Alistair MacLean was famous for his action plots and ‘HMS Ulysses’ runs true to type. It’s set aboard a light cruiser during World War 2, and the book opens with a mutiny. The crew has had a bellyful of the Russian convoys: 4 hours sleep a day, hundreds of days at a stretch in 60-below weather, TB incubating in the enclosed living quarters, and nothing to eat but corned beef sandwiches. To redeem themselves they are forced into a final run through the black-out route to Murma