CREDIBLE AND OTHERWISE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 794, 8 October 1954, Page 13

CREDIBLE AND OTHERWISE

NOT FOR EXPORT, by Manning Coles; A KIND OF PRISONER, by John Creasey; STEPS IN THE DARK, by Mansell Black; LADY FROM HAMBURG, by Vincent Hill; TAKE AWAY THE LADY. by Gavin Holt; TWO DIED IN SINGAPORE, by John Sherwood. All published by Hodder and Stoughton, English price 10 6, "HIS batch of books touches off some reflections on what may reasonably be looked for or condoned in thrillers. Credibility may be, stretched liberally, especially in these days when the fact of espionage and war on crime so closely resembles the fiction. We may allow the author’ to pack into a given space rather mere than real life would provide. But there must be some basis of

acceptance. Characters should be shown to some degree in the round, and writing should be at least competent. Manning Coles’s latest, Not for Export, is not one of his best, but we may rely on this practised writer to fulfil the conditions. The tale of German and Russian conflict, centred in Berlin, over jewels and geroplane plans, with Tommy Hambledon riskily probing, is in the main credible, and the writing smooth. That he invests most of the Germans with good qualities is significant. On the other hand, I find John Creasey’s A Kind of Prisoner, about a violent conflict in England between a gang and the secret service, completely incredible and artificial, It has the appearance of being turned out of a sausage machine, and the characters are as flat and lifeless as pieces in a jig-saw puzzle, Mansell Black’s Steps in the Dark and Vincent Hill's Lady from Hamburg are rather better. The first is stiff with stock situations, including one that often puzzles me-the disposition of criminals to warn sleuths off; one would think their first concern was concealment. Black’s hero gets three warnings straight away, all of them pointers. The lady from Hamburg is an English girl officially employed in Germany, who is detailed to impersonate a German girl in England,-and thereby lift secret information. There she is roughly handled by the opposition, who operate with surprising ease. The writing has merit, but the incidents are hard to swallow. Gavin Holt’s Take Away the Lady, described as "the story of the successful television play," is a quick-moving, exciting tale of love and murder in London. Pace and tension soften the improbability. The most original of all these novels is John Sherwood’s Two Died in Singapore, in which the quiet-mannered Blessington, of the British Treasury, investigates currency manipulation in SouthEast Asia, and stumbles on murder. The writing is good, the local colour of Singapore, Bangkok and Vietnam is skilfully conveyed, and there’ are touches of humour. Blessington’s glimpse of Vietnam-""the Mad Hatter’s tea-party re-written by Edgar Allan Poe"-throws light on the difficulties of the French. and conditions favourable to

the Communists.

A.

M.