John Hunter (6) (1891–)
Autore di The Mystery of Nameless Island
Per altri autori con il nome John Hunter, vedi la pagina di disambiguazione.
Opere di John Hunter
The Mystery of Nameless Island 3 copie
It Happened in Melgrove Square 1 copia
Murder in the Air 1 copia
The Crime on the French Frontier 1 copia
The Woman on the Spot 1 copia
The Case of the Girl on Remand 1 copia
The Spiv`s Mistake 1 copia
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Data di nascita
- 1891
- Sesso
- male
- Breve biografia
- Alfred John Hunter (he shortened his name to `John Hunter` for writing purposes) had his first work published whilst still at school. He was a popular writer of short stories and serials, but also turned out a number of novels (The Three Crows, Michael Graham : Police Cadet, The Mystery of the Nameless Island). In 1935 he joined Fleetway Publishing as a staff writer, turning his hand to westerns and detective stories. He penned a number of titles in the Sexton Blake Library series during this period. Although these almost always went out under his own name, one The Man from Madrid (series 3, issue 57, Oct 1943) was credited to `P Meriton`.
Utenti
Recensioni
John Hunter was one of those authors who wrote for just about any genre from before the First World War up to the 1950s. Among his hundreds of stories were about three dozen for the 30s Magazine THE THRILLER and nearly fifty SEXTON BLAKES from 1936 to the '50s.
THE SECRET MAN is a spy story which appeared in THE THRILLER in 1936.
A secret pagan organisation called the Brethren of the Hammer of Thor plans by assassination of Hitler, the Austrian Chancellor and perhaps Mussolini to destabilize Central Europe and put their leader Baron von Uhlstein as head of a united state. The master criminal Nicholas and his servant Wolf kidnap von Uhlstein with the intention, once the plot has succeeded, to usurp the leadership and conquer France and England. But the 'Silver Greyhounds', a hidden espionage group of the English government, won't allow this to happen, of course. The End is a bit disappointing, though. The master criminal manages to escape. Maybe Hunter used or planned to use Nicholas as a serial master crook in further stories.
The style is lively, a bit violent, and highly readable. Hunter is also strong on atmosphere. I loved the desciption of the Belgian coastline with its tram in drizzling rain. Hunter always gets his places right:
"The villa overlooked the Aussen Alster and it stood on that great Harvestehude lakeside where the millionaires have their dwelling places, in a setting which - considering it is in the heart of one of the world's greatest ports - is itself exquisitely beautiful, the villa was like a gem in a splendid setting". Living in Hamburg, I can confirm it was (and it is) like that.
In this Hunter story we find a likeable Jew, Solly Cohen. In a 30's thriller this is no small achievemnt, too.… (altro)
THE SECRET MAN is a spy story which appeared in THE THRILLER in 1936.
A secret pagan organisation called the Brethren of the Hammer of Thor plans by assassination of Hitler, the Austrian Chancellor and perhaps Mussolini to destabilize Central Europe and put their leader Baron von Uhlstein as head of a united state. The master criminal Nicholas and his servant Wolf kidnap von Uhlstein with the intention, once the plot has succeeded, to usurp the leadership and conquer France and England. But the 'Silver Greyhounds', a hidden espionage group of the English government, won't allow this to happen, of course. The End is a bit disappointing, though. The master criminal manages to escape. Maybe Hunter used or planned to use Nicholas as a serial master crook in further stories.
The style is lively, a bit violent, and highly readable. Hunter is also strong on atmosphere. I loved the desciption of the Belgian coastline with its tram in drizzling rain. Hunter always gets his places right:
"The villa overlooked the Aussen Alster and it stood on that great Harvestehude lakeside where the millionaires have their dwelling places, in a setting which - considering it is in the heart of one of the world's greatest ports - is itself exquisitely beautiful, the villa was like a gem in a splendid setting". Living in Hamburg, I can confirm it was (and it is) like that.
In this Hunter story we find a likeable Jew, Solly Cohen. In a 30's thriller this is no small achievemnt, too.… (altro)
Like Walter Tyrer, John Hunter was a successful novelist of the pre-war years, who spent the post-war period writing for Fleetway. I believe that, like Tyrer, he turned his hand to anything they needed - detective stories, westerns, romance.
This Sexton Blake story of Hunter`s is a little different in tone to some of his others, it is told in a very straightforward manner, with some of the language, particularly towards the beginning, being used in a quite pedestrian way. There is none of the interweaving of the stories of different characters that I had taken to be his trademark.
Against that, the story is enlivened by two excellent villains (who could usefully have been reprised for another story, in my opinion). While the other criminals (there are quite a few) are less memorable, they are a sufficiently vile and treacherous lot to keep the reader`s interest. There are one or two plot developments (I wouldn`t neccesarily call them twists, but certainly developments) that are particularly unexpected,and certainly keep the reader engaged.
Like a number of the Hunter/Tyrer Blake stories, this one seems vaguely gentle, even though it is as full of murder, fraud, infidelity, betrayal and violence as you could hope to encounter. I can only think that this is because the writing lacks pace when compared to the Blake stories of the Howard Baker era. I don`t regard that as a criticism, they are just good stories in a different way.
The immediate post-war period was not a great time for the Sexton Blake Library, but for me, Hunter and Tyrer performed heroically in contributing exciting, intelligently plotted, occasionally humorous and usually well-written stories to the Blake canon.
A four-star story without a doubt.… (altro)
This Sexton Blake story of Hunter`s is a little different in tone to some of his others, it is told in a very straightforward manner, with some of the language, particularly towards the beginning, being used in a quite pedestrian way. There is none of the interweaving of the stories of different characters that I had taken to be his trademark.
Against that, the story is enlivened by two excellent villains (who could usefully have been reprised for another story, in my opinion). While the other criminals (there are quite a few) are less memorable, they are a sufficiently vile and treacherous lot to keep the reader`s interest. There are one or two plot developments (I wouldn`t neccesarily call them twists, but certainly developments) that are particularly unexpected,and certainly keep the reader engaged.
Like a number of the Hunter/Tyrer Blake stories, this one seems vaguely gentle, even though it is as full of murder, fraud, infidelity, betrayal and violence as you could hope to encounter. I can only think that this is because the writing lacks pace when compared to the Blake stories of the Howard Baker era. I don`t regard that as a criticism, they are just good stories in a different way.
The immediate post-war period was not a great time for the Sexton Blake Library, but for me, Hunter and Tyrer performed heroically in contributing exciting, intelligently plotted, occasionally humorous and usually well-written stories to the Blake canon.
A four-star story without a doubt.… (altro)
A slightly disappointing effort by one of the best Blake writers of the immediate post-war period.
The annoying thing about this one is that it`s a little below par whilst having a great deal going for it. The plot is great - a motorist is shot dead on the Franco-Spanish border, an old lady in England is killed with a hammer. Blake becomes involved and soon finds the two cases are linked.
By the standards of this kind of thing there is quite an array of good characters - a husband-and-wife team of nightclub entertainers, a crooked solicitor, an alcoholic doctor, a ruthless businessman, a pair of over-ambitious hired killers. Blake is portrayed as a rather more reflective character than usual, and this adds interest.
The problem, I think is with the writing. The plot has more than it`s share of action, but the writing never really brings it to life, and the feeling one gets is of a tired writer. I am not using that as a metaphor for a world-weary hack, I actually mean a writer who happened to be tired ! This can be seen in one or two errors - using the word `surety` when he obviously means `certainty`, for instance. There`s also a scene where it takes two or three sentences to explain that Blake`s assistant has witnessed certain events through an open inner door - as the reader already knows he`s in an adjacent room, a few words would have done the trick.
It doesn`t help that Hunter obviously never expected the story to fit on 64 pages (post-war austerity measures meant a reduction in size of the SBL). Consequently, the typeface used is rather too small for ease of reading, and even then, the story has to end on the inside back cover.
All in all, there are plenty of worse stories about,and it doesn`t need major surgery but a Hunter on top form could have delivered it better.… (altro)
The annoying thing about this one is that it`s a little below par whilst having a great deal going for it. The plot is great - a motorist is shot dead on the Franco-Spanish border, an old lady in England is killed with a hammer. Blake becomes involved and soon finds the two cases are linked.
By the standards of this kind of thing there is quite an array of good characters - a husband-and-wife team of nightclub entertainers, a crooked solicitor, an alcoholic doctor, a ruthless businessman, a pair of over-ambitious hired killers. Blake is portrayed as a rather more reflective character than usual, and this adds interest.
The problem, I think is with the writing. The plot has more than it`s share of action, but the writing never really brings it to life, and the feeling one gets is of a tired writer. I am not using that as a metaphor for a world-weary hack, I actually mean a writer who happened to be tired ! This can be seen in one or two errors - using the word `surety` when he obviously means `certainty`, for instance. There`s also a scene where it takes two or three sentences to explain that Blake`s assistant has witnessed certain events through an open inner door - as the reader already knows he`s in an adjacent room, a few words would have done the trick.
It doesn`t help that Hunter obviously never expected the story to fit on 64 pages (post-war austerity measures meant a reduction in size of the SBL). Consequently, the typeface used is rather too small for ease of reading, and even then, the story has to end on the inside back cover.
All in all, there are plenty of worse stories about,and it doesn`t need major surgery but a Hunter on top form could have delivered it better.… (altro)
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Statistiche
- Opere
- 13
- Utenti
- 15
- Popolarità
- #708,120
- Voto
- 4.0
- Recensioni
- 5
- ISBN
- 119
- Lingue
- 3
Notes: After a drunken spree encouraged by recent acquaintance named Ted Trevett, Tom Marshall is banned from entering London's West End for two years. He discovers that this strict sentence has been arranged by his father, Digby, who seems to be withholding a secret in connection with the district. Weeks later, Tom finds a man dying from a stab wound. The man gasps his father's name and also that of Trevett. Tom runs for help but when he returns to the spot the man has vanished. Fearing that his father is in trouble, he calls Sexton Blake. In the guise of a petty criminal named "Brookie", the detective haunts the West End until he makes contact with Trevett. He befriends him and is introduced to a pick-pocket named Dol Kesney and the latter's fiance, Clare. Later, Blake meets Clare alone and learns that the two men are working up a scheme with a crooked lawyer named Jessamy. Meanwhile Tinker discovers that the knife victim was Lemuel Forster — Kesney's uncle. Mrs Forster, unaware of her husband's death, moves into the Marshall manor and seems to have a hold over Digby Marshall. Now, thanks to misinformation spread by Tinker, the criminals start to suspect each other; Stevens tries to shoot Dol but misses and kills Clare; Jessamy realises that "Brookie" is very dangerous; and Trevett just wants to get out of the game. All the parties head towards a showdown at the Marshall manor. There, Mrs. Forster has been living in comfort at Digby's expense but now has a change of heart and tells him that she will no longer use the hold she has over him and will return to her simple life. She goes to meet Stevens, the killer of her husband, and finds him hanging by the neck in a barn. Dol turns up and agrees with her that it's time to get out. He returns to London and is immediately arrested by the police for picking pockets. Blake, Mrs. Forster and Jessamy arrive at the place where Digby Marshall's secret is buried. Blake defeats Jessamy's plans and runs him out of town; Mrs. Foster atones for her sins and is left to rebuild her life; and Digby faces up to his past and comes clean.
Trivia: When Tinker uses a false identity he gives his name as James Carter. Under questioning, he insists that 'Carter' is his real name.… (altro)