The Dark Crusader

The Dark Crusader is a 1961 thriller novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. It was released in the United States under the title: The Black Shrike and under the pseudonym Ian Stuart; it was later republished under MacLean's own name. . Bentall, a British physicist seconded for counterespionage duties, is suddenly recalled to London from a mission in Turkey involving the theft of information about British missiles. Eight top nuclear physicists... more

The Dark Crusader is a 1961 thriller novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. It was released in the United States under the title: The Black Shrike and under the pseudonym Ian Stuart; it was later republished under MacLean's own name. . Bentall, a British physicist seconded for counterespionage duties, is suddenly recalled to London from a mission in Turkey involving the theft of information about British missiles. Eight top nuclear physicists have disappeared, after responding to eight advertisements that have been placed in newspapers, for top level scientists in different fields of research, all offering very attractive rates of pay, but with the precondition that all applicants to be married with no children. All eight scientists disappear either in Australia, or en route there. Bentall is paired with Marie Hopeman, another agent posing as his wife. No James Bond, Bentall is much the stumbling self-deprecating fool who gets things wrong from the start, and ends up in the... less