non-Amazon supplied books are less susceptible to such errors but if you want the Kindle system you are stuck.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • ken
    5.0 out of 5 stars very quick delivery
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 February 2025
    Verified Purchase
    great story
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  • Lexicon
    3.0 out of 5 stars Preferred the film.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 August 2022
    Verified Purchase
    The book is well written but the first 150 pages deals with the characters being stuck on a mountain side; very laborious reading, a bit like wading through treacle. I preferred Where Eagles Dare instead.
    One person found this helpful
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  • K. Jones
    5.0 out of 5 stars Just a fantastic read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 April 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I've seen the film a few times, but the book is something else entirely. Its not just a great war story, it gives you thoughts that this man had during their suicidal mission. The friendship that builds as the story progress's. My personal favourite character is Andrea. He's a giant of a man that makes no sound at all, until he taps you on your shoulder. These men are not murderer's these are professional saboteurs, and they are the best at what they do.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Australia on 15 September 2016
    Verified Purchase
    VERY WELL WRITTEN BOOK COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN
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  • monet
    5.0 out of 5 stars 面白そう
    Reviewed in Japan on 5 November 2020
    Verified Purchase
    まだ読み始めたばかりですが、面白そうです。
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  • Abhijeet Kolte
    5.0 out of 5 stars A roller coaster of a journey !
    Reviewed in India on 16 October 2022
    Verified Purchase
    What a wonderful story ! Well written, characters very well defined, the tempo builds up very well. A soldier’s perspective is well put without any unnecessary dramatisation. The nuances of the situations and the feelings though are conveyed very well but you so don’t get overwhelmed by them.
    All in all it’s definitely a read worth it. Go for it !!
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  • Amazons Customers
    5.0 out of 5 stars "The Guns of Navarone!
    Reviewed in Germany on 4 December 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I receivedthe book well within the time frame given. I first read this book many years ago and then saw the film. The second reading (now) was every bit as good. The book is exciting and thrilling - it's hard to put it down! An excellent second novel by a great Scotish writer! I recommend it to anyone who likes a good war-time story.
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in the United States on 26 December 2022
    Verified Purchase
    What a war story. Full of character, action, adventure, and courage. These characters are fantastic. Keith Mallory is phenomenal and so are Dusty Miller and Andrea. All of them are painted vividly. And the story rings true in all respects. The setting is painted in glorious detail. I've reread this more times than I can count. Still excellent.
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