The Lure of the Mask [Paperback]

Harold MacGrath (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2007

Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Karl Anderson

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harold MacGrath (1871-1932) was an American author and screenwriter born in Syracuse, New York. He is best-known for his adventure, mystery, and spy stories, especially The Puppet Crown (1901). Starting as a journalist, he also contributed several of his short stories and novels to various magazines. After his first novel, Arms and the Woman (1899), he published The Puppet Crown, The Million Dollar Mystery (1915), and The Blue Rajah Murder (1930). He died at the age of 61. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: BiblioBazaar (November 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0554191679
• ISBN-13: 978-0554191676
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Mystery is always Alluring, October 11, 2010

By 

Beth Soles (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The lure of the mask (Hardcover)

Typically not the type of book I would read, however it was a page turner for me. To refer to the review by "A.Woman" who said there was no action in this book, I would disagree completely. I read a lot of Tom Clancy and such action books and actually found "The Lure of the Mask" to have a solid amount of adventure - if you have an imagination. I fence myself and could readily imagine the fighting and such that went on in the book or the cold New York fog and orange sun-warmed hill of Italy.

To be honest I did have quite a few plot twists figured out before reading them, but I hardly find a book or movie I don't. The main character, Hilliard, I found the most interesting initially and where the interest in him started to go down, the author piques interest in the mysterious masked lady, aka, well you'd just have to read it!

What made the book interesting is the writer's style and humor. I found myself smiling at times how on-target he was with witty observations of life, interactions between men and women, and etc. Certainly the style isn't "new" but it was refreshingly intelligent compared with what is published nowadays.

In 1908 when it came out I don't know what type of book it would have been categorized as, but I enjoyed it for what(ever) it was. If you expect a "Rainbow Six" type of book, then yes you will be disappointed.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just one look, that's all it took, September 6, 2008

By 

A. Woman (Greeneville, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews

Late one evening a mysterious woman sings Italian opera underneath the window of Jack Hilliard. He spends the rest of the book trying to find out who she is and where she is. Really, that's all that happens. The locales change to Italy and Monte Carlo. There's hardly any action or adventure. Can't say it was a grand romance seeing as how the two protagonists speak to each other only a handful of times.