THE LATEST NOVELS

Southland Times, Issue 24243, 28 September 1940, Page 9

THE LATEST NOVELS

Negro Murderer

NATIVE SON. By Richard Wright. Angus and Robertson, Sydney and

London. Price 10/6.

The raw material of “Native Son” was probably taken from one of the brutal murder cases which periodically focus racial hatred on an American negro. Its central character is Bigger Thomas, a 20-year-oid youth reared in the “Black Belt” of Chicago. Seen from the outside, he appears to be fundamentally vicious. He avoids work, even though his mother cannot provide adequately for the family, until the relief depot threatens to deprive him of the weekly food allowance. Unwillingly he accepts a job as chauffeur to the Daltons, wealthy white Americans who have been generous benefactors to the negroes. His first night in the new environment ends in tragedy. In a moment of panic he murders Mary Dalton, the only daughter of the house, and later he finds a particularly revolting way of disposing of the body. Although the crime was accidental, he plans to exploit it by blackmailing the parents, and forces his girl, Bessie, to act as his accomplice. A chance betrayal sends him scurrying for shelter into the heart of the Black Belt. Fearing that Bessie knows toe much for his own safety, he deliberately kills her. Thereafter come the exciting details of a man hunt,, capture on the roof-tops, and finally a trial that ends with the death sentence.

It is difficult to imagine a more unsympathetic character than Bigger Thomas. Yet Mr Wright succeeds in presenting him as the victim of a repressed civilization, the symbol of a racial minority, striving in vain to escape from the prison-house of white

dominance and prejudice. He writes with deep insight and with a compassion which makes his novel a , challenge to the American conscience. The first two parts of the book are a study in terror and suspense which should be left severely alone by readers with weak nerves. The third part is propaganda; but it is special pleading of. the best kind, for the motive is essenitally humane. “Native Son” has already been bracketed with “The Grapes of Wrath” by American critics. It is an immensely powerful story—harrowing, stern, and passionately sincere.

Plenty of Pace THE r ENEMY WITHIN THE GATES.'By Sydney Horler. Hodder and Stoughton, London, through W. S. Smart. Price 8/3 net. MEET THE DON. By Berkeley Gray. Collins, London, through Whitcombe and Tombs. Price 8/-.

“The Enemy Within the Gates” is one of the very best of Sydney Horler’s thrillers, topical, exciting and (with an occasional lapse) straightforwardly told. “Bunny” Chipstead’s old opponent, the Disguiser, reappears at the head of a Nazi fifth column organization in Great Britain during the early months of the war. Chipstead stumbles into the plot during a quiet holiday in Cornwall, and with the help of a local doctor he eventually reaches the heart of the German organization in an old mansion equipped with secret radios, trap-doors and dungeons. Mr Horler sets a great pace, and never slackens. A man of violent action, too, is Berkeley Gray’s hero, Norman Conquest, who also comes to grips with an old enemy when he meets the Don. The background of their encounter is a million-pound conspiracy which begins with a series of sensational bank robberies. When it comes to finding a way out of awkward situations Conquest is never at a loss, but Mr Gray disarms criticism by his introduction: “The Conquest books are for amusement only, and a thriller writer is widely known to be the proud possessor of a Class A author’s licence.”

Sinister Uncle James

THE SURVIVOR. By Dennis Parry. Robert Hale, London, through Whitcombe and Tombs. Price 7/6 net. When Uncle James Marshall dies at the height of an epidemic, his relieved family believes that it is at last free from a hateful tyranny. James was a most sinister person. As a doctor, he became famous for his long vendetta with tropical diseases; but as a man. he was generally regarded with fear and loathing. A day or two after his

death, however, his adopted daughter, Olive, begins to behave strangely. During the reading of the will she suddenly speaks with the unmistakable accents of Uncle James. On the same night the dead man’s brother hears movements from the room occupied by the corpse. When he goes to investigate he is shocked to hear the dead man addressing him; but before he faints in terror he is able to switch on the light and discover Olive standing before him in a trance. This somewhat gruesome scene is the beginning of a struggle for Olive’s soul. The unfortunate girl is shaken by dark forced. She performs an impromptu operation, to the astonishment of the local doctor. The neighbours begin to think she is insane, and the situation becomes desperate after the arrival of a woman who turns out to be Olive’s mother. Her methods of dealing with Uncle James are effective, but only because they end in tragedy. The story is not quite as grim as it sounds. Mr Parry has a sardonic humour which carries him safely through a plot that could easily have seemed incredible.