Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Cold War drama, July 1, 2009
This review is from: Passport to Peril (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
(3 & 1/2 stars) The first (and important) thing to note is that the author of this book is NOT the Robert B. Parker of the Spenser series. This author has the same middle initial but a different middle name. The cover refers to him as "The ORIGINAL Robert B. Parker" because his work predated the Spenser Parker's. At the end of Passport to Peril, there's an interesting afterword by this Parker's daughter where she talks about his life and work.
Anyhow, this tale was a fast-paced and exciting spy story involving Cold War intrigue, being caught behind enemy lines, romance, gunplay, etc. The plot has some holes in it that surface periodically, but I didn't find them too annoying. There's a mysterious manila folder that everyone seems to be looking for that's a bit of a McGuffin, but really, it's the situations and scenes that come along one after the other that kept me going. Despite any minor flaws, I found this book to be entertaining. While not quite a "page-turner," I remained interested until the end.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The other Robert B. Parker, July 9, 2009
This review is from: Passport to Peril (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
For those who see Passport to Peril by Robert B. Parker, the first impression would be it was by the author of the popular Spenser series. Both front and back covers, therefore, make it clear that this is a different author by the same name, a minor pulp fiction writer who came out with just a couple novels in the early 1950s before dying at the relatively early age of 49. Fortunately, the publisher Hard Case Crime specializes in re-releasing these long out-of-print novels, giving Parker a new, if posthumous, audience.
The narrator of Passport to Peril is John Stodder who is on his way to post WWII Budapest on the Orient Express. He is traveling on a false passport, intent on sneaking into the city to track down his missing brother. Into his train car bursts Maria Torres, in fear for her life after her boss has been killed. As Stodder quickly realizes, the murdered man has the name on his fake passport, putting him at risk from both the law and the killers. He jumps off the train with Maria, but his effort to avoid capture is only briefly successful; soon, they are the captives of the evil Dr. Schmidt, a former Nazi who is after a list that Maria's boss had and which Stodder hid before his capture.
The two are separated, and Stodder soon is able to escape with the assistance of a husband-and-wife team of American Intelligence agents. They are interested in the list, while Stodder is interested in saving Maria and finding out what happened to his brother. Fortunately, their interests coincide, and the three will team up to try and stop Schmidt and his cohorts.
Published originally in 1951, Passport to Peril is one of the earliest Cold War thrillers. It is a decent enough book, though the plot can sometimes be a little muddled. Overall, however, Parker's book is a nice lightweight thriller: not necessarily a book worth waiting almost six decades to be reprinted, but at least a pleasant diversion.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mayhem, intrigue, and coincidences, July 3, 2009
This review is from: Passport to Peril (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
This month's Hard Case reprint is a 1950s' espionage thriller set in post-war Hungary. The author's name is Robert B. Parker, but not THAT Robert P. Parker. This Parker, as we learn from the book's afterword (penned by the author's daughter), was a wartime correspondent and quite possibly an OSS operative. He lived fast and died relatively young. We therefore see that "Passport to Peril" is somewhat autobiographical in nature.
The plot is rather heavily dependent on coincidence. The narrator, John Stodder, is a reporter and World War II veteran trying to smuggle himself behind the Iron Curtain -- not on any official American business, but rather to find out his brother, MIA since the war. That's the back story, anyway. Stodder's ill-gotten passport turns out to belong to a murdered Swiss businessman who had connections to A) Russian authorities, B) conspiring ex-Nazis, and C) Stodder's missing brother. That's a lot of balls in the air for Parker to juggle, and perhaps the three plot threads turn out to be a little too closely connected.
Still, the characters we meet are colorful, and Hungary in the 1950s is not a locale on which we've already burned out from too many Ian Fleming novels. The book reads fast and the ending is appropriately bloody for a novel steeped in this much intrigue.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
