Alistair MacLean, the son of a Scots minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941 he joined the Royal Navy. After the war he read English at Glasgow University and became a schoolmaster. The two and a half years he spent aboard a wartime cruiser were to give him the background for HMS Ulysses, his remarkably successful first novel, published in 1955. He is now recognized as one of the outstanding popular writers of the 20th century, the author of 29 worldwide bestsellers, many of which have been filmed.

'With this book Alistair MacLean will make another killing' Sunday Mirror‘If you have any red corpuscles in your blood, you will find your heart pumping triple time’New York Times‘With this book Alistair MacLean will make another killing’Sunday Mirror‘A magnificent storyteller’Sunday Mirror