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Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 108, 8 May 1937, Page 26

The Chief Librarian of .the Wellington Public Libraries has chosen "The Secret War," by Dennis Wheatley, as the book of the week, and has furnished the following review:—

Mr. Dennis Wheatley's latest book has been received with acclamation by the critics. Even Edward Shanks, of "John o' London," gives him praise, although there is a sting in the tail when he says, "I must add that Mr. Wheatley seems at last to have grasped the meaning and functions of the^comma." However, Mr. Shanks is often a little acid, and his main tone is one of praise. Torquemada, of the "Observer," gives himself a pat on the back because Dennis Wheatley has adopted for his slogan a phrase which Torquemada himself bestowed on him —"Public Thriller-writer, Number One"—and after all Dennis Wheatley's reputation is. now fairly secure, and he is as independent of reviewers as most modern authors. However, since the publication of "The Forbidden Territory" Mr. Wheatley's readers have known that one of the principal charms of his work is that his characters, and in particular his villains, are not simply shadowy figures who take part in the action, but are creatures of flesh and blood with a certain amount of background and enough conflicting facets to ensure their being regarded as real. "The Secret War" is in some respects an improbable story, but Mr. Wheatley's characters are so substantial that the incidents which he recounts have the "artistic verisimilitude" which lifts fiction from "an o^erwise bald and un-. convincing narrative." "The Millers of God," a society of normal law-abiding citizens, were prepared to commit murder if by that crime they could avert a war. The wicked Paxito Zarrif, a concessionaire who used the lives of men as counters in his gamble for wealth,* is a man whose removal will avoid the war. Christopher, a fanatical, weak, handsome young American millionaire, is chosen to kill, or as Torquemada puts it, "is' elected to rub out" the villain of the piece. Christopher falls in with a British friend, Lovelace, and is taken to Athens and then to Addis Ababa by Valeric Lome, an air ace, with whom both Christopher and Lovelace are in love. Zarrif is killed. The mad scramble across country in which thriller-writers sometimes indulge is an excellent device for obtaining attention; a secret league of men sworn to do evil to avoid evil is another; a love interest is as good an expedient as any that has ever been discovered for binding a story together; a knowledge of local colour in various countries is one of the most valuable weapons in an authors armoury.' With all these things and his genius for suspense, Mr. Dennis Wheatley supplies a thriller in which scene after scene of exciting action carry the reader from Long Island to Paris; from the dust of Athens to the naming heat of the Red Sea, while incidentally he makes the acquaintance of Baron Foldvar, an Austrian who is not quite what he seems; Blatta Ingida Yohannes, a young "enlightened" Abyssinian; a lieutenant of the Italian Death Squadron; and a sinister Arab slave-dealer rejoicing in the name of Abu Ben Ibrim.' With more features of resemblance to "The Forbidden Territory" than to the dossier murder book "Murder Off Miami. "The Secret War" is in Mr. Wheatley's best fashion. So many of our thriller writers nowadays content themselves with only incident, and no attention to character that a thriller which is emotionally and psychologically possible comes as something of a relief. Indeed, Mr. Wheatley does for the thriller a little of what Miss Dorothy Sayers has succeeded in doing, for ths detective story. RECENT LIBRARY ADDITIONS. Other titles chosen from recent accession lists are as follows:—General: "The Diary of Nijinsky," edited by K. Nijinsky; "The Countryman's Year, byD Grayson; "The University of New Zealand," by J. C. Beaglehole. Fiction: "Murder Pie," by J. L. Rankin and others; "The Missing Miniature, by E. Kastner; "Sheep Kings,' by J. M. West.