The Man of Bronze and his trustworthy friends track a one-armed man of mystery to the far reaches of South America — only to find their lives endangered when they discover the amazing secret that Hezemiah Law is guarding so carefully on Spook Hole!
Hidalgo Trading Co – Chuck Welch – Flearun
I always liked “Spook Hole.” It’s an odd mystery, with some very strange goings-on and Hezemiah Law is a great character. Ranks up there as one of my favorites. And “Spook Hole” just sounds kind of neat.
I was surprised that Bantam published this book so late in the singles run. It reads quickly, but there’s quite a lot of going back-and-forth from one ship to another in the first half of the book to really get anywhere. But once they get down to the Spook Hole in South America, the action sails right along. I’ve always liked the Pfeiffer cover but the yellow logo seemed to weaken the cover’s dramatic effect.
This is an OK book. The ending is a little bit disappointing and the beginning is a little bit repetitive. Not really my favorite. Towards the end there is a good scene. There are many other Doc Savage novels that you should read first.
This one takes absolutely ages to get going, with characters running around fighting and capturing each other for the first half of the story before the long flight, after which it mostly settles down to moving along. The actual Big Revelation at the end of whst the MacGuffin is is rather disappointing, too.
Given all that, the sub-plot concerning the villains scheming against each other is a nice touch, and Monk and Ham are quite well-handled – and, being one of the earlier novels, we actually get to see at least some of the other aides actually do something. Doc plans long-term and figures out the Big Mystery, so he is his usual self.
Overall, this is a six out of ten. Not one of the best, but not a complete dud – an average ‘thirties supersaga, but not one of the truly memorable ones.
This was wasn’t bad. But it did meander in the first half.
MUST members of Doc’s gang be kidnapped/taken prisoner in every adventure? *sigh*
Monk and Ham are nearly tortured to death; Pat Savage and the babe-du-jour spend most of their time in bondage! (hmm)
Nice that Long Tom was undercover the entire adventure (wasn’t hard to spot him).
The “secret” of Spook Hole was so ridiculous it made me puke!