It’s just a coincidence, but I did a recent blog post about
one of the original Conan stories in which dramatic tension was created by
forcing deadly enemies to team up with one another. I decided to talk about
other Robert E. Howard stories in which he used the same tension-generating
method.
I didn’t stop to think that I was being thematically
consistent with my Read em in Order reviews, but I was. It’s probably my innate
genius working on a sub-conscious level.
Anyways, Last Laugh,Mr. Moto is the last of the pre-war Mr. Moto novels. It was serialized in Colliers Magazine beginning in 1941, so
even though it didn’t finish its initial serial run and then get collected in novel
form until after Pearl Harbor, this story takes place when the United States
was still at peace.
The rest of the world, though, was at war. In fact, a French merchant ship—upon learning that
That’s what leads to a situation in which deadly enemies are
forced to work together. The protagonist this time around is an ex-naval
aviator named Bob Bolles. Like most of the protagonists in this series, he’s
seen better days. He resigned his commission after being passed over for
promotion. Now he bums around the Caribbean in
a sail boat, drinking too much and rapidly running out of money.
So when a married couple who claim to be from New York charter his
boat for a trip to a remote island, he takes the job. But the couple isn’t from
New York and
isn’t really married. And their beefy Swedish servant isn’t Swedish.
By the time Bob figures out what’s going on, they’ve reached
the island. But competition to find the plane is waiting for them there in the
form of Japanese agent Mr. Moto.
This puts Bob in a rather precarious position. While the
various spies decide whether to start killing each other or work together at
least until they find the plane, it occurs to Bob that none of them really need
HIM any longer.
Gee whiz, author John Marquand really succeeds in cramming
tension into this story until it seems about to burst at the seams. Bob has to
convince the spies he’s not expendable. But he wants to do more than just
survive. Like Casey Lee from No Hero,
he abruptly discovers that he still wants to serve his country.
That means he has to outsmart a gang of armed
spies—including the unflappable Mr. Moto.
Like most of the Mr. Moto novels, there’s very little
traditional action in terms of fights and chases. Here, the tension is built to
extreme levels by the situation itself and by the dialogue, as the characters
negotiate for temporary alliances and (in Bob’s case) look for excuses not to
be killed outright. A scene near the climax, in which Bob plays a hand of
bridge with the spies—knowing they are planning on killing him afterwards—is a
particular nail-biter.
Last Laugh, Mr. Moto
gives the previous novel (Mr. Moto is so
Sorry) a serious run for the money in my choice for the best of the series.
Sorry edges it out only because the
love story aspect of Last Laugh is a
bit forced. But even taking that into account, both are extraordinary tales of
suspense packed full of fascinating characters.
That’s the last of the pre-war Moto novels. Though Mr. Moto
is definitely one of the antagonists this time around, Marquand still manages
to make him intelligent and likable despite his willingness to act ruthlessly
to get his job done. Pearl Harbor would pretty
much ruin the market for likable agents
of the Japanese government.
But Marquand would bring Moto back eventually. The last
novel in the series was 1957’s Stopover
Tokyo, about foiling a Communist plot to take over Japan . Moto
will be older and perhaps a little bitter about the war, but he’ll get to end
his career on the side of the angels.
And it's been awhile since we've done a movie series as part of the Read/Watch 'em in Order series. I think we'll go through the Thin Man movies--since that gives me a chance to watch these films again. (Myrna Loy--yum!) We'll be doing another book series as well--I think we'll add some more science fiction to the mix and look at Otis Adelbert Kline's three Venus novels.
No comments:
Post a Comment