Buckle up

I still remember this cover from when I read it so many years ago - High Citadel - the first Desmond Bagley I read and gradually I got to read the rest of the 16 thrillers he wrote. 
So when I saw 'High citadel' as an eAudio, I thought time to give the story a second glance.
The plot is classic adventure thriller, from the era of Alistair MacLean and Geoffrey Jenkins (who I should probably tap into again too),arch-typical action plot complete with a gritty, tormented hero and his love interest, a gang of foreign villains and a crew of supporting cast member passengers - the dastardly co-pilot, the kindly elderly couple, the drunken brash businessman, the history professor, the old man with a heart problem...you get the idea. 
Outnumbered and outgunned, alcohol-soaked worn-out ex-fighter pilot Tim O'Hara must save himself and the lives of his passengers when his aircraft crashes on the side of an Andes mountain range in a fictional South American dictator state. He has to deal with an assorted, eclectic group of characters to survive in the freezing thin air at altitude while attempting to outwit and outplay a squad of communist sympathetic soldiers who have gone to a lot of trouble to attempt to kidnap one of those passengers.

Is it predictable? In places but then there are also the twists that keep you page turning or listening.
Desmond wrote 'High citadel' in 1965, so it's now more than 50 years old, so you need to put aside some of that sixties staging and political thinking. Desmond Bagley loved military history and war games, which is obviously where some of the scenes for the story were conceived.
It and 'Snow tiger' are the most memorable to me. I must have read it in the 80s and now years later I could remember most of the plot.
Well worth the 11.5 hours listening time.