While on station in the Aegean Sea under the guise of a hydrographic survey mission, the crew of Royal Navy electronic intelligence vessel HMS Ariadne witnesses two disasters at once, a mysterious strategic bomber crashing into the sea and a large pleasure yacht on fire and sinking. The plane turns out to have been loaded with nuclear weapons, and the survivors rescued from the yacht (who include a wealthy Greek tycoon) appear somehow connected with the plane's destruction. With potential saboteurs aboard, Commander Talbot and the crew of the Ariadne must raise the one activated weapon before it can explode, setting off the others by sympathetic detonation and causing the nearby volcano of Santorini to explode in a tremendous eruption which would bring on a devastating tsunami and possibly a worldwide nuclear winter.
References
^The Final Adventure of Alistair MacLean: SANTORINI By Alistair MacLean Doubleday. 245 pp. $16.95
By Heywood Hale Broun. The Washington Post 12 Apr 1987: BW7
^BEST SELLERS: APRIL 5, 1987: [List]
New York Times5 Apr 1987: A.40
