THE LATEST NOVELS

Southland Times, Issue 23989, 2 December 1939, Page 11

THE LATEST NOVELS

Struck by a Comet SIXTY DAYS TO LIVE. By Dennis Wheatley. Hutchinson, London, through Whitcombe and Tombs. Price 8/6 net. For the latest of his popular stories Mr Wheatley has turned to the field of scientific adventure. Astronomers announce the approach of a giant comet and the people of the .world are given 60 days to live. For a time all governments succeed in concealing the news; then they attempt to minimize it. But the proximity of the comet causes earthquakes and other disturbances, and soon the peoples of all nations are in panic. Mr Wheatley tells his story through a group of persons who have the means and ability to save themselves by building a new type of lifeboat, a modern ark. When the last hour comes they board it and. see through its windows the destruction of the world; they survive even the giant tidal wave which sweeps over England from the Atlantic at 300 miles an hour. Ultimately they return to a desolate earth. Mr Wheatley’s theme has dwarfed his characters: they behave melodramatically and have ridiculous adventures as well as thrilling ones. The central figures are a marvellously beautiful film actress and the man she has married—wealthy, kindly, but old—when there seemed no prospect of their survival. The best parts of the book are in descriptions of the last days in London. The approach of the comet, a menacing red glare across the sky, drives the people to madness: they fight in the streets, loot and murder. Thousands are imprisoned in open camps, but even'martial law cannot prevail over them. The ending is weak; but readers with a taste for Mr Wheatley will not mind that. The Past Returns BREAK WITH THE PAST. By Hermina Black. Robert Hale, London, through Whitcombe and Tombs. Price 7/6. When Nada Fairlie’s fiance, Tony Hammerton, is reported missing on a long-distance flight, it is not surprising that she turns for comfort to his cousin, Garth Rosslyn, who is a promising young Harley street doctor. Nada is young and Garth’s kindness helps to lessen the blow she has received; when he asks her to marry him she accepts. She finds it is not easy to forget the past, but resolves to be la"~ l ’to her husband.

Things would have been much easier for her had not Tony come back, as though from the dead, wanting them both to start ovei - again. But life with Garth had given Nada peace and a changed outlook. How the problem is solved and a break with the past is made makes a readable story with a good dash of romance. Adventure by the Sea THE CHANNEL MYSTERY. By W. F. Morris. Michael Joseph, London, through Whitcombe and Tombs. Price 7/6. Major Morris’s new novel is a thriller in the best “Bulldog” Drummond tradition. Mischief is brewing when a ruthless and extraordinarily efficient agent of one of the dictator States buys one of the comparatively unknown Channel Islands and takes energetic steps to discourage all visitors. Like “Bulldog” Drummond, Tony Gerrard never met trouble halfway—he usually went out of his way to look for it. But this time, on one of the few occasions on which he was not looking for adventure it came to him in thq form of a corpse. His odd mixture of caution and recklessness takes him through many tight corners, and his boisterous friends help him along the trail to the solution of the mystery. There is no lack of action and suspense in this story. Fast and Furious MR PENNINGTON COMES THROUGH. By John G. Brandon. Wright and Brown, London, through Whitcombe and Tombs. Price 7/6. The Honourable Arthur Stukely Pennington, known to all his friends as “A.5.P.,” is again in the midst of thrilling adventures. After being nearly shipwrecked twice he decides it might be a wise thing if he returned to England. But many more adventures are in store for him. When he undertakes to deliver a precious stone to Quong Meng, one of the richest and most powerful men in the Orient, he little thinks he is going to set in motion a series of incidents that will culminate in disaster for several persons. Nor are his adventures in the East allowed to be forgotten when he returns, for they prove to be of more than passing interest to detectives of Scotland Yard. However, “A.S.P.” is once again more than a match for them and in the final exciting chapter he gives them the clue that leads to the arrest of a reckless murderer.