The Golden Keel

Rating:
Summary: Racy yarn
Review: I picked up Desmond Bagley after I last read him in school and had a hazy recollection that I had liked him then.
Reading him again just reminded me that my judgement had been corrrect.
This is fairly predictable yarn about a group of people who go after a stash of gold hidden during the war in rural Italy. They encounter various shady and not so shady characters on the way and how they eventually return home forms the crux of the tale.
With Desmond B. little can be expected in terms of character build up and psychological insights but it can be forgiven at the altar of a pacy read. After the main protoganist's wife (presumably beloved as their relationship is barely touched upon) is killed (rather conveniently) in a car accident, he enjoins a group of two to go and try to get the treasure.
He does meet up with a romantic interest but that i shandled with kid gloves. There is hardly any chemistry and though the book is in first person, the insights are restricted to the effects of planning. Of the cast a brutish Coertze is the one who comes closest to gaining our sympathy as his character at least shows some hint of a mystery.
Although you would still want to race to the end and find out how it all went.
Go ahead, pick it up but don't expect to come out of the experience a beter man.