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| Book Title | Goodbye California |
| Genre | Thriller |
| Author | Alistair MacLean |
| Publisher | Fawcett Crest Books |
| Published | December 12, 1981 |
| Format | Mass Market Paperback |
| Condition | Readers Copy |
| Condition Notes | Vintage mass-market paperback with heavy overall reading wear. The front cover has extensive rubbing and scratching, numerous creases, heavy edge wear and worn corners. There is a prominent diagonal crease across the lower-right portion of the cover, additional vertical creasing along the left side, and substantial surface wear across the illustrated area. The cover remains attached and completely readable, but the amount of cosmetic wear places this copy below Good condition. Assuming the pages are complete and the binding remains serviceable, this is a solid Reader's Copy. |
| Condition | Readers Copy |
California sits atop some of the most dangerous earthquake faults in the world—and a ruthless terrorist has devised a horrifying way to turn that vulnerability into a weapon.
When nuclear scientists are kidnapped and radioactive material is stolen from a California nuclear facility, Detective Sergeant Ryder becomes personally involved: his wife is among those taken. What initially appears to be a kidnapping develops into a terrifying scheme involving nuclear weapons and California’s fault system.
The terrorists threaten to detonate nuclear devices along strategic fault lines, potentially triggering catastrophic earthquakes capable of killing enormous numbers of people and devastating California. Ryder refuses to stand aside, even when his pursuit puts him at odds with his own authorities.
MacLean turns the geography of California itself into part of the weapon, combining nuclear blackmail, terrorism, kidnapping and the threat of a massive natural disaster into an ambitious late-career thriller.
EugeneBookStore Summary
What if a terrorist didn’t need to destroy California himself—what if he could make California destroy itself?
That frightening idea drives Goodbye California. Alistair MacLean takes the earthquake fears surrounding the San Andreas Fault and combines them with nuclear terrorism to create the kind of enormous, high-stakes premise that made his adventure thrillers famous.
At the center is Sergeant Ryder, whose investigation becomes intensely personal when his kidnapped wife is caught up in the plot. The result combines a police pursuit with international-style terrorism and disaster fiction.
Readers who enjoy classic 1970s and 1980s action thrillers, Cold War suspense and larger-than-life disaster scenarios should find plenty to enjoy here.
Collector Notes
Goodbye California was originally published in the late 1970s; the U.S. first edition was issued by Doubleday, while this copy is the later Fawcett Crest mass-market paperback edition.
This particular edition has ISBN 0-449-23834-2 / 978-0-449-23834-9 and 310 pages.
Alistair MacLean remains one of the most recognizable names in classic adventure and espionage fiction, responsible for novels such as The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare and Ice Station Zebra. That gives even his later paperbacks continuing appeal to readers building inexpensive collections of vintage thrillers.
This copy’s substantial wear limits its collectible value, but the illustrated Fawcett cover is a good example of period action-thriller paperback design.
