Rinehart at her romantic (and idealistic) best. Family conflict and heroism in WW I. Similar in type to Dangerous Days, but less complex and faster moving.
When Roberts is good she can be very good. Dangerous Days comes close, a sentimental novel with enough conflict to perk it up. The heroes and heroines are a bit too fine, and it would profit by losing some thousands of words, but still a pretty good read.
British naval action during the Napoleonic wars. A young officer, his father and friends.
Not a bad read but quite light-weight. Things always go well for the heroes, even when matters look darkest. And all due to their manifold virtues, of course. What we call 'corn' in other words. Possibly suitable for a young young-adult.
If a worse mystery from the early twentieth century has been written, I haven't read it. A Coin of Edward VII is replete with unlikely coincidences and overly-melodramatic scenes. It's as if Hume read Nicolas Nickleby and set himself to outdo Dickens tenfold. But Dickens could both write felicitously and invent memorable characters.
Hume's characters babble secrets right and left, and act time after time not only against their own interests but counter to motivation. The plot is not merely excessively involved but extremely unlikely—so much so, in fact, I at one point thought the author intended a clumsy satire.
Example of purple prose: ...with a wild shout both men went down into the furiously bubbling witch-caldron, never to rise again.
Need of editing: ...great changes had taken place in the place
A daughter's inappropriate comment: "I came back in an hour," sobbed Portia, "and found him dead. He looked so handsome as a corpse."
In summary, Coin should be read only by those who have time to waste and the need for laughs. Or should I say, for sneers?
This is one of the more humorous books I've read, and it's easy to see how Wodehouse might have gained some of his inspiration from Jacobs. Be warned that the nautical aspects of the story take a distant second position to the relationships between an imposing assembly of bizarre characters.
I had two problems with Dialstone Lane--the first was the story leaving a few loose ends, such as the outcome of the courtship between Miss Drewitt and Edward Tredgold. The primary difficulty, however, was the slowness with which my ereader turned its pages.
Pretty good story of crime and punishment, love and redemption. Has some weird but minor formatting problems, strange punctuation. All in all, well done.
Recent comments: User reviews
Man plans a perfect crime simply to befuddle a great detective, and succeeds. Who is the hero in this story? Hard to be sure.
Not a bad read but quite light-weight. Things always go well for the heroes, even when matters look darkest. And all due to their manifold virtues, of course. What we call 'corn' in other words. Possibly suitable for a young young-adult.
Hume's characters babble secrets right and left, and act time after time not only against their own interests but counter to motivation. The plot is not merely excessively involved but extremely unlikely—so much so, in fact, I at one point thought the author intended a clumsy satire.
Example of purple prose: ...with a wild shout both men went down into the furiously bubbling witch-caldron, never to rise again.
Need of editing: ...great changes had taken place in the place
A daughter's inappropriate comment: "I came back in an hour," sobbed Portia, "and found him dead. He looked so handsome as a corpse."
In summary, Coin should be read only by those who have time to waste and the need for laughs. Or should I say, for sneers?
I had two problems with Dialstone Lane--the first was the story leaving a few loose ends, such as the outcome of the courtship between Miss Drewitt and Edward Tredgold. The primary difficulty, however, was the slowness with which my ereader turned its pages.
Jacobs also wrote the fine horror story The Monkey's Paw.