Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road: Pulp

Showing posts with label Pulp. Show all posts

Thursday, August 14, 2025

The Shadow’s Shadow (The Shadow #23) 3.5Stars

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Title: The Shadow’s Shadow
Series: The Shadow #23
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 154
Words: 48K
Publish: 1933

A criminal finally gets smart and figures out that The Shadow has agents and uses those agents to track down the alter-ego of The Shadow. Only thing is, said criminal doesn’t realize that The Shadow has multiple aliases. That means The Shadow still gets to beat the bad guys, on all fronts. We as readers also learn a possible history of The Shadow as a WWI ace pilot.

Another enjoyable pulp romp between the world wars. The action takes place in New York City and down into New Jersey a little bit. I’ve done enough traveling up and down the East Coast that I was actually familiar with some of the roads and tunnels described in the story. Not greatly familiar, but enough so that I could visualize things (I’m sure it looked totally different in 1933 than it did in the 1990’s, but come on, a tunnel is a tunnel, right?) and I just found that I liked that familiarity.

This was the 23^rd Shadow novel and it’s taken that long for at least one bad guy to twig on to the fact that The Shadow might have an alter-ego. AMAZING!!! At first it made me shake my head but then I began to wonder, does it seem naive to me not because we are smarter as a society today but because we’re so much more evil? The utter gratuitousness of crime today is beyond what they could have imagined back in 1933. It made me ashamed to be honest. Of course, then people like Ira Levin come along a mere 20 years later and write books like A Kiss Before Dying and I realize the rot was already at the heart of the tree even back then. Which makes me feel better, because I realize that people were just as evil back in the 1930’s as they are today.

"God's in his heaven, all's right with the world"

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher & Bookstooge

It was to be the perfect crime. A daring heist that would net the greedy mobsters undreamed-of millions. And with internation criminal mastermind Felix Zubian and ace gunman Gat Hackett at the head of the determined gang, nothing could go wrong.

Nothing, that is, except the unwelcome intervention of The Shadow, phantom of the night, scourge of evildoers everywhere. The conspirators of crime h it upon a grim, ingenious scheme--use The Shadow's own dreaded techniques of stealth and surprise against him. In short, shadow The Shadow--and blast him into the grave!

An International criminal, Felix Zubian, trails The Shadow. It is revealed that during WWI, Zubian learned of an aviator in the air forces of the United States, one called "The Black Eagle," because of his penchant for flying at night. Zubian believes he has found the aviator who has now taken on a new identity as The Shadow!

The Shadow knows the evil in men’s hearts though and turns the tables on the gang and destroys them where they thought to destroy him.

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Friday, June 20, 2025

The Creeping Death (The Shadow #22) 3.5Stars

Title: The Creeping Death
Series: The Shadow #22
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 144
Words: 45K
Publish: 1933

After reading that abominable Murder Geniuses earlier this week, I needed a good dose of the REAL Shadow, and I got it with this book.

In this story The Shadow is up against a scientist who can make fake gold and he is planning on flooding the market with fake gold and owning genuine gold. Said scientist is also working on a poison that he can put on letters to kill from a distance. The scientist is working in conjunction with several crooks the world over and several of them get the big idea to take over and thus begins a fight amongst thieves and murderers. A Secret Service agent is involved and The Shadow has to protect him while setting the various criminal elements against each other.

This was good stuff. This was all about the bad guys offing each other and The Shadow just nudging things along, up until the end where there is a climactic gun battle between everybody and only the Secret Service agent and The Shadow walk away. That’s the way a good The Shadow novel ends.

This is the first cover to feature Skelly the Skeleton. Obviously that’s not his actual name and he’s not a character in the story, but he does feature on several of the covers and The Shadow seems to be rather pallsy-wallsy with him. Call me deadophobic, but you won’t catch me hanging while a skeleton drapes his arm over my shoulder and points out a word on the page of the book I’m reading. The hatchet from our survival gear would come into play wicked quick, let me tell you.

Jimbo’s got the right idea here!

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

The lure of gold – that lust which has made men kill throughout the ages – had gripped the enemies of justice. The swindle of the century threatened to put the world at the mercy of either a power-hungry, underhanded financier and his cohorts, or an eccentric creator of synthetic gold. But the common purpose which brought Forster, Morales, and Armagnac to inventor Lucien Partridge did not stop them from cunningly plotting behind each others’ backs. Only The Shadow could halt the creation of a Gold Empire. Garbed in black, silently stalking the streets, he alone could triumph over evil. The insidious princes of the underworld would be crushed by this Master Crime-Fighter – The Shadow!

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

The Mystery of Dr Fu-Manchu (Dr Fu-Manchu #1) 3Stars

Title: The Mystery of Dr Fu-Manchu
Series: Dr Fu-Manchu #1
Author: Sax Rohmer
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Pulp Mystery
Pages: 267
Words: 72K
Publish: 1913

Oh, this is going to be a tough review. So many different thoughts, many conflicting, ran though my head as I read this book.

The first thought. I enjoyed the heck out of this story. It was a fantastic 1913 mystery pulp with a series of stories connected together as we are introduced to our protagonists, the heroes opposing the deadly Dr Fu-Manchu. Fu-Manchu might have the title, but he’s the villain and doesn’t show up that often. In many ways, he seems modeled on a Moriarty sketchboard. The smartest, evilist genius the world has ever known. He’s ALWAYS in control. It was awesome (yeah, yeah, that word doesn’t mean what I think it means…) I had so much fun reading the short stories. The stories weren’t disconnected though and always were just a step along the path for the heroes to finally confront the Dr. Only for us the readers to realize that the Dr had been in complete control the entire time. He really is the epitome of an Evil Genius. I almost clapped my hands in glee to be honest. And there is no Sherlock Holmes to oppose him, just two Englishman with all the faults and blindspots of their time and one Arab woman in thrall to Dr Fu-Manchu but in love with one of the heroes. It made the situations all the more desperate and that desperation came through. The threat presented by Dr Fu-Manchu was real.

That leads me to my second thought. This book would send the WOKE kids of today into catatonic shock. Or they’d go burn some more tesla cars or loot a drugstore or say it’s ok to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, you know, the typical things over-privileged, under-disciplined stupid kids are doing nowadays. I could totally see New Guy from work reading the first story in ten minutes, then ranting for thirty minutes about how “evil” the book is. I am not WOKE at all, period.

But that leads to my third thought. Even “I” had a tough time with the continued references to the Yellow Peril or the Danger to the White Race. I don’t know anything about Rohmer as a person (except that Sax Rohmer was a pen name) and thus I don’t know if he had a thing against Asians or if he was just writing to the zeitgeist of the times. I CAN understand using skin color as a descriptor though. So that’s where the conflicted thoughts come in. I am trying to keep in mind when this was written as well. The thing that made it tough was that it was mentioned in almost those exact terms at least twice in every story. It’s the kind of thing I don’t want to get used to, just like I don’t want to get used to profanity in the books I read, or violence, or blasphemy.

Finally, the cover. I showcased this cover on an earlier “My Week” post but didn’t say why I liked it or anything specific. What I enjoy about this one is that it reminds me, very strongly, of the Arcane Casebook covers. Those are great stories with some seriously cool covers and I get that same vibe from this version of The Mystery of Dr Fu-Manchu.

★★★☆☆

From Wikipedia

Dr. Petrie is surprised by a late night visitor, "a tall, lean ... square cut ... sun baked" man who turns out to be his good friend (ex-Assistant Commissioner Sir Denis) Nayland Smith of Burma, formerly of Scotland Yard, who has come directly from Burma. We then learn that various men associated with India are the target of assassination by the Chinese master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu, who seems to have been active in Burma (as distinct from India), in places such as Rangoon, Prome, Moulmein and the "Upper Irrawaddy" and who comes to England with dacoits and thugs.

Fu Manchu is pursued from the opium dens of Limehouse in the East End of London to various country estates. We learn that Dr. Fu Manchu is a leading member not of "old China", the Mandarin class of the Manchu dynasty, or "young China", a new generation of "youthful and unbalanced reformers" with "western polish" – but a "Third Party". Nayland Smith is outwitted several times by Fu Manchu and thus he reflects more the narrow escapes of the later Bulldog Drummond rather than the "logical" superior approach of the earlier Sherlock Holmes.

Fu Manchu is a master poisoner and chemist, a cunning member of the Yellow Peril, "the greatest genius which the powers of evil have put on the earth for centuries", though his mission is not exactly clear at this stage. He appears to be trying to capture and take back to China the best engineers of Europe for some larger criminal purpose.

By the end of the book, Fu Manchu's slave girl Karamaneh, a beautiful Arab woman, apparently now in love with Dr Petrie, and her brother Aziz are freed from Fu Manchu's captivity, and Inspector Weymouth, driven mad by an injection of serum from Fu Manchu, is restored to sanity by Fu Manchu, who appears to have escaped from a fire which destroys the house that he had previously entered.

Saturday, May 03, 2025

Shadowed Millions (The Shadow #21) 3.5Stars

Title: Shadowed Millions
Series: The Shadow #21
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 142
Words: 44K
Publish: 1932

The amount of money involved in this story was 10million dollars. I used one of those online inflation calculators and in terms of today’s money, it is about 235million, almost a quarter billion dollars. Can you imagine a group of people handing over a quarter billion in cash and bonds to one man, on the strength of his word and some papers “certifying” that he’s the guy to work with. No oversight, no triple checks, no one accompanying him. I don’t know if the world has changed that much (I suspect it has) but the thought of trusting someone I don’t know with a quarter billion is more than I can imagine.

It is all complicated by the fact that the Carrier has something shady going on and we as the readers do not know if he’s actually trustworthy or not. Right up until the very end in fact. I rather enjoyed that ambivalence.

Of course there is a shadow’y mastermind in the background, but par for the course, The Shadow is one step ahead, if not two or three. I was never in doubt about the outcome, but how it would play out was another matter completely. That’s part of why I enjoy these pulp stories so much.

The Shadow wins. The End.

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge

A group of Capitalists stake 10million on a small South American Country for exclusive mineral rights. The carrier of said 10million appears to have his own agenda. At the same time, the carrier appears to be involved with powerful men who don’t want the country to succeed. It’s up to The Shadow to make sure the 10million gets to where it is going. Along the way there will be fisticuffs, gunfights and general mayhem.

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Kings of Crime (The Shadow #20) 3.5Stars

Title: Kings of Crime
Series: The Shadow #20
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 160
Words: 50K

The Shadow takes on another group of villainous masterminds of crime. This time we know that the Ace of Crime is somebody important in the town, we just don’t know exactly who until the end. There were some obvious red herrings, so I knew it wasn’t them. For me, I KNEW it had to be either the Police Chief or the Mayor. But almost up until the reveal, I was still guessing which. Which means the author did things write. I appreciate that tension.

Once again, speed of communication makes such a world of difference. Half this story could have not mattered if there had been faster ways to communicate. I feel like I am peeking into a completely different world when I read these stories and in some ways, I am. It’s good to be reminded that times were different and those differences drove innovation, etc in ways we can’t imagine today.

Once again, this was another tight little adventure story where The Shadow outthinks, outshoots and outpunches everyone. While I wouldn’t want a steady diet of that, a drip feed of it does wonders for my morale. While I know evil will be destroyed at the end of time, seeing it gets its butt kicked in the here and now is quite satisfying.

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge

Four villains are called together by a mysterious Ace of Crime. Their goal? The total take over of a town so the money pours in continually. Facing off against them is the mayor of the town, the police chief and unbeknownst to anyone, The Shadow and his agents!

The Shadow shuts down each villain and their part of the plan, but not until the Mayor is revealed as the Ace of Crime can The Shadow reveal that HE is the Joker of the Deck and he trumps all the Kings and Aces.

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Sunday, October 27, 2024

The Romanoff Jewels (The Shadow #19) 3.5Stars

Title: The Romanoff Jewels
Series: The Shadow #19
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 142
Words: 43K

Commies, Czar’ists and The Shadow all collide! Man, this was a weird read. Russian Royalty simply hasn’t been a part of our world close to 100 years now and so to read a story about it just after its heyday, still a force to be reckoned with, really threw me. It was kind of hard to take seriously too.

The Shadow really plays up the human factor in this story. He’s fully Lamont Cranston as much as he is the Shadow and he gets shot and beaten up and generally manhandled as any one person would in these circumstances. I’m used to The Shadow utterly triumphing, not surviving by the skin of his teeth.

I’ve never heard of the Romanoff Jewels, so everything about them, (a fabled stash of jewels representing the sum wealth of the Czars that was hidden away for their eventual return) was brand new and any info in the book I just took at face value. I did have some problem with the revelation that they were all fakes at the end. I had to roll my eyes at the naivete and stupidity of both commies and czarists thinking they were real. One jeweler is all it would have taken to prove things. It was shown that The Shadow’s ghirasol ring WAS one of the originals, and while it seems to have no purpose or function, it has a mystical mystique about it that in turn conferred such a feeling on the rest of the horde (that turned out not to exist). It would be like finding out that my food pantry was made up of a piece of wood from the Ark of the Covenant and that Putin and Kamala Harris were both after it.

Another good read and I enjoyed it. Overall, I don’t ever see myself re-reading these Shadow books, but that’s ok. Not every book is written to be re-read. Once and done is sometimes ok…

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

Click to Open

The lofty towers of the Kremlin loomed like spectral spires against a darkened sky. Senov – master spider in a web of espionage – was about to ensnare America in the most nefarious deal of all time: behind the guise of a trade detente, he and his treacherous American trusties will swap the Romanoff jewels for help in restoring the ancient Russian monarchy! Only a certain black-clad form, swept like the shroud of night itself across the oceans and mountains of a desperate world, could hope to challenge such global enemies… and from the mysteries of New York’s Cobalt Club to the thrills of a breathtaking submarine voyage the Shadow carves a dark and hidden path for the forces of justice: beware The Shadow as you beware the darkest unknown!

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Dead Men Live (The Shadow #18) 3.5Stars

Title: Dead Men Live
Series: The Shadow #18
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 150
Words: 45K

We get to play in a full sized castle, In America!

The situation is one anyone familiar with Atlas Shrugged will recognize. Only instead of all the egghead geniuses being whisked away voluntarily, they are kidnapped and doppleganger corpses left in their place. They are then kept prisoner in the aforementioned castle and made to work on whatever it was that brought them to the attention of the bad guys.

The Shadow has one of his men infiltrate them, infiltrates the gang himself and then causes untold havoc. Guns blazing, fists flying, bodies lying dead all over the place. Just what the Dr ordered in fact.

One interesting thing about reading older books (this was published in the 1930’s, so almost 100 years ago) is you get to see “new” ideas and how they have no idea of the limitations yet. Much like fiction writers of today with their “dna’s” and “black holes” and “quarks” and other scyenze schizzle that they don’t actually understand beyond the most basic level (and that’s partly not their fault, because NOBODY understands the limits of those just yet). In this novel, it is plastic surgery. The bad guys kidnap hobos, etc, who bear a similarity to the people they want to kidnap, the doctor does his presto-chango magic plastic surgery on them and two days later they look just like the guy who is about to be kidnapped. Most of said hobos were then killed in some sort of fiery explosion to deal with fingerprints etc. And nobody is the wiser. I’m not knocking it, it’s just fun to see how those kind of things have change with the reality of the situation. Which is why I’m always skeptical of “scyence” people extrapolating something from a starting point that they barely understand themselves, much less non-specialists.

Another good thing about this story was that it was Harry Vincent’less. I do not like Harry. He’s the male version of Nell Fenwick, who only exists to get tied to train tracks and be rescued by Dudley Do-Right. Or in these books, The Shadow. So a story without Harry getting shot, bopped on the head, kidnapped or almost killed and then miraculously rescued by The Shadow is a good story in my opinion.

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge.blog

Synopsis – click to open

A trio of criminal masterminds kidnap geniuses from various fields for their own personal gain. The Shadow gets wind of the plot and sends in his man Marston to stop it. He also personally gets involved. It ends with the 3 criminals dead, the geniuses rescued, 2 stepbrothers reconciled and The Shadow triumphant.

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Sunday, July 21, 2024

The Five Chameleons (The Shadow #17) 3.5Stars

Title: The Five Chameleons
Series: The Shadow #17
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 128
Words: 40K

This was probably the first book where the Shadow really takes a beating. He’s been shot before, but this time it’s to the point of incapacitation. Never seen him so weak, but he still kills the bad guys. That’s how it should be.

I was expecting more from the Chameleons. Turns out they are just crooks that can pretty much blend into any situation and become whatever the circumstances demand. In this case, it was a bank manager, some bank tellers and a mortician. Not quite what I had in mind from the title. But, the leader, the guy playing the bank manager, manages to out think the Shadow and shoots him. Of course, the author sets up “circumstances” so the gang can’t immediately shoot the Shadow dead, which gives him opportunity to revive and fight back. A knife to his throat would have been just as effective at that point and it would have been silent. Lesson Number 1 in Villainy is always make sure the Hero is dead, really, totally, utterly dead. Or else he’ll come back and get you. Just like the Shadow does 😀

Speed of communication is the lifeblood of a society. I wrote about it in Kalin (A Dumarest book) and it has shown itself throughout the Shadow books as well. The crooks plan depends on people and the Feds not finding out about the counterfeit money until they are long gone. They are planning on days and possibly weeks. The Shadow counters that with a highspeed plane that gets information to his confederates in a day and brings those same confederates back to help him out. It still amazes me how the speed of information changes a culture. How much faster can we get? I’m kind of afraid to find out…

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher & Bookstooge.blog

Synopsis – click to open

The Shadow seeks to unmask The Five Chameleons, master villains whose uncanny ability to blend with their surroundings rivals his own. Having hit upon a plan to funnel counterfeit money through a bank and steal genuine money, the scheme soon turns to murder and the Shadow becomes involved. He kills them all and saves the community.

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Sunday, June 16, 2024

The Ghost Makers (The Shadow #16) 3.5Stars

Title: The Ghost Makers
Series: The Shadow #16
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 120
Words: 37K

A bunch of scam artists pretend to be able to talk to the dead and bilk idiots out of their money. This is only possible if you don’t believe in soul sleep. Which I doubt any of you do. So prepare yourselves to get bilked, because the Amazing Bookstoogio will now do something that no one has ever done before.

I will end this review before it even gets started. Tada!

Now give me your money!

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge.blog

Fake Mystics from India are fleecing the dumb and gullible nitwits here in the United States. The Shadow can’t stand for that, so he steps in and sends his own gullible nitwit against the fakirs, Detective Cardona. The whole gang is wrapped up and Cardona gets the accolades.

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Green Eyes (The Shadow #15) 3.5Stars

Title: Green Eyes
Series: The Shadow #15
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 158
Words: 48K

For whatever reason, I really enjoy when the Shadow goes up against a Chinese villain. Part of it is that those villains tend to be extremely smart and clever and aren’t reliant on guns and muscle alone (like many of the mob bosses the Shadow regularly takes down). They have a brain and they use it. At the same time Grant (the author) isn’t promoting the “Oldskool Gangsta” lifestyle. The badguys get theirs every time. But it feels like a battle between almost equals instead of just the Shadow mopping everything up like a janitor.

In this story, the Shadow is on the West Coast of the United States, in that most evil and iniquitous state called California. The Feds are hot on the trail of a supposedly pacifist Chinese cultural movement that plans to start a new empire. Massive drug smuggling is involved and the Shadow is captured, good and proper. Sadly, the Mastermind falls into the typical villain hubris and doesn’t immediately kill the Shadow. Remember kids, if you’re going to be a villain, kill the good guy immediately! No gloating, no monologues, no torture. Just kill him. Or else he will escape and get you. It always happens that way, and it happened that way here too. Of course, I was rooting for the Shadow, so that was a good thing.

My one big disappointment was that Green Eyes did not end up referring to a Femme Fatale. I was picturing some sort of Shadow’ized Catwoman’ish lady who could take on the Shadow and then fall hopelessly in love with him. Nope. Green Eyes simply refers to a guy who can mesmerize people with his eyes. Poop to that!

But the cover. Ohhhhhh, that cover. Pure Awesomesauce! Twin automatic .45’s, the only thing better is an assault shotgun.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

There is a criminal empire being run by a mad genius out of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Nobody knows who they are or when they will strike again. Only one man can bring down the vicious criminal operations. The Shadow!

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Thursday, April 04, 2024

Hidden Death (The Shadow #14) 3.5Stars

Title: Hidden Death
Series: The Shadow #14
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 138
Words: 42K

Good enjoyable pulp. The Shadow has to take on the machinations of a dead genius who is apparently killing people from beyond the grave. At the same time, the police bring on an eminent psychologist because facts just aren’t enough apparently. And no surprise to anyone, said psychologist turns out to be a bad apple. Throw in a massive attack on the Shadow by the combined might of the lowlifes of the city and you have yourself a pretty good story.

I did notice how amateur everything is (except the Shadow and his procedures). The cops are like the Keystone Cops and I have to assume that is deliberate on the part of the author and not an actual reality of the times. Individually, some of the cops are pretty good, but overall, yeah, they are a mockery of law and order.

For a much more indepth and excited review, please visit Riders of Skaith’s “Review from 2020”.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

Murder of a Genius
When a mechanical genius is murdered at the moment of his greatest invention, THE SHADOW decodes a plan of linked deaths and traps a master killer in a bizarre and brilliant intrigue…

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

The Blackmail Ring (The Shadow #13) 3.5Stars

Title: The Blackmail Ring
Series: The Shadow #13
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 146
Words: 44K

The Batman vibes were almost overpowering in this story. It’s a decent story about a blackmailer using other blackmailers to do his own dirty work and the Shadow catches wind of it and goes on an international rampage taking out the limbs of the Ring before finally cutting off the head.

He does detecting work.

He is very physically present in this story, with both fists, guns and body checks. He’s not a skinny wimp relying on just scare tactics. The Shadow knows how to fight and he does so.

He drives a souped up super car.

He flies his own little private airplaine.

Batman was most definitely based on the Shadow and the more I read of the Shadow, the more I realize just how much Batman took from him. In many ways, Batman is just an updated version for a new generation and a new medium (comics vs books or radio drama). And yet only 9 years separated the two and they ran concurrently for several decades.

The Shadow gets another recruit and still has to rescue Harry Vincent. I don’t understand Gibson’s continued use of him. He has let other recruits slide into the background and barely mentions them, so why can’t he do that with Harry? Some things just aren’t to be I guess. Kind of like wishing that Coca-Cola would bring back Vanilla-Orange Coke Zero. It ain’t happening. Now I am sad. I’m going over to that corner over there and have a good cry.

And that’s how I’m going to end this review, sitting in a corner crying for something that will never exist again. Ahhh, the pathos is real in this review. Weep, minions, weeeeeeeeep I say.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

The Shadow follows a bloody trail of extortion and murder that leads from the back alleys of Paris to the country homes of New England to confront “The Blackmail Ring”.

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Tuesday, January 02, 2024

The Crime Cult (The Shadow #12) 3.5Stars

Title: The Crime Cult
Series: The Shadow #12
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 156
Words: 50K

The Shadow goes up against a devotee of the Thuggee sect, which is devoted to the death goddess Kali. If you’ve ever seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, you’ll get a decent picture of the Thuggee cult. But they’re are also practitioners of the art of death by strangulation. So every victim in this story was strangled to death.

I’ve read another short story about Thuggees, either in an Alfred Hitchcock Collection or one of the Roald Dahl adult books, but I can’t be bothered to track down one specific short story. Anyway, that story also dealt with the strangulation side of the Cult, so that wasn’t a revelation here.

The more I read of these Shadow stories, the more I can why everyone says Batman was born of the Shadow. This time I noticed just how afraid the thugs, criminals and gangsters are of the Shadow and how he not only uses that fear, but encourages it. They SHOULD fear him. It reminds me of how Batman started. He wanted something to scare the badguys, to put the fear of God into their hearts and he would out-think them but also out-fight them. The Shadow had his time, and I enjoy reading these novels, but I don’t see him ever making a comeback. I mean, Batman is on the skids after all these years due to really bad story telling and the authors and artists relying on the fans buying crap just because of nostalgia and past associations. The era of Batman is coming to a close too I think.

When I wrote about Foundation and Empire last month, I mentioned how the length of it worked for me. These Shadow novels are built along the same lines and I just love it. It’s enough to entertain me without bogging me down. There are times when I’m reading a book and if I realize it’s over 300 pages I kind of groan to myself because I know the author is going to fill in all the background when I just wanted a two paragraph description of the whole world. Even better, one paragraph would suit me just fine! But instead of whining about that, I realize I have that need for brevity and these Shadow books are filling that need perfectly.

While this is the first book I am reviewing in 2024, it was not the first I read. I read a very mediocre book and just couldn’t face up to writing a review for a completely boring and mediocre book as my first review of the year. So I decided to read a good book and review it first. That’s the beauty of scheduling posts a week or so ahead of schedule, I can do things like that. I am glad to be reviewing a Shadow book first thing. It’s brief, exciting and filled with bad, gun toting thugs, decent upstanding men in the Shadow’s employ and a main character who totes two automatic pistols and isn’t afraid to use them.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

Click to Open

The marks of death were upon them. A mysterious round burn no bigger than a dime scarred each forehead; upon each throat was a thin, almost invisible white line. The police were baffled, but each of the victims knew that his time was up and his page in the book of death had come due. It was obviously a case for The Shadow but the most famous crimefighter of all was missing!

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Friday, November 17, 2023

Double Z (The Shadow #11) 3.5Star

Title: Double Z
Series: The Shadow #11
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 188
Words: 60K

Good stuff. As I noted at the beginning of the month:

Currently Reading Cover Love: Double Z

I really liked the cover. We will see what else the month holds, but I suspect this will earn that coveted (oh so coveted!) award of Cover Love of the Month. Doesn’t get much more honorable than that, let me tell you!

The story itself was pretty good too. We get another “Agent” of the Shadow introduced. At this point I’m not even trying to remember who is who, I just read “Character Agent X” and nod my head and continue reading. The Shadow faces off against an old Chinese guy who has a booby trapped house and that was pretty cool. Sadly, Old Chinese Guy isn’t Double Z. He should have been though. He has the booby trapped house. He has poisons. He has a young protege. He has underworld connections. So of course Double Z turns out to be some disgruntled, too rich, businessman. It was kind of anti-climactic to find out it was him. I mentally went “Really, that guy? He’s not even oatmeal, much less Villain of the Month Flavor”. Thankfully, I got all the flavor I needed with Old Chinese Guy. Soy sauce baby!

Another successful entry in the Shadow series. I recommend this series if you like pulp stories.

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge.blog

Double Z, a mysterious underworld figure, has leaked information to the police about people who are going to get killed. Now he has decided to move into the game himself, thus setting himself on a collision course with The Shadow. Utilizing the services of corrupt old chinese triad leader, Double Z intends on being the one to survive that collision.

In the end, Double Z is unmasked as a bored businessman with too much time on his hands and not brains in his skull. The Shadow and his servants prevail and Right is Victorious.

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Conan the Freelance (Conan the Barbarian) 3Stars

Title: Conan the Freelance
Series: Conan the Barbarian
Author: Steve Perry
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 167
Words: 61K

Each author who does these Conan pastiches (or in the case of Perry I’d call it fan fiction really) brings their own particular tastes to the stories. They also tend to have their own internal chronology. I bring this up because when I started reading this Perry has Conan waxing nostalgic for a bunch of buxom lasses whose names he rattles off. It sounded very much like a litany of “this girl was in this story and that girl was in that story” but this was the first Conan story I’d read by Perry. Turns out, I was reading these out of publication date. This is actually the 5^th Conan story Perry wrote. So I soldiered on but I re-ordered them in calibre so they’re properly sorted now.

Anyway, Perry seems to REALLY like non-human monsters. I’m not talking about a singular demon or leftover dinosaur thing, but in this story we have a whole population of selkies, of humanoid lizard people and a double handful of magical terror monsters. Plus, the queen of the humanoid lizards is a buxom blue lass who Conan “conquers”. I just rolled my eyes pretty hard.

The other issue was the wizard. He had all the ingredients he needed for his final spell but kept getting distracted and mispronouncing stuff, thus having to start over from the beginning. This is a guy who’s been around hundreds of years. You’d think he’d have learned to focus in that time. I don’t mind wizards being defeated, but this wasn’t Conan defeating the wizard, this was the wizard being a total incompetent and reaping the consequences of being a nincompoop. I rolled my eyes pretty hard.

At the same time, seeing Conan fight selkies, fight lizard men, fight magical terror monsters and stick a big fat steel sword through a wizard’s gullet made it all worthwhile. THAT is why I read Conan stories. So I’m giving this three eyerolls out of five.

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher

Fate tosses the dice for Conan of Cimmeria, and they come up…death. Dimma, the Mist Mage, knows nothing of the muscular Cimmerian, but the vile necromancer’s plans require his death. Thayla, beautiful Queen of the Pili, would rather take Conan to her bed, but her own plots mean he must die. The sorcerous changeling Kleg wasn’t only to do his master’s bidding, but Conan stands in his way. Even the lovely Cheen will let nothing stop her from recovering the sacred Talisman of her people.

The game is deadly, the stakes are life, but whatever the risks, Conan of Cimmeria will play until the final toss.

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Hands in the Dark (The Shadow #10) 3.5Stars

Title: Hands in the Dark
Series: The Shadow #10
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 187
Words: 55K

Ha! Proof positive. The Shadow wears his girasol jewel on his left hand. It was stated explicitly in this book. This matters because Riders and I had a conversation about which hand it was on and neither of us could show a book which proved right or left. So here we go, the question is settled for all ages, or at least until I forget and forget that I answered the question here. So 2-3 months should do it!

And poop.

Apparently, our conversation centered around which FINGER it was not, not which HAND. Sigh. The Quest for Knowledge must continue then. And back to the unimportant stuff like talking about the book I read. Man, this book reviewing thing isn’t all I was led to believe. However, it has allowed me to read TWO The Shadow books this month, so that’s definitely a check on the positive side of the life column.

This was a pretty gutsy book in that a regular joe schmoe gangster (well, he is pretty smart but still, he’s not super villain league smart) goes up against the Shadow on purpose. And he doesn’t do a bad job of it either. Millions of dollars in loot are at stake and a Great Love between Boyman and Girlwoman is at stake too. And the Shadow cleans house like the vigilante he is. Booyah!

That is why I keep reading these. Bad guys do really bad guy things and the Shadow puts a stop to it and bad guys usually die in droves. If that doesn’t count as a happy ending, I don’t know what does.

I’m just glad there’s no Vicki Vale kind of character. That would have ruined things completely.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher:

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN?

It was a message from a dead man. A small piece of paper worth a fortune in blood. Eight mysterious symbols that marked the beginning of a chain of violence executed by gangsters willing to kill for a code they did not understand. Only one man called the shots for this riddle: The Chief, whose reputation made any further identification unnecessary–and lethal.

Obviously a case for THE SHADOW–a cryptic message, a series of baffling murders, seemingly unrelated, and an invisible mastermind who choreographed killings for the highest stakes in town. THE SHADOW was on a trail leading straight to a brilliant trap–and a face-to-face encounter with a criminal genius determined to beat him at his own game!

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Conan the Victorious (Conan the Barbarian) 3Stars

Title: Conan the Victorious
Series: Conan the Barbarian
Author: Robert Jordan
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 227
Words: 81K

Conan gets poisoned and has to face down two wizards, a demon, a bunch of soldiers and lots of adventure.

This was Robert Jordan’s final Conan novel and I rather enjoyed it. I didn’t rate it any better than his previous books because it’s a Conan pastiche and even when I’m thoroughly enjoying them, they just aren’t good literature. They are good adventure stories though. Fantastic pulp if you ask me.

Conan getting poisoned and then double crossed by a wizard who he thought was on his side was pitch perfect. Conan has always hated magic and magic users and we’re shown a perfect reason for that kind of thinking here. I know that Jordan has shown a wizard or two as not being bad, but they are always the outlyers and not the norm. As it should be. Wizards and the powers they consort with are evil and if you see one, make sure you run him through with your trusty steel sword and then chop his head off just in case. You can’t be too careful after all.

I do wish that Jordan had taken a stab at telling a story about Conan’s time as a sea pirate. That is referenced several times in the original stories by Howard and it is one time in Conan’s life that I am actually curious about. Oh well. But if Captain Conan ever steers his ship into Commodore Bookstooge’s area of influence, well, there will be a bloody battle to tell your kids about. And if Conan just stays a land lubber in all the other stories I plan on reading, well, no one can blame even him for being afraid of the Dwead Piwate Bookstooge!

★★★☆☆

From Conan.fandom.com/

Naipal, court wizard to King Bandharkar of the city-state of Ayodha in Vendyha, prepares to bargain with a demon, Masrock, to win control of the kingdom and rid himself of his rivals, the Black Seets of Mt. Yimsha. Meanwhile, in the Turanian city of Sultanapoor, a Vendhyan-supported plot has resulted in the assassination of a prince. Conan, employed in guarding a smugglers’ ship, is rumored to have been hired to commit the crime. Turanian spymaster Lord Khalid sends his apprentice, Jelal, into Vendhya to find out if a northerner was truly involved.

Running for his life, Conan eventually makes it to the docks and to his friend/fellow smuggler Hordo, whom he met during his time with Karela the Red Hawk. Hordo suggests that Conan leave with him on his next delivery of “fish” and he agrees. While examining the chests, they feel strangely light and, when questioned, the Vendhyan merchant who owns the crates flees. However, as he escapes, the merchant accidentally slices Conan with a hidden blade. The crates contain nothing except dried leaves of an unknown origin. Unfortunately, the blade was poisoned and Conan discovers that the antidote may lie in Vendhya, the original destination of their cargo.

At the mouth of the Zaporaska River in Vendhya, the smugglers question a tribe of Vendhyan warriors who are receiving their cargo. After discovering their chests have been tampered with, the warriors accept Hordo’s explanation in a suspicious way. Moments later, Conan and his crew learn that the Vendhyans were planning to kill them once their cargo was delivered. Soon, an army of Vendhyan tribesmen attack and set their ship alight, stranding them. During the battle, Conan gets close enough to see a caravan loading their crates. Unsure if the caravan will be friendly or not, the crew split up, one will follow the caravan, another will return home by walking along the coast.

Conan’s crew eventually close the distance and, by nightfall, have come within feet from the caravan’s distant bonfire. Conan assumes the identity of a Vendhyan merchant and, after a brief conversation with the captain of the caravan guard, they learn that the owner will speak with them in the morning. During the night, a Khitan merchant approaches the smugglers and offers in hiring them as his guards.

In Vendhya, Naipal discovers Conan has become embroiled in his schemes. Believing Conan’s involvement is purposeful, he plans to kill both the Cimmerian and his companions. After his agents in the caravan attempt without success in slaying Conan, Naipal lays a trap for him in the lost city of Gwandikian. Soon, Conan takes the bait. Lured into an ancient tower, he’s attacked by a swarm of cobras and narrowly escapes. Afterwards, Conan searches for an antidote to his poisoned wound in a nearby forest, where he has been told it can be located. Soon, he discovers the herbalist who originally treated him and learns he was in fact cured by his first treatment; the man had lied about it then to secure the Cimmerian’s aid. He, presumably, is Naipal’s true adversary. A final conflict between the two sorcerers ensues, in which both end up dead at the hands of the demon each tried to control, and the demon itself is destroyed by the spells they had lain on it.

Conan, surviving, decides to return home. On the way, he encounters Lord Khalid’s agent Jelal. The spy has completed his investigations and cleared the Cimmerian of complicity in the Vendhyan plot against Turan. He gives Conan a parchment and instructs him to present it at the headquarters of the Turanian army on his return to Sultanpoor.

Wednesday, August 02, 2023

Mobsmen on the Spot (The Shadow #9) 3.5Stars

Title: Mobsmen on the Spot
Series: The Shadow #9
Author: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 190
Words: 60K

We are introduced to yet another new agent for the Shadow. A former mob member who has spent time in jail for robbing a bank and killing a cop. Only the Shadow knows the truth about it all and uses the man to bring down a mastermind behind a bunch of protection rackets.

I thought this was really good. The Shadow maneuvers various levels of mobsters against each other and lets them spill their own blood. Things don’t go all his way though, as one good business man is murdered and the daughter of another is kidnapped.

The mastermind once again is pretty obvious once it becomes apparent that there IS a mastermind. That type of thing used to bother me, and under the right circumstances still might, but overall, I like a nice simple story where I don’t have to use my brain much. Working 9hrs in the heat and humidity really fries my mental capacity and I can appreciate a well told story that entertains me yet doesn’t expect me to turn into Sherlock Holmes to figure out what is going on.

If this was a Sandwich Rating, I would have probably given it the Toasted Tomato Sandwich rating. But it was missing the 1/2lb of black pepper that I usually dump on mine, hence the half star downgrade. Black Pepper makes a toasted tomato sandwich really pop and gives it that extra zing that makes me go “Yuuuuuuuum!”.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

Who KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN?

Who calls the shots for the country’s toughest gangsters? Who makes them dance to an offer they can’t refuse? Who is the invisible power behind the scenes of Manhattan’s billion-dollar protection rackets?

THE SHADOW KNOWS only that the criminal mastermind who controls the waterfront, the warehouses and the garages, is about to invade the theaters of the world’s most volatile city, where the root of crime flourishes, gangland-style.

THE SHADOW stalks his man with cunning, stealth and brilliance, and the eerie laugh that is his hallmark. The laugh that aims to chill all who have ever tasted the bitter fruit of the weed of crime: The Underworld, whose secrets belong to this Master of Darkness!

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Sunday, July 02, 2023

Conan the Destroyer (Conan the Barbarian) 3Stars

Title: Conan the Destroyer
Series: Conan the Barbarian
Author: Robert Jordan
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 170
Words: 57K

This was the novelization of the 1984 movie Conan the Destroyer. I had no idea until I went to google the synopsis. It also went a long way towards explaining why this felt like a second part of a story. Conan is constantly thinking about some woman he made a promise too and blah blah blah history history history. It made me wonder if Jordan had written another Conan book that I wasn’t aware of and needed to get to. But this revelation about the movie suddenly makes it all make sense.

But if I had never googled, I could never have told you this was a novelization. It read exactly like a pulp and all the previous Conan books by Jordan. To be honest, that’s a big positive in my books. Most novelizations are dry and lacking in artistic literary flair. Not this one.

My only quibble is the artifact this time, the Heart of Ahriman. I swear that has been used in another Conan novel. And ha, it has been, twice. First time I read about the heart of Ahriman was in Hour of the Dragon, an original Conan novel by Howard himself. The second time was in Conan and the Manhunters by John Maddox Roberts. What a wealth of useless knowledge I am! So yeah, it’s a MacGuffin and it didn’t work so hot for me.

Other than that, this was a typical Sword and Sorcery Conan adventure. You know what you’re getting and if you don’t like it, it’s your fault for reading this genre and character in the first place.

★★★☆☆

From Wikipedia.org

Queen Taramis of Shadizar promises to bring Conan’s lost love Valeria back to life if the Cimmerian will procure two magical items that she hopes will gain her ultimate power, a wizard’s gem and a horn that can awaken the dreaming god Dagoth. He undertakes the quest together with his thief partner Malak and Taramis’ niece Jehnna and henchman Bombaata. On their journey they are joined by two additional allies whom Conan saves from dire fates; the magician Akiro and the female warrior Zula. At their goal, the castle of the wizard Amon-Rama, Jehnna is kidnapped. Thanks to Akiro’s magic she is located in Amon-Rama’s lair and a way in is discovered. Inside, Conan is separated from the others and forced to battle a Man-Ape in a hall of mirrors, which he is only able to defeat by destroying the mirrors. He also mortally wounds the wizard, who is hiding behind one of them. Jehnna, who is the only person who can safely handle the wizard’s gem, retrieves the first magical item.

Afterward, the group beats off an attack by Corinthian soldiers and continues on to the fortress that holds the horn. It is retrieved at the cost of a battle with its Dagoth-worshipping keepers, whose leader Akiro defeats in a sorcerous duel. Bombaata and Jehnna escape through a tunnel, which the former closes to the others by starting a landslide. Back at Taramis’ palace, the queen conducts a ritual to awaken Dagoth that entails the placing of the horn on the forehead of the sleeping deity, and ultimately the sacrifice of Jehnna. Conan, Akiro, and Zula, having survived the landslide, interrupt the proceedings.

Conan fights and defeats Bombaata while Zula rescues Jehnna. In the absence of the sacrifice, Dagoth is an uncontrollable monster on his revival, eating Taramis and threatening the destruction of everything else. On the advice of Akiro, Conan rips the horn from Dagoth’s forehead, and the creature finally falls. In the aftermath, Jehnna succeeds to the throne of Shadazar and takes Zula, Akiro, and Malak as advisors. She offers Conan her hand and a place at her side as king, but the Cimmerian prefers to win his own kingdom.

Monday, June 12, 2023

The Black Master (The Shadow #8) ★★★✬☆

Title: The Black Master
Series: The Shadow #8
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 174
Words: 82K

From the Publisher & Bookstooge.blog

Five die and many are injured when Wall Street is bombed, followed by Grand Central Station and the subway entrance at Columbus Circle. When a reporter for The Classic claims to have information on the bomber’s identity, the office explodes. As the death toll rises, The Shadow races to uncover who is the bomber known as The Black Master.

Turns out the Blackmaster is a german scientist who had a sister back in the day. Said sister married an American and died from starvation. The american went on to become a multi-millionaire and the Black Master has decided that HE is the one to mete out justice for his sister’s death. If a multitude of New Yorker’s must die in the process, that is a price the Black Master is willing to pay.

The Shadow is not a big fan of this course of action and sets himself in opposition. Of course he wins and destroys the Black Master, who was also a crime fighter helping the police with his new fangled german “criminal psychology”.

First things first. This is not some filthy urban fantasy erotica porn. I mention this because I am reading the Shadow omnibuses and so have to search out the individual titles to find the covers, pages, etc. The crap I had to wade through was not right. I ended up searching for ISBN 9780450027420 to get the correct info. So use that, not the title if you’re ever searching this out.

Second thing. This gave me YUUUUGE 9/11 vibes. New York was getting bombed and there was panic in the newspaper and speculation was rife and nobody knew what was going on. It reminded me exactly of my experience on 9/11. I was working and the radio was going nuts. There were “reports” of bombs going off in cars, of bombs going off in garbage cans, of “sporadic gunfire”. The *&^%%% media didn’t know what was going on and they let their speculation run rampant and increased the panic. Until the plane hit the towers, nobody actually KNEW what was happening. That sense of bewilderment was spot on. Of course, in this novel everybody just goes back to normal the next day and life carries on.

Thirdly, the Crime Fighting Psychologist. Come on, I mean, really? As soon as it was revealed that he was german and profiled criminals, it was painfully obvious he was the Black Master. And if that comes as a spoiler to you, shame on you for being so gullible. It reminded me of the first episode in the Sherlock tv show with Benedict Cumberbatch and one of the police officers, who is not a fan of Sherlock, tells Watson that someday Sherlock will get bored of solving crimes and begin committing then. That is the exact vibe I got from Dr Proffessor Germano (yeah, yeah, whatever, who remembers his real name anyway?) and so as soon as he was introduced he had a big fat arrow pointing to him screaming “Dah Black Meister!”

Now, with all of that being said, I still enjoyed the daylights out of this story. The Black Master was a very worthy adversary for the Shadow and gave him a good run for his money. When a villain seeks to go head to head against the Shadow in a game of mental manipulation, you know he’s not just some thug with a .38 police special.

And Harry Vincent gets his brain blasted by the Black Master and his magic crystal ball. Sadly, we all know he’ll recover and show up in future books. I would have liked to see his drooling corpse slumped against a wall. Oh well, not every story can be a completely Happily Ever After.

★★★✬☆

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews