Customer Reviews

Island of Fu Manchu/The

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This book, the 10th of 14 in the Fu Manchu series, is a direct continuation of the previous installment, "The Drums of Fu Manchu." Hence, a reading of that previous volume is fairly essential before going into this one. In the present volume, Sir Dennis Nayland Smith continues his ongoing battle against the evil doctor, aided again by narrator Bart Kerrigan and by Europe's foremost archeologist, Sir Lionel Barton, who figured so prominently in books 1, 4 and 5 ("The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu," "The Daughter of Fu Manchu" and "The Mask of Fu Manchu"). This book is the wartime entry in the Fu series, and takes place in blackout London; it then hops over the pond for action in the Big Apple, the Panama Canal Zone and in Haiti. This time around, the Fu man has completed his air and naval forces and has concentrated them in a base hidden in an extinct Haitian volcano. His goal seems to be to stymie America's naval forces from his Carribean base. This Fu novel is the most sci-fi-oriented in the series thus far, what with Ericksen disintegrators, the Vortland (invisibility) lamp, antigravity devices, futuristic planes and ships and so on. The volcano lair is reminiscent of Ayesha's home in the great great Haggard novel "She," while the showdown at the end of this book, in that volcanic hideaway, would in turn seem to be the inspiration for Dahl's screenplay for the James Bond film "You Only Live Twice." As in book 6, "The Bride of Fu Manchu," the high point of this book occurs when Fu takes our narrator on a tour of his laboratory grounds, showing off his assorted experiments and biological creations. The book also boasts one of the most suspenseful sequences in the entire Fu series thus far, that in which Smith and Kerrigan infiltrate a voodoo ceremony high atop a Haitian mountain. This sequence is genuinely creepy and exciting. The book also offers Snapping Finger deaths, a treasure map, a mysterious floating green hand, zombies AND a featured role by Peko, Fu's pet marmoset from previous volumes. The reader is always kept engaged by the fast-moving shenanigans, par for the course for a Fu Manchu novel.
I did have some quibbles with this installment, however; these quibbles mainly take the form of internal inconsistencies and inconsistencies with previous books in the series. For example, at one point, Smith refers to his adventure in Khorassan with Lionel Barton. However, in book 5 it is clearly stated that Smith teamed up with Barton in Isfahan, Iran AFTER Barton returned from Khorassan! In another section of this book, Kerrigan refers to his second meeting with Ardatha (in book 9) by a river in Norfolk. However, it was on the Essex marshes that this meeting took place. Kerrigan elsewhere thinks to himself how a street in Panama reminds him of Clovelly in Cornwall; however, a look at a map will show that Clovelly is really in nearby Devonshire. Shall I go on? At one point in the book, Kerrigan is locked in Fu's warehouse and is looking DOWN at the Thames far below. Later on, it is said that he was locked BELOW the warehouse, under water level. HUH!?!? In the Panama scenes, Flammario the dancer is described as wearing a sable cloak. This, after the author speaks of how hot the tropical night was. Does this make sense? Howzabout this: In London, Smith & Co. follow up a clue at 39B Pelling St. A few days later, in New York City, they follow up some clues at 39B Sutton Place! Is this just a crazy kozmik coincidence in the wild wild world of Fu Manchu, or just lazy forgetfulness on the part of the author? Who knows? I might also go on to add that the antigravitic substance in this novel, swainsten, is a bit too similar to the Cavorite in H.G. Wells' wonderful "First Men in the Moon" novel, or that the resolution of the Snapping Fingers deaths doesn't really hang together logically, or that the ending of this book comes too suddenly, but I think you get the idea. The book is certainly flawed. But you know what? Even with all that, Rohmer carries it off, due to his great imagination, wonderful characters and rat-a-tat-tat pacing. The man could have used a better editor, but as far as telling a thriller of a tale goes, the man was tops. And this is yet another fine entry in the Fu Manchu series.