I've Been Waiting Forever To Say Goodbye To California

I thought I'd give Alistair MacLean another shot, since Bear Island was action packed, even if it wasn't the sort of mystery I was hoping for*. Which brings us to Goodbye California.

A man calling himself Morro has stolen nuclear material from a nuclear plant, had it installed in several bombs, and is threatening to send California into the ocean unless his demands are met. He also took some hostages from the plant, including the wife of one Detective Sergeant Ryder, which is how he gets involved.

Things certainly keep moving, as Ryder almost casually makes the chief of police and a senior judge admit to corruption, bribery, and murder, among other crimes, all of which is incidental to his search for Morro and his wife. Ryder is essentially unflappable, and rarely censors himself, insulting everyone from the aforementioned judge, to the director of the CIA, to a man in the FBI who is actually being very helpful. And of course, he isn't called to the carpet on any of it, because he gets results, and is usually right about what's going on. Which does get a little tedious, but in several cases he doesn't put things together until it's too late to make a difference, and he does underestimate Morro a few times.

Morro makes me think a bit of Hans Gruber from Die Hard (the book predates the movie by over a decade, though). Very cultured, very friendly, easily discusses torture in a dispassionate voice, and excellent at convincing most people he's something he isn't. Morro doesn't have that edge of anger Alan Rickman brought to Gruber, but that may be due to Ryder not really inhibiting Morro's plans until the precise moment those plans go down the tubes. Ryder doesn't block the placement of bombs, or prevent the taking of nuclear material, or do anything that delays the scheme, so we never see how Morro might react to such adversity. It mostly represents how well Morro planned things, that even as clever, resourceful, and willing to push things as Ryder is, it takes him almost the entire book to catch up. You could also argue it's necessary for the plot, since Morro's downfall is predicated on his self-confidence/arrogance, and if Ryder was proving an obstacle earlier, that might not be the case.

When I discussed Bear Island, I complained a bit about MacLean's info dumps, typically providing a lot of information about a character's history in a very direct, but obviously expository way. Here characterization seems more smoothly integrated, but he tends to go on these digressions about various topics. The differences in nuclear fuel, and how easily it can be "misplaced". The history of earthquakes in California, the public's fear of a big one, and considered methods of prevention. How nukes could be used to open a hole in the ozone layer to attack one's enemies. Some of it sounds made up, some not, but at least it's all mostly relevant to the plot.

* I don't know why I'm so keen on mysteries, since I hardly ever figure them out. I guess I expect that continued attempts will lead to success.