''Santorini'' is the final novel by Scottish author

Alistair MacLean Alistair Stuart MacLean (; 21 April 1922 – 2 February 1987) was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, most notably '' The Guns of Navarone'' (1957) and '' Ice Sta ...

, first published in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

. The book was a best seller.BEST SELLERS: APRIL 5, 1987:

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New York Times5 Apr 1987: A.40

Plot introduction

While on station in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

under the guise of a

hydrographic survey Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore wind farms, offshore oil exploration and drilling and related activities. Surveys may als ...

mission, the crew of

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

electronic intelligence vessel HMS ''Ariadne'' witnesses two disasters at once, a mysterious

strategic bomber A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range Penetrator (aircraft), penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unl ...

crashing into the sea and a large pleasure yacht on fire and sinking. The plane turns out to have been loaded with nuclear weapons, and the survivors rescued from the yacht (who include a wealthy Greek tycoon) appear somehow connected with the plane's destruction. With potential saboteurs aboard, Commander Talbot and the crew of the ''Ariadne'' must raise the one activated weapon before it can explode, setting off the others by

sympathetic detonation A sympathetic detonation (SD, or SYDET), also called flash over or secondary/secondaries (explosion), is a detonation, usually unintended, of an explosive charge by a nearby explosion. Definition A sympathetic detonation is caused by a shock w ...

and causing the nearby volcano of

Santorini Santorini (, ), officially Thira (, ) or Thera, is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southern ...

to explode in a tremendous eruption which would bring on a devastating tsunami and possibly a worldwide

nuclear winter Nuclear winter is a severe and prolonged anti-greenhouse effect, global climatic cooling effect that is hypothesized to occur after widespread firestorms following a large-scale Nuclear warfare, nuclear war. The hypothesis is based on the fact ...

References

External links

Book review at AlistairMacLean.com
1986 British novels Novels by Alistair MacLean Novels set in Greece William Collins, Sons books {{1980s-thriller-novel-stub