I have a soft spot for Adventure stories, especially those of seemingly ordinary men overcoming difficulties and coming out on top. Bagley is one of the best writers of the genre out there, yet seems to be overlooked in favour of the better known names like Ian Fleming and Alistair Maclean, which is a great pity. Over the years his legacy seems to have dwindled and I rarely see anyone with a copy of his books. There needs to be a resurgence.

Landslide features Bob Boyd, a geologist who discovers that he may not be who he thinks he is, as he digs deeper into his past he realises that there is a massive chunk of his younger days he cannot remember. He is offered a job for the Matterson Corporation surveying an area for minerals before it becomes flooded to make way for a large hydroelectric dam. When the finding rub against the needs of the corporation there is tension that soon escalates into a fight for survival.

A really good adventure story that proves with a talented writer you don't need the high octane spy chases that so many others rely on. Bagley has obviously done his research, how accurate some of the events are I don't know, but makes me believe it and that's what counts. ( )

I enjoyed this as a teenager; I think it would be a great holiday read for any adventure story lover. ( )

I give it 2 stars for the fact it included geology, but everything else needed some serious help. I know it's an action adventure with thrills all over, but there were just parts that were too unbelievable. The guy is so burnt up in a car wreck that he has skin grafts from his arms on his face and is literally unrecognisable but is still able to grow a full beard? That plastic surgeon really was amazing. SPOILER....

He runs across the top of a landslide, grabs hold of something with one hand, hangs on to another person with another and then manages to stay put as a dam bursts and a giant wave washes over him? Ah, no.

A woman is locked in a cellar for five days with no water or food and she is pretty much able to jump around and hug the hero and fully recover in a matter of hours after a drink and some cold cuts? No water, 5 days. That's 120 hours. Even if she drank her own pee and licked the damp walls, that's some serious organ shut down right there.

The author could also do with honing their craft. The writing was adverb city. Nearly every bit of speech was I, he, she said something-ly. I got sick of reading it. It made dialogue stilted and pulled me out of the story.

I felt the story would have read a lot better of it had been made tighter. There's probably a good 50 pages that could be cut without much loss, especially considering by the end we still don't really know what went on any more than had been guessed at half way through. That kind of spoilled any reveals and a sort of near death bed confession seemed an easy way out to hurry up the ending.

Read this book if you just want to not think for a while, but it might make you mad. I probably won't read any more by this author. ( )

I kept this book when I parted with all my other Bagley's (I pretty much grew out of reading thrillers). I liked the story better, and I appreciated that he'd done his research on the geology. I guess I'm just a sucker for a plot that revolves around geology! ( )