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My understanding of Dennis Wheatley goes something like this.
His first book (this one) was a best seller in 1933. Following that success, he was one of the best selling British authors up to his death in the 70s. His American contemporaries would include Edgar Rice Burroughs. Wheatley mainly wrote in two genres - adventure (usually spy fiction) and occult horror, or sometimes a mix of both. Wheatleys series of novels around Gregory Sallust (of which this is not one) is often cited as an influence on Ian Flemming and the James Bond series. In a case of art imitating life, Wheatley also used his expertise and helped Britain during the war, i.e. writing real-life espionage plans against the Nazis.
Wheatley's name has faded, possibly as he was a writer of his times and maybe not all of his thoughts are modern. I picked up this as a discount ebook in what was part of a major relaunch of Wheatley, with plugs from Neil Gaiman among others. Perhaps I should have stocked up, but I didn't know how it was going to go, so I started with #1.
What's interesting of course is the book was published in 1933, It predates James Bond (as mentioned above) but a lot of adventure writers, including much of the spy genre and masters of the craft like John Le carre or those who have taken it to extremes like Mark Millar. Of note, it actually is a Cold war book despite the date really. The story is of our two suave European protagonists who travel to Siberia (see the title) to rescue an imprisoned American. Wheatley draws a strong picture of Stalinist Russia that bests many storytellers
I give it positive points in that it does this story quite well. It jumps into action and fleshes out the characters enough that it neither slows down the book nor skimps to make them quickly drawn caricatures. The characters are debonair and knowing, certainly would fit in with Bond or his many imitators. What is impressive is how well it stands up even after decades of what has come sense. The logistics are more Bond than Le carre. Things just work out in the nick of time. It's more adrenaline rush than cerebral combat.
Books like this do run the risk of running out of steam and Wheatley does a pretty masterly job of moving from scene to scene. The book is as much of a pageturner as anything on the shelves in this current year.
My main criticism is the book seems like it loses steam when it switches between the three protagonists. There are logistical reasons why it might make sense, but the book seems to downshift when focused on the less colorful character. I don't have the problem with the teamup as the three work in a complimentary way, and certainly the story and heroes would work well as a graphic novel.
I liked this and would recommend to those interested in the genre and particularly the history of the genre. I think I would like to try his other books.
His first book (this one) was a best seller in 1933. Following that success, he was one of the best selling British authors up to his death in the 70s. His American contemporaries would include Edgar Rice Burroughs. Wheatley mainly wrote in two genres - adventure (usually spy fiction) and occult horror, or sometimes a mix of both. Wheatleys series of novels around Gregory Sallust (of which this is not one) is often cited as an influence on Ian Flemming and the James Bond series. In a case of art imitating life, Wheatley also used his expertise and helped Britain during the war, i.e. writing real-life espionage plans against the Nazis.
Wheatley's name has faded, possibly as he was a writer of his times and maybe not all of his thoughts are modern. I picked up this as a discount ebook in what was part of a major relaunch of Wheatley, with plugs from Neil Gaiman among others. Perhaps I should have stocked up, but I didn't know how it was going to go, so I started with #1.
What's interesting of course is the book was published in 1933, It predates James Bond (as mentioned above) but a lot of adventure writers, including much of the spy genre and masters of the craft like John Le carre or those who have taken it to extremes like Mark Millar. Of note, it actually is a Cold war book despite the date really. The story is of our two suave European protagonists who travel to Siberia (see the title) to rescue an imprisoned American. Wheatley draws a strong picture of Stalinist Russia that bests many storytellers
I give it positive points in that it does this story quite well. It jumps into action and fleshes out the characters enough that it neither slows down the book nor skimps to make them quickly drawn caricatures. The characters are debonair and knowing, certainly would fit in with Bond or his many imitators. What is impressive is how well it stands up even after decades of what has come sense. The logistics are more Bond than Le carre. Things just work out in the nick of time. It's more adrenaline rush than cerebral combat.
Books like this do run the risk of running out of steam and Wheatley does a pretty masterly job of moving from scene to scene. The book is as much of a pageturner as anything on the shelves in this current year.
My main criticism is the book seems like it loses steam when it switches between the three protagonists. There are logistical reasons why it might make sense, but the book seems to downshift when focused on the less colorful character. I don't have the problem with the teamup as the three work in a complimentary way, and certainly the story and heroes would work well as a graphic novel.
I liked this and would recommend to those interested in the genre and particularly the history of the genre. I think I would like to try his other books.
