"I've always maintained that all Presidential candidates should undergo an IQ test." Would that this were the first sentence of The Golden Gate! Alas, it appears on page 135, spoken like a true criminal mastermind with the fortitude of a German tank. This is Peter Branson, the man behind an admittedly complex presidential kidnapping, who spits (smoothly!) this remark to the President's face, he who asked a question meant to confirm his worst fear: his life, and those of several important Arabian representatives, a shiek, and an oil king, hangs by a thread.
Half a billion dollars is required payment for their lives. MacLean chose a sum that may have seemed exorbitant in 1976, but still holds as incredibly high for a tale told nearly 30 years later.
MacLean is in near-top form as he takes the reader through the antagonists' point of view, their set-up, and how they nab the president in the very middle of the Golden Gate Bridge. Only then does Agent Paul Revson arrive (and in an unexpected way). His affiliation with MacLean's greatest heroes (Michael Reynolds, Peter Mason, John Carter) could be that of a direct bloodline; his flaws make him human, but his extravagant conception of Branson's downfall makes him a military genius. The true Army of One.
The first paragraph is a little deviant---straying from MacLean's signature first sentence idioms---written in a peculiar checklist method. I mention this only because I am aware of MacLean's slight decline in effective storytelling which many have claimed began with The Way to Dusty Death, a title I have yet to read, but I will dispute this notion: Breakheart Pass, Circus, and The Golden Gate are as fabulous, if less character driven, than his earlier books. The Golden Gate is no exception, surpassing Circus in scope and suspense!
Keep an eye out for General Carter. The last name is carried over from the hero of The Golden Rendezvous. My dictionary dash consisted of rubicund (116). I read the 1976 Fawcett Crest edition.