In an interview on The Great British Thriller

Now, Ice Station Zebra. You’d have to be a man to read this.

Yes. I doubt that many women read and enjoy Alistair MacLean. I model my own books on them – boys’ books for boys. MacLean was the master of a style of rugged, very masculine action adventure story that is probably best exemplified today by SAS writers like Andy McNab and Chris Ryan. His books were the source for classic films such as Where Eagles Dare, and The Guns of Navarone. Ice Station Zebra is his finest work: men battling against terrifying, extreme conditions, and caught up in a global power play. He’s very good on place and action, small groups of men in terrifying conditions and how they relate to each other.

How do they relate to each other?

Well, being men, not very well. They are totally on planet Mars and there isn’t a lot of sitting around or introspection. So, they go to this ice station up by the North Pole where there is a stricken nuclear submarine and they have to rescue it and hack through the ice and stuff. It’s very sparsely written and full of good jokes – witty and stylish, the epitome of escapist reading.