NEW AMERICAN NOVELS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14531, 19 November 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

NEW AMERICAN NOVELS.

Among new American novels (received from George Robertson and Co., Ltd., Melbourne) are "The Intrusion of Jimmy," by P. G. Wqdehouse, and " Danbury Rodd, Aviator," by Frederick Palmer, both printed, bound, and illustrated with that true American art,; from which British publishers of popular books might learn - so much. " Danbury Rodd, Aviator," as the title indicates, is a compilation of " chapterstories dealing with the adventures of a great aviator, in times when flying machines are better' perfected,-and aerial conditions fairly understood. It is not only remarkably topical but- distinctly clever, arid those who wish to. swallow the pill of knowledge sugar-coated in adventure and romance cannot do better than read it. Mr. Palmer makes the air and its aviators as real as other writers have made the sea and its sailors. Hero is the chase of a murderer trying to escape on a swift aeroplane, from Rodd's Falcon :—

44 Opposite the valley's mouth, as Rodd remembered,, on the relief map at the central station was the one word ' avoid,' and over the peaks the meagre but allsullicicnt reference, ' terrific cat's-paws,' taken from the Butte assistant's report of a superficial , examination charting the spot as out of the question for transrange navigation. '" Ho will see what he is in for. He will stop,' Rodd thought, and,: slipping aside the face shield which disturbed him in any emergency, ho saw that the other, in magnificent, unreasoning desperation, with unslackened motors, was rising with a view to passing straight over the ridge. " Tremulous with its'mighty speed, the rival machine flew above the glacier. One second it was an obedient, trained servant answering to the human will with uncanny simulation of human nerves, and the next a bit. of tissue-paper caught in a draught. The churning vortex into which it shot broke the main rods as you snap a dead twig between your fingers, whirled cloth and metal into what seemed a spinning ball, and, with a final fling of centrifugal power, discarded the plaything of its havoc. The wreck, with torn planes, fluttering, fell through the calm, frigid lower stratum radiated by the ice. . For the safety of this stratum the Falcon dove, as Rodd saw driver and debris half-buried in snow."

"The Intrusion of Jimmy" is wholly different to "Danbury Rodd." Jimmy Piet is more of the young man about town than of the mechanician, and in discussing possibilities with actors who have played Raffles' part, he foolishly makes a bet that' he will commit burglary. The winning of this bet introduces complications of the farcical order, for Jimmy becomes the trusted friend of a real burglar, falls in love with a very sweet girl called Molly, and finds himself in difficuties. In the end the tables are turned through the arrest of Molly's father and a Scotland Yard detective, as criminals, by an officious constable, and the real burglar is sent to "America, where he goes into politics. The farcical situations are well presented, and the story throughout is light and readable.