Now 2023 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA Portfolio Artwork WIP

Recent posts


Month in review

Reviews
Around the World by Matt Phelan
A Boy & a Girl by Jamie S. Rich
Clementine and the Spring Trip by Sara Pennypacker
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Down Under Donovan by Edgar Wallace
The Dumbest Idea Ever! by Jimmy Gownley
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski
Explorer 2: The Lost Islands edited by Kazu Kibuishi
Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig
The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Mud-Slinging Moles by Maxwell Eaton III
Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse by George Selden
Hildafolk by Luke Pearson
How to Make Friends with Demons by Graham Joyce
I Was the Cat by Paul Tobin
The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan
Leo Geo and the Cosmic Crisis by Jon Chad
Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Lunch Lady and the Video Game Villain by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
The Martian by Andy Weir
Marx by Corrine Maier
Rust: Death of the Rocket Boy by Royden Lepp
The Sea, the Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry
The Sixth Gun, Volume 1 by Cullen Bunn
Sock Monkey Goes To Hollywood: A Star Is Bathed by Cece Bell
The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Macbeth by Ian Lendler
The Summer of Love by Debbie Drechsler
The 13-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
The 26-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
Tune: Still Life by Derek Kirk Kim
Z Is for Moose by Kelly Bingham

Miscellaneous
The Gallifreyan Roundabout or Circular thinking and navigation
Genuine antiquitee, yes sir-ee

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish

Reading Challenges

Canadian Book Challenge: 2023-2024

Beat the Backlist 2023

Artwork
Chicken Art



Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


Down Under Donovan: 08/02/15

Down Under Donovan by Edgar Wallace: .

Down Under Donovan by Edgar Wallace is a mystery set in Europe in the late 1920s. As it was a contemporary novel when published, there's no specter of 20-20 hindsight. Meaning there's no morality play or message about the excesses of the rich, etc.

So what is it about? Well, it's about a race horse and the usual race course shenanigans that show up in a race track based mystery. There are also missing codes, lost perhaps during a train derailment. There's some espionage, and other mayhem.

Put another way, it reads like the horse racing bits of A View to A Kill, the 1985 Bond film that was fleshed out from the short story, "From a View to a Kill." The opening chase scene in Paris pretty much eats up the short story, so more plot was needed. Now Edgar Wallace's book isn't credited but as he was the most popular crime writer in England at the start of the 20th century, I'm sure his stories were familiar with the writers.

But in 2015 to an un initiated reader, there was something lacking to Down Under Donovan. There were a lot characters and a lot of loose ends. There's a haphazard romance involving the scientist's daughter that seems thrown in because it was expected, not because it was actually needed. And that's how much of the book feels: a by the numbers mystery adventure involving a race horse and a missing formula.

Two stars

Comments (0)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:


Twitter Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2023 Sarah Sammis