night reviews

8/6/2019 Night Reviews

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Introduction:- Title: Night without end

- Author: Alistair McClean

- Kind of book: Mystery and Adventure

Plot:A plane crashes near the Arctic Circle and it is discovered by

three men that are working as investigators in the Polar ice cap.

It is a strange accident because the Arctic Circle is not a usual

route for planes.

An atmosphere of suspicion grows around the accident, just as we can observe in lots of

details. The three men decide to rescue the survivors, but the first night together, the only

way to ask for help (a radio) is broken by someone, and an injured man is murdered. One

of the investigators, Peter Mason, the one that tells the story, tries to find out whats

happening, and soon, he discovers that the pilot and other people in the plane have also

been murdered.

It seems that this plane and the people inside are not in the Arctic Circle by accident, but at

first, all the evidence is driving the investigators into the wrong direction. Mason and

Jackstraw, another investigator, decide to leave by tractor with all the survivors in order to

meet some more investigators of the zone. They also hope the radio of the tractor will start

working as they get near the main investigation centre. And it does. On the second day of

their journey, they receive a call telling them one important thing: in the plane there was an

important device/mechanism. Someone could have caused a plane accident to steal it. But

who?

After leaving the cabin (the place where the investigators lived), such a complicated journey

starts under frozen temperatures, with ill survivors and no food, and a climate of deep

distrust. The situation is getting worse and worse, when two of the survivors, Corazzini and

Smallwood, abandoned the others in the middle of the ice cap. Now the abandoned

survivors know who the murderers are but they will probably die in the middle of the ice

cap. The murderers have taken two people with them: Margaret and Solly Levin, the ones

who have some kind of relationship with the others.

The investigators and the survivors, now in an extremely complicated situation, start finding

out what has happened. The man murdered the first night might be the one carrying the

important mechanism. They might have murdered him to steal it and they could have

destroyed the radio, too.

Fortunately, when they are thinking that they are going to die, they meet Balto, one of the

investigators dogs, who guides them to a place where a part of the tractor has been

abandoned by the murderers. There, they find flares and with them they get in touch withother investigators.

Finally, the investigators find the murderers again. Zagero, one of the survivors kills one of

the murderers because he thinks that he had killed his father. The other murderer,


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Smallwood falls in a crevasse with Margaret. After a fight between Smallwood and Mason,

the investigator saves the mechanism and the woman with whom he has fallen in love. They

leave the murderer alone in the Crevasse, a hole that might close around him at anytime.

Characters

o Peter Mason: He is the main character and the narrator. He is veryindependent; he has lived in the Artic Circle for four years, since his wife died. He is also

strong and very intelligent; throughout the story, he is making deductions and

investigating. On the other hand, he is a sensitive person; he falls in love with Margaret

Ross.

o Margaret Ross: She is the stewardess of the plane, a woman whose boyfriendhas been murdered. She is kind and nice although she is in a worse situation than the

others.

o Jimmy: He is the radio operator, and is carrying an important mechanism. Heis seriously injured after the accident, but he doesnt die because of this; he is murdered.

He is also Margarets boyfriend.

o Marie LeGarde: She is a survivor. She is a pretty well-dressed womanalthough she is one of the oldest characters. She is a famous actress and she suffers a lot

during the story because of her age and the extreme weather conditions.

o Corazzini: He is one of the murderers. He is always asking Mason forinformation but at first, nobody suspects.

o Smallwood: He is a reverend and the other murderer.

o Zagero: He is a boxer. He is a brave and loyal man.

o Solly Levin: He is Zageros father.

Conclusion

Al first, I enjoyed reading the story. I found it very interesting and the more I read, the

more I wanted to know. I made myself lots of questions: Who are the people in the plane?

Why were they there? I also liked the love story between Mason and Margaret although the

book doesnt give a lot of details about it. However, I didnt like the last part because I

prefer mystery than action. For me, the best part is the beginning of the book.

I have learnt some vocabulary about the zone where the story takes place.

Ana_INT2B


3/14

Night Without End, written by Alistair MacLean and retold by Margaret Naudi, is an exciting

intrigue book set in Greenland.

The story begins with the suspicious crash-landing of a passenger airliner in the middle of the

Greenland ice cap.

The crashed plane is discovered by a group of scientists who rescue the surviving passengers and

take them to their station, but soon the scientists discover that among the passengers there are

two murderers, so all the passengers are suspicious.

As they dont have enough food for all of them, they decide to go to a station near the coast but

in the middle of the journey the murderers are discovered and they, who have a really expensive

and important military object, abandon the rest of the passengers and the scientists and go to the

coast where some friends are waiting for them in a boat to escape.

Then, another group of scientist find the

abandoned passengers and scientists, and all of

them find the murderers before reaching the

coast. Then they kill one of them and dont help

the other, who finally dies at the bottom of a

crevasse.

Finally, the passengers and the scientists

survive.

The main characters of this story are the following:

- Peter Mason: the scientist who tells the story.- Jackstraw and Joss: the other two scientists.- Hillcrest and his men: the scientists who find the abandoned passengers and scientists- Marie LeGarde: a passenger and a famous actress.- Zagero and his father: both are passengers, the first is a boxer and the second is his

manager.

- Senator Brewster: he is a passenger.- Mrs Dansby Gregg: she is a passenger and a rich woman.- Helene: a German girl who serves to Mrs. Dansby-Gregg- Margaret Ross: the stewardess of the airline.- Theodore Mahler: he is a diabetic passenger.- The reverend Smallwood and Mr. Corazzini (a businessman): both are passengers and

professional killers.

This entertaining book shows that, in the end, the good people always beat the bad ones.

The chapter I enjoyed the most was the tenth chapter where the killers are discovered. It made

come to my mind the famous proverb firstfalls a liar than a cripple.

I recommend this book to all the people who enjoy reading intrigue books because once you start

to read, it is difficult to stop because when you finish a chapter, there are a lot of things to

resolve and you continue reading to see what happens.

Angel Manuel_INT2D


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INTRODUCTION:

Title: Night without end

Author: Alistair MacLean (retold by Margaret Naudi)

Genre: Adventure

PLOT:

A British Airways plane crashed on the Polar ice-cap, and three scientists from the weather

station had to save the survivors before they died from starvation or exposure. So theydecided to take them into their cabin. When suddenly the radio was smashed, Dr. Mason

began to suspect of everybody and decided to investigate who their guests were.

Soon he discovered that the planes pilot had been cold-bloodedly murdered because he found

a bullet in his back, and the planes radio operator was killed that night. So he had to

investigate the crimes and at the same time he had to travel with the guests through the ice

towards the coast, without food and with a killer in the group.

CHARACTERS:

The Scientists:

Peter Mason: the main character. He is the person who tells the story. Mason isin charge of the weather station in Greenland. He is a brave, strong and intelligent

doctor that must lead a group of people through the Polar ice-cap to keep them

saved from starvation and exposure.

Jackstraw: he is another scientist. Dr. Mason describes him like this: If you alllive to get home again, it will probably be thanks to Jackstraw. He knows more than any

other living man about how to survive on the Greenland ice-capIts a brave and very

quiet man with a lot of knowledge of extreme situations.

Joss: (Joseph London) he is the radio operator in the scientists cabin. Joss isyounger than his partners. He stays at the cabin waiting for the expedition group.

The Plane survivors:

The Planes Radio Operator: this man was seriously injured when the scientistssaved him from the wrecked plane. His name was Jimmy Waterman and he was

murdered in the cabin the first night.

Marie LeGarde: is an old woman that is supposed to be a famous actress. She isvery helpful taking care of the injured people on the plane. She is a nice, lovable

and cheerful person.

Margaret Ross: this is the stewardess. She is a very emotional and sensitiveperson. Dr. Mason distrusted of her because she was supposed to be with the radio

operator when he was murdered. She had a pain in her back.

Nick Corazzini: he is a business man that goes to Scotland to take over a newtractor company. He helped the scientists to repair the old tractor in order to leavethe cabin.

The Reverend Smallwood: this is the man who wears a priests collar. He is aminister of religion who went to London for an important meeting of the

Unitarian and Free Churches. It is a very calm, serious and quiet person.

Solly Levin: he introduced himself as Zageros manager from New York City. Heis a little man that was wearing a large jacket.

Johnny Zagero: he is a young boxer that travelled with his manager Solly Levin.He is a strong and dark-haired person.

Mrs. Phyllis Dansby-Gregg: she is a young woman wearing fur and rich clothes.She is quite cold and selfish. She appeared in fashionable society pages from anewspaper as a London society woman. She travelled with her personal maid.

Helene Fleming: she is seventeen years old. She is from Germany and is Mrs.Dansby-Greggs maid. She was one of the injured people in the crashed plane.


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Theodore Mahler: he is a very silent person. He is a Jewish. To introduce himselfhe didnt say anything except his name.

Senator Hoffman Brewster: this is an old man with white hair and amoustache. He is an American politician. He goes to Europe to collect information

for political committees.

Captain Hillcrest: he is another scientist that was in charge of the expeditiongroup.

OTHER INFORMATION:

I really enjoyed the book. It was an exciting and entertaining story. The best part of it, I

think, was the beginning of the book when the scientists found the crashed plane and they

had to rescue the survivors from freezing and starvation, carrying them on their sledge.

The story makes you suspect of any of the characters as a possible murderers. Peter Mason is

the one who tells the story so when he suspects of one person, you are suspicious of them, too.

That is because you are reading his thoughts and that makes you think about the behavior of

all the characters in the book.

CONCLUSION:

I recommend the book because, apart from exciting and entertaining, it is a nice story that I

read without many difficulties, except some vocabulary. A good thing is that many of the

new words I learned in this book are repeated during all the chapters, and this is helpful to

remember and recognize them much more easily.

I havent read other books from this author, Alistair MacLean, but I wouldnt mind to

reading another one.

Angela_INT2F


6/14

Night without end is a book of adventures written by Alistair McLean.It was a normal day in the lives of three scientists who worked in the Polar

ice-cap. But this day something unusual was going to happen. A passengerplane from British Airways crashed near their cabin.

Immediately they came to aid the possible survivors. During the rescue Dr.Mason and his partners; Jackstraw (a specialist in survivor techniques) and Joss(a radio operator), realized that something strange had been occurringon

board. The two pilots were not alive, and one of them had a bullet hole in hisback.

The three men started to investigate about the survivors: a man dressed asa priest called Smallwood; Nick Corazzini, the new owner of a tractor company;an actress called Marie LeGarde; Johnny Zagero and Solly Levin, a boxer andhis manager; Mrs. Dansby Gregg and her maid Fleming; a Jew called TheodoreMahler; Senator Brewster and the stewardess Margaret Ross.

During the investigation they suspect of different people: in thestewardess, in Mahler, and Zagero; but when they commence a journey to savetheir lives, Dr Mason discovers who the criminals are and their reasons.

Smallwood and Corazzini want to steal an expensive 004909Xguided missile mechanism that one of the dead passengers was carrying.So they committed all the crimes before.

At least with Levin and Zageros help Dr. Mason can recover themechanism and defeat the two criminals.

I did not like the story very much because there are lots of names, and inseveral times I felt confused about it. I needed to come back to the first part ofthe story to recognize the characters. On the other hand I like how the bookends, with the death of the two criminals.I recommend this book to people who are learning English because it is easy tounderstand. It might be possible for me to read other books by this author if myteacher ordered me to do it.

David_INT2G


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Night without endMacLean, Alistair

Thriller

PlotSome scientists are working on the Polar ice- cap

when they see a British Airways plane accident.

Dr Masons team try to save all the passengers,but soon they discover that there are two killers

among them. They dont have food, the weather

is getting worse and worse and the radio is

broken. They need to arrive at a safe place, but it

will be difficult.

CharactersHelene Fleming: 17 years old, German. She works with Dansby- Gregg.

Mrs Dansby- Gregg: Rich woman from London.

Marie LeGarde : Famous actress, more than 50 years old.Nick Corazzini : Business man.

Joseph Smallwood: Reverend

Solly Levin: Johnnys father and his manager.

Zagero : Boxer

Theodore Mohler: Jewish

Senator Brewster: Senator.

Margaret Ross:

Peter Mason: Scientist

Jackstraw: he works with Dr Mason

Jimmy: Radio operator

Other informationI like the story because it is about a group of passengers who are trying to fly to another

country, but suddenly everything changes and they need to fight against hunger, thirst, cold

and illness.

My favourite character is Dr Mason; he is a hero, and he knows there are killers, but he is

calm and tries to save the group but always looking around to try to find out who the killers

are.

The best about the book is that depending on the chapters you are reading, you suspect a

different character.

The story makes me feel really sad, because it makes me think that peoples life might

change in one minute. In this case some people died because they got on a plane. Maybe if

they hadnt boarded, they would be alive.

At the end of the book I feel better because bad people lose/get the punishment they

deserved.

ConclusionI like this book because it is different from others I have read in English. The plot is

interesting and there are different characters who make the book more enjoyable.

In the future I would probably read other books by Alistair MacLean because this book is

easy to read but I had problems with some words and I needed a dictionary.

Esther_INT2G


8/14

The book which I read is called Night without End. It was written by MacLean

Alistair. The book is a mystery novel because the characters want to know who the

killer is and also we try to guess it while we are reading the book.

The main characters are:

1) Jackstraw, Doctor Mason and Joss (radio operator): they work as scientistsbecause they must know how to survive below-zero temperatures. They seembrave because they help people from an airline and they seem wise because

they discover who the killer is.

2) Margaret Ross: she is a stewardess. She seems ambitious but finally, she is aloyal person for Doctor Mason.

3) Corazzini: he is flying in this plane because he wants to take over a new tractorcompany.

4) Smallwood: he is flying because he goes to an important meeting of theUnitarian and Free Churches. He seems reserved but finally, he is bad-

tempered.

5) Solly Levin: hes a Johnnys manager6) Zagero: he is a famous boxer who is travelling with his manager and father,

Solly Levin.

7) Miss Legarde: shes a famous actress and shes travelling with her maid,Fleming.

8) Theodore Mahler: he seems quiet and reserved.9) Brewster: hes a politician.10)Helene: she is a young girl.

Some scientists are working at below- zero temperatures in the Pole when a

plane is smashed near there.

They go to help them but the pilots are dead. In addition, many passengers are

injured, the radio doesnt work and the passengers think that they are in

Langjokul.

Nobody remembers anything so Doctor Manson thinks that the stewardess could

have put some drugs in the drinks.

They start a journey from the coast with a tractor which is driven by Corazzini

(Joss doesnt go).


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On the other hand, Doctor Manson is shot by somebody but Miss Roos, the

stewardess, cant have been because she had a pain in her back Doctor Manson was

shot by two people.

Mason discovers somebody has stolen some sugar. He thinks that Mahler is the

killer but, he only stole some sugar because he is a diabetic.

Joss repairs the radio whereas Doctor Mason is injured in his forehead and

somebody steals a newspaper from him, too. Mahler helps Hillcrest to get some

fuel.

Smallwood says that he killed the captain because he deserved to die. He

ordered him to land in a place but, he landed in another place. Furthermore,

Doctor Mason opens Corazzinis wallet and he sees the newspaper.

They meet Hillcrest and he helps ill people. Smallwood takes Margaret as a

hostage and then they fall into a crevasse. Doctor Mason helps her but Smallwood

isnt helped by Doctor Mason because he thinks about all the people who have died

and about this woman, too.

I liked this story but, I prefer the beginning to the end because the beginning

is very similar to a film whose Spanish name is Viven

I recommend this book because its easy to read and you can improve your

English.

Evi_INT2G


10/14

The book I have chosen is called ``Night without end. This book was written by Alistair

Maclean and is a thriller novel published in 1959. Specifically, the edition I have read is a retold

for students by Margaret Naudi. This novel is considered one of MacLeans very best.

The main characters are three men: Peter Mason, Jackstraw and Joss. They were

working in a weather station in the Arctic when suddenly, they heard a huge noise. They left

the weather station to know what had happened. They found out that the noise had been an

accident of a plane. When they reached the plane, they fortunately found ten survivors, but

they also found several dead men but with one of them dead by a bullet not the crash, so it was

clear that there were some murderers among all of them.

The rest of the story runs on trying to guess who is or are the murderers. Peter Mason,

Jackstraw and Joss are men who are experienced in working in extreme conditions, but they

have never managed a situation as described in the book. The leader of the three is Peter

Mason, who, with the help of his two fellow workers, will try to find out what is happening and

why a plane appears in the middle of the Arctic. At the end, they get to know that there were

two murderers who forced the pilots of the plane to land in the ice-cap because in the plane

there was a top secret guided-missile mechanism which is valued about a million pounds.

The rest of characters (the survivors) are secondary characters (Corazzini, Marie

Legarde, the boxer), and the writer does not describe them in detail.

In my opinion, the story is really good and has been fast and easy to read because you

want to know what is happening and who the murderers are from start to finish, something

typical of the thriller genre, but the writer hides it until the end, so you read and read and this is

done very fast.

On the other hand, I think that the writer should be slower with the changes between

one setting and another, because in some situations the reader is in the plane but suddenly, in

the next line, the story continues in the shelter.

In general terms, I liked the book and would recommend

it to other students.

I have only read this book of Alistair MacLean, but I have

been searching some information on the internet about him and

he was (he is dead) a specialist in the thriller genre, so I would

read other books by this author because thrillers are my favorite

books and films, but honestly, I see more movies than I read

books.

Javier_INT2F


11/14

Night without end by Alistair McLean is a thriller novel that is set in the Polar

ice-cap in Greenland, 640 kilometres north of the Artic Circle.

The story begins when a passenger plane crashes in an isolated place on the Polar

ice-cap in Greenland. Fortunately the accident is near a scientist weather station

where the protagonist of the novel, Dr. Peter Mason, is working.

Dr Mason and his two team members go to rescue the survivors of the wreckage ofthe plane: a business man, an actress, a Reverend, a boxer and his manager, a

London society woman and her maid, a Senator, a Jew and a stewardess. There are

two killers among them who have murdered the chief pilot, a passenger and the

radio operator, and they have caused the crash.

Mason decides to set out with all of them on a gruelling and dangerous journeyacross the endless Arctic night to ask for help. They have no alternative;

otherwise they will die.

The journey soon turns into a nightmare: a race against time, hunger, the extreme

weather conditions and two killers.

It is an entertaining read; it keeps you in suspense until the end. It is suitable for

learners of English because it is an easy reading, but it is bound not to be on the

best sellers list.

Nuria_INT2G


12/14

TITLE: NIGHT WITHOUT END

GENRE: THRILLER ADVENTURE

LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

AUTHOR: ALISTAIR MACLEAN

PLOT:

At night, three scientists working on the polar ice cap hear an aeroplane flying over,very low and near their cabin. The aeroplane crashes on the Greenland ice cap, farfrom its usual route and near the scientists, so they go out into the sub-zero cold tolook for survivors and take them to their station. The team finds the two pilots andthe third officer dead and the radio operator unconscious, but the stewardess andnine passengers are still alive.

With not enough food for everyone and no hope of rescue because their radio isbroken, the leader of the scientific team, Dr Mason, decides that they have to get tothe sea, so they leave the cabin with a tractor. Later, Dr. Mason finds out that one ofthe pilots has a bullet hole in his back. At that moment he knows that the crash

wasnt caused by an accident and he begins to investigate the crime.

At the beginning all of them are suspicious. First, they suspect the stewardess andone of the passengers, but finally the scientics think that there are several murderers.They achieve contact using another radio, and they find out that the plane transportsa secret missile mechanism in the shape of a radio and the military are looking for theplane and the survivors.

After that, the murderers reveal themselves and they tie up the others and leave onthe tractor, but the scientists find them and they go after the murderers on adifferent tractor. Eventually the murderers are caught and one of the murderers iskilled by one of the passengers of the plane, a boxer. The other falls between two bigpieces of ice that are closing and he is trapped.

Finally, the secret mechanism is recovered and they are rescued by the navy.

PERSONAL OPINION

I definitely recommend this book if you are a lover of thriller stories because it isreally intriguing and entertaining

Pilar_INT2F


13/14

. Night without End

. Author: Alistar Maclean

. Thriller and Adventure

Three scientists called Jackstraw, Joss and Peter Mason had spent fourmonths working in a lonely station on the Polar ice-cap in Greenland whensuddenly they heard a plane fly very low and crashed. On the plane there werethe survivors along with a flight attendant. These survivors came from very differentbackgrounds: there was a famous actress, a boxer,a Jewish man...; their nameswere Helen, Marie Legarde, Jimmy Waterman, Joseph Smallwood, Margaret Ross,Corazzini, Solly Levin, Johny Zagero, Mrs.Dansby-Greed, Theodore Mahler andSenator Brewter.

The plane accident happened in very strange circumstances because both the

radio operator, Jimmy Waterman, the Captain and Colonel Harrison had been shotand killed with a gun, and there were gunshot wounds in their bodies, so that themurderer had to be among the survivors.

Jackstraw, Joss and Peter Mason looked after the wounded men and tried tocure them. Meanwhile they were making an enquiry into the accident. Everyone wassuspicious of killing the three victims, so they decided to go towards the coast ofUplavnik, where the scientific station was located, using a tractor. They knew forsure it was the only place where they could survive.

But fortunately, after a long journey, the scientists reached to a conclusion andwere able to discover the reasons for the killing. This was because the plane wascarrying a guide-missile mechanism", which was so advanced and so secret thatonly a few scientists in the whole of the United States knew about it.

Also they found out that the murderers, who were Corazzini and Smallwood,broke the radio so that they couldnt ask for help. But at the end of that long and

tiring journey the scientists were able to defeat both criminals and complete theirmission by saving the lives of the whole group.


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Characters

.Mrs.Dansby-Greed ....She travels with her personal maid, called Helene.

.Helene ....A seventeen-year-old girl from Munich, Germany. She had a brokencollarbone.

.Marie Legarde ....She is a famous actress

.Jimmy Waterman ....He is the radio operator.

.Joseph Smallwodd ...He is a priest. He is going to London for an importantreunion.

.Margaret Ross ... She is the flight attendant.She has damaged her back.

.Nick Corazzini ...He has a cut on his forehead. He is going to Scotland to takecharge of a new tractors company.

.Solly Levin ...is from New York City and he is a boxer. He is travelling with his sonJohnny Zagero.

.Theodore Mahler ... He is a Jewish man.

.Senator Brewter ... He is a colorful character in American politics.

.Jackstraw,Joss and Peter Mason ...are three scientists.

I found the story very interesting because the plot is fascinating and it reallycomes alive towards the end. I just couldnt put it down. The part which I liked most

is the discovery of the murderers.

Id recommend this book to readers who like fiction novels because theyll be

hooked on it easily. Id like to read more books written by this author because I findthem very gripping.

Tere_INT2G

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