| Title | : | The Lonely Skier |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0330342363 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780330342360 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1947 |
The Lonely Skier Reviews
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The Dolomite mountains in Italy
3.5 stars for this 1947 thriller/suspense novel, set in the mountains of Italy in the post-WWII era ... so it’s a safe bet that there will be a bunch of Nazis menacing our hero. British journalist Neil Blair, recently released (demobbed) from the army, is having a hard time finding a decent job. He happens to run into his former superior officer, Engles, who offers him a job ostensibly writing a film script in an isolated ski chalet in the Dolomites, but Blair’s real job is to keep his eyes open and report anything unusual. If a usable script comes out of the trip too, so much the better.
Turns out there’s an awful lot to report. Something valuable is stashed up in those mountains in or near the chalet, and there are several different players who will stop at nothing to get their hands on it.
The Lonely Skier shows its age sometimes, with stereotypical characters. But the thriller parts are generally done well, with the exception of a scene or two that I found too hard to swallow. Still, there’s a really hair-raising chase in the snowy, foggy mountains that I won’t soon forget, and a solid ending with a good twist.
Group read with the Retro Reads group! -
This was my first Innes book & it quite definitely won't be my last!
Post World War Two, ex-soldier & ex-journalist Neil Blair is down on his luck. A chance meeting with another former soldier in London sees him travelling to Cortina to write a film script. It all sounds too good to be true - & it is!
I liked Neil & there were parts of the story I found genuinely thrilling, such as the ski run from hell. I did used to ski (very badly) and the narrative perfectly captured the out of control feeling of being on a ski slope that was just too hard for you - & I never had anyone wishing me harm! There was also one funny & quite bizarre scene which I won't spoil for other readers. And the ending was well done and I could see it working well on film.
But some things were a bit too implausible for me - in particular anything to do with photographer, Joe. A few parts dragged - surprising in such a short book.
But the best parts show a writer who can have you on the edge of your chair.
I own another five Innes titles & I look forward to reading them.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess... -
Hammond Innes' breakthrough novel captures the fears and uncertainty of the immediate postwar years. It also highlights the opportunities that someone like its protagonist, Neil Blair, could see right over the horizon. Until then, however, former Nazi agents, would-be mafiosos, filmmakers poised between the bright lights of the cinema and the twilight of former espionage careers, and vengeful courtesans make for an intimate group of plotters seeking to uncover a wartime cache of Nazi gold.
It's all just as wonderful as it sounds. Clearly influenced by Eric Ambler, here, Innes creates a claustrophobic setting amidst the rugged landscape of the Italian Dolomites. Avalanches, blizzards, and the cold check the aspirations of everyone at every turn. Already, Innes has begun to incorporate the formula that would generate so much success in subsequent books--a not too out of the ordinary man suddenly taken from his gentle surroundings and made to face the scheming of deadly enemies and the fierceness of natural forces.
A few minor flaws: in places the story is repetitive, even the very same words and sentences reappearing just a few pages later in the telling of things. And Innes, early on, had an obsession with his characters "slithering" and "whilsting" through their adventures. Otherwise, The Lonely Skier is a nicely plotted story, whose pace increases almost as quickly as the accumulation of snow and ice that traps the visitors in the remote mountain hut that holds all that gold. -
Нелош, но забравим трилър. Идеята с нацисткото съкровище е била актуална за времето си, но в наши дни е доста изтъркана. Героите са от една страна любопитни, а от друга - не твърде убедителни. Книжката е подходяща за губене на времето, но нищо повече.
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3.5 stars - I had never read this thriller author before, but was intrigued by the post World War II plot premise involving Nazi gold hidden at an Italian ski lodge.
Our hero is Neil Blair, a down on his luck former soldier in London looking for work. He runs into his former commanding officer, Engles, who has become a very successful film director, and offers Neil a job as a screenwriter. Neil is thrilled with the offer, but Engles is rather shy on details of the project – but Neil is desperate, and soon on his way to the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, where the film is supposed to be shot. Engles was rather mysterious about the job, saying he already had a script, just telling Neil to keep an eye on whatever happens and keep him informed - he has to finish up another film, and will join him in Italy as soon as possible.
Right away I mistrusted Engles as a character, he seemed quite shifty and pompous. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Neil - I understood his desperation for work, and he knew Engles was not a very likable guy, indeed, hard on subordinates (sounded like a real jerk to me), but they had gotten along during the war, and he seemed to think this could be a good opportunity to break into writing.
So, Neil heads off to Italy meet some interesting people, and attends an auction for the ski hut he is staying at. He is assured by a local power broker and hotelier bidding on the chalet, that the deal is all cut and dried, he will walk away with the property, turn it into a luxury ski destination. But in a very exciting and tense scene, unknown and unexpected parties starting a bidding war. Something is up at the very basic chalet that several people seem to want!
Another very exciting scene happens on the slopes, as a villain attempts to lose Neil in the snow -by the time he realizes what is happening and how how much danger he is in, it’s almost too late. The snow is falling heavily, he is alone and trapped and exhausted and has a deadly journey ahead of him. This was a very gripping and terrifying scene, and very well done.
I started getting frustrated, however, with some of the behaviors of the several of the characters in the last few chapters of the book – stiff upper lips aside, it just seemed nonsensical. No spoilers, but I skimmed to the end. For the most part it was an exciting post-war thriller, and I’m glad I read this new-to-me author with the Retro Reads group. -
Having read this I am a little confused as to why it is Ian Fleming and not Hammond Innes who is our classic writer of thrillers. This is a gripping and fast paced story, with Nazi gold and amazing depictions of skiing thrown in. Not a dry martini in sight, nor the endless card games that Fleming is so obsessed with. You won't forget this book in a hurry.
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From my book blog
www.JetBlackDragonfly.blogspot.com
Hammond Innes also wrote The Wreck of the Mary Deare, a wartime ship mystery that I was going to read next. Somehow, my hands picked up The Lonely Skier instead, and it was an exciting tale well told.
It's 1947 and Neil Blair is recently demobilized, looking for work in London. He runs into Derek Engles, and acquaintance who is now making films. He offers Neil a job to write a film script and on location in Cortina, but actually to observe and report on the few other guests at the mountain top lodge named Col de Varda. Built on top of the machine house for a slittovia (a cable drawn funicular sleigh), the lodge was the scene many years ago where a German convoy of gold disappeared. Neil and a film location scout soon meet the other guests; Edouardo Mancini, looking to purchase the lodge in an auction; Stefan Valdini, a nattily dressed Sicilian gangster; Contessa Forelli, really a prostitute named Carla; Kereminos, formerly of Greek intelligence; and Gabriel Mayne, an expert skier in a white suit with a yellow scarf.
They are all liars with hidden back stories and common histories, which Neil (and the late arriving Derek) must discover. There is a hair raising section where Mayne abandons Neil on a ski path over a mountain range to another town, crossing the Cristallino glacier in a building snowstorm - was it a way to lose him forever? Back at the refugio, tensions mount as motives are revealed and the guests are forced to remain snowbound until the storm has passed. The characters were tough and well drawn and there is genuine tension and danger, ski chases, hidden Nazi gold, a whiteout snowstorm, escapes and murders - all set over the noisy slittovia machine house with its grinding motor and tightening cables. A dynamite setting.
I was hoping for intrigue and danger, and found it in The Lonely Skier. The story was narrated by Neil, and at the end of the novel he sets down the events as the film script he was hired to write. Art spills over into real life as it was filmed in 1948 as Snowbound. I was happy to see someone has posted a copy on YouTube for my viewing pleasure!
A great spy thriller from Hammond Innes, and a treat to discover. -
It's July, outside the sun is shining and the temperatures are high... so what better topic to read about than freezing winds and glistering snow? It was somehow refreshing, even though the story itself was nothing special. Nazi gold, dark secrets, unexpected murders - we've seen all these things before. Overall, definitely not a bad book, but not a unique one either.
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3.2
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It's been a while since I read a mystery or thriller novel, and I ended up with this book quite at random--from a lending library on the side of the road. It did not disappoint! His descriptions of the Dolomites and the scenery are excellent and make you very much want to travel there. The plot and style of narrative is entertaining. Enjoyed and recommended!
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Hooked from page one this is a perfect thriller.
Tension is skilfully ratcheted up as the characters gradually reveal their real selves and the realistic ending is the icing on the cake.
Superb, suspenseful writing from a master. -
A fun thriller in the atmospheric setting of a ski hut at the top of a cable car. Snow, shooting, skiing and Nazi gold.
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To be honest it's been years since I read any Hammond Innes...that was in my teenage years and I think the book was called 'the blue ice' or something...it may have been O.K it may even be that I need to re-read it as maybe back then well wartime or post war time espionage books weren't really my thing.
I'm honesty they aren't now neither..well inasmuch as I don't read lots of them..seeing this slender book at a charity shop however I thought it's paucity in size would make it worthy of my time even if terrible as I wouldn't have wasted too much time...luckily as a bonus I found a good book.
To give a synopsis kind of recalls a Agatha Christie type all in the mansion house whodunit yarn which would be unfair...this is only because a chalet with a few interrelated characters with pasts generally overlapping is where the action takes place...plus there's the fact that for a time those characters are trapped together as the narrative continues...that may sound a spoiler but in honesty the cover of the book above is a far bigger one!!😆
It's a book involving Nazi's, treasure and the great outdoors...amongst many other elements..I will have to redress the fact I haven't read much Innes since my brief teenage read as this was a robust and compelling thriller. -
I noticed this in a Vintage Classics edition in Waterstones recently, with an introduction by former MI5 head honcho Stella Rimington, and picked it up on impulse. I read most of the Innes canon in my mid to late teens: during the same period, I happily binged on Alistair MacLean and Desmond Bagley. I re-read the MacLean output last year, and on the basis of reacquainting myself with ‘The Lonely Skier’ I might undertake an Innes retrospective in 2020. ‘The Lonely Skier’ boasts much of the Innes formula: a narrator who isn’t necessarily the protagonist, a couple of big set pieces that pit man against the elements, and an evocative sense of place. The isolated setting, festering skulduggery, pressure cooker environment and cast of nefarious characters all out for themselves, the whole thing playing out as a snowstorm batters at their precarious bit of shelter, made me wonder if Tarantino didn’t have the novel in mind (or it’s almost forgotten film version, ‘Snowbound’) in mind when he sat down to write ‘The Hateful Eight’.
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9 out of 10
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Ook dit boek heb ik in de Dolomieten gelezen. Je ziet het verhaal zo voor je in de bergen, ook al speelt het zich af in de winter en was ik er in de zomer.
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It was a solid 3.5 stars in my opinion so I rounded up to 4 stars. The writing style and the story itself are reflective of a British author and post-World War II Europe respectively. The intrigue surrounding a haul of Nazi gold that was hidden away in the Italian Dolomites brings together a predictable yet interesting array of characters at a small ski lodge - a former British army officer and his former intelligence-officer Captain...both posing as a movie script writer and a movie director, an Italian prostitute, a Greek national/Nazi agent, a British Army deserter, a Sicilian gangster and a British movie camerman. The book was first written in 1947 and is reflective of the period and was written as it might be spoken in England at the time so for me, it was mildly difficult to read for me. The story followed a moderately predictable line but was interesting and well written with little/no gaps in the writing whilst giving me enough detail(s) so I felt very connected to the story and characters. BOTTOM LINE: It was a nice read with a good story - I liked it.
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Post WWII, lost nazi gold, only handful people in a lodge cut from civilisation and everyone has a past history with the others, gripping enough. I love how Joe remains inconspicuous of the tension throughout novel. In that setting , a fast paced adventure and angled towards making a decent Hollywood action script. (Googled after that thought and there is a movie called Snowbound)
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This was like a boys adventure story. The writing is very different from modern books, it was published in 1948. The sentences are short and there is no development of the characters. The plot is unbelievable, it would not work.
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Reread.
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I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13347771
