Neville Shute's books often seem to start with a rather boring ordinary person narrating rather boring ordinary events in far too much detail. This goes on for a while until you notice that you are totally hooked on the characters and that mixed in with the boring events are some quite extraordinary ones. This is a strange experience if you are used to more modern novels, where events occur at a breakneck pace, but Shute was a master of the art of planting a hook so slowly and gently that you hardly know it is happening, and it leaves his stories feeling truer, and his characters feeling realer. "Most Secret" is a fine example of this format, a mundane wartime narrative that ends up gripping you. As other reviewers are said, you wind up very involved with these characters.

But there is something else interesting going on here. This is also a curious portrait of civilized hatred. Every single English and Breton character hates each and every individual German with a deep and consuming fierceness. Even priests and doctors thrill with anticipation at the thought of German soldiers being burnt alive or spending weeks slowly dieing from untreatably infected burns. The characters all have reasons for their hatred, and I believe it is a historically accurate depiction of how those people at that time felt, but it is curious to encounter such vicious hatred in such sympathetic characters. These days we civilians are so insulated from the wars our country fights that we have little emotional involvement and this all looks strange to us, but I think there is a deep human truth in it that is a bit uncomfortable to run up against.

Nevil Shute is one of my favorite writers. Although he's best known for two fine novels -- A Town Like Alice and On the Beach -- he produced a number of other gems during his prolific career. Most Secret is one of them.

War plays a role, large or small, in many of Shute's novels. Most Secret was first published in 1945; the action begins in 1941. Bombs are raining down on London and England is fully engaged in the war. Three of the four main characters are in the Royal Navy. They devise and carry out an ingenious plan to attack a German ship off the coast of France. But while Most Secret can be accurately categorized as a war story, it's much more than that. Shute is one of the few writers who successfully blended character-oriented fiction with a plot-driven story. Ultimately, he wrote about people; not just their actions, but the impact those actions had on their lives. War has tragic consequences; death and sorrow are usually present in Shute's novels. It's difficult to read them with dry eyes. That's certainly true of Most Secret.

I don't need to like the characters in order to enjoy a novel, but that's never an issue with Nevil Shute. He nearly always wrote about decent, likable people who cope with catastrophe with their dignity intact. Most Secret introduces the reader to Oliver Boden, the carefree son of a wool-spinner, who marries his childhood sweetheart shortly before joining the Navy, the natural outgrowth of his love of sailing. Boden teams with Michael Rhodes, a shy, awkward young chemist whose best friend before joining the Navy and falling in love with a Leading Wren is a misbehaving dog. The Labrador makes only a brief appearance, albeit a pivotal one in Rhodes' character development. The third actor in the plot against the Germans is Charles Simon, a young British citizen whose mother was French and who is working as an engineer for a French concrete manufacturer when the war starts. As a civilian, Simon provides vital intelligence to the British about the German occupation of a French harbor before he's rewarded with a commission to the Royal Engineers. A former rum-runner named John Colvin signs onto the mission as navigator. Their joint venture is narrated by Commander Martin, who oversees the mission but generally stays in the background.

Most Secret has something for every reader: a wartime adventure that eventually develops the pace and tension of a thriller; a story of blossoming love and another of a love left behind; a series of character studies; a spy story; a survival adventure; an exploration of differing philosophies of life and war; an inspirational saga of courage and self-sacrifice. It has tenderness and tragedy and unforgettable characters. Most of all, it is a powerful, moving, heart-felt tale told in the quiet, unassuming prose that marked Shute's style. Most Secret is just as compelling now as it was when Shute wrote it. I would give it 4 1/2 stars if Amazon offered that option, only because I think another of Shute's lesser known novels, The Breaking Wave, is even better.

This is a war time novel that I had not read before. I have been reading Neville Shute's novels for many years but had missed this one. It is excellent. The story is told in the same way he did "A Town Like Alice and "No Highway." He is the outsider looking at the characters from his passive role as observer. In the novel, the narrator is an older naval officer who becomes involved in a Special Operations action in Brittany. The other characters are young men and women and their lives and relationships are a large part of the story. This is extremely well done. One of them, a young industrial chemist, is similar to the character in "No Highway." He is totally alone and shrinks from contact with girls as he is certain he will mess it up. Another character grows up with the young woman who will become his wife. One of the most interesting, Charles Simon, is born British but lives almost his entire life in France except for his schooling. He, on an impulse, volunteers to be a British officer when a commando raid happens to find him at a seaside cafe during a raid. His character and the circumstances remind me of the Helen MacInnes novel Assignment in Brittany. The Bretons are fiercely independent and resisted the Germans more than most in 1940 France. They are still quite proud of their heritage, as I learned two summers ago when I inadvertently referred to a small hotel in Brittany as being Norman. I was firmly corrected. The adventure is good, although a bit bloodthirsty for some so many years after the war. The best part is the character development, which has always been the best feature of Neville Shute's novels.