Customer Reviews

The Wraith: A Superhero Novel (The Wraith Series, Book 1)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Wraith is a wonderful throwback to the purple prose of the bloody pulps with a hero clearly descendant from the likes of the Shadow and the Spider. A fast, action packed thrill ride with great character, both noble and villainous. Slam-bang kick off to a super new series. One I'm anxious to follow.

A short, pulp, superhero novel. Metro City is a worse-than-Gotham cesspit apparently built for political reasons. Michael Reeve is an honest cop.

A confrontation between The Wraith, and a crimelord goes wrong, and The Wraith ends up on his doorstep.

Next thing, he wakes up in a different house, in a different body - and Reeve is then apparently the wraith. Presumably transferred by the mystical 'Eyes of Judgement' amulet. The Wraith is a Batman-level hero, with this added Ghost Rider/Spirit of Vengeance power to make people experience all the evil they have done.

There is a grieving girlfriend, and some other honest cops out to solve his disappearance.

When The Wraith appears again, crimelord Latham hires a super-assassin to deal with him. Nasty methods has this man, as he starts an assassination campaign to bring out The Wraith, and kills anybody he feels like.

Amusingly, The Cobra has a henchman named Khan.

There is a final desperate confrontation, on an airship.

Clearly more adventures to come wit how this is set up.

I became familiar with Frank Dirscherl's The Wraith from the comic book of the same name. When the first Wraith novel came out I just had to read it. I was not disappointed. The Wraith is a fast paced thrill-ride. I'm looking forward to the upcoming sequel.

This is one of the best novels of its kind. The author puts just the right amount of action, drama, romance, and even a little comedy into this amazing novel. The difference between this superhero and others is that he is not invincible which makes it more exciting. I can't wait for the sequel to this book, the ending makes you crave more and I found myself glued to my seat unable to put the book down for the amazing climax to the story.

After the first chapter, I felt that I was reading a Phantom/Shadow/Batman/noir pastiche. Then it got worse.

"Inner city suburb"? Exactly what is that, pray tell? This is one of the many labored attempts of 'color' that festoon this two-penny novel like crepe paper left out in the rain...drab, faded, tattered, and full of holes. These labored narrative devices created constant jarring interruptions in a story already one dimensional and predictable.

I just couldn't get over the 'nipples of judgement'. Sorry, you can call it whatever you like, but holding the bad guy to your bosom....please. It's just silly. I don't know how it played in the comic book, but it just didn't fly on the written page.

The characters were labored and stereotypical to a level I haven't seen since reading EE Smith and the Lensmen. Actually, I think that Smith's characters had much greater depth and range of emotion.

I am an American and I don't care to see any American president depicted as a contemporary of Stalin, Mao, or other dictators. I found that one sentence to be a crass, smarmy, slanderous attempt to be 'hip' or counter-establishment. Freedom of speech? Sure. Offensive? Absolutely.

In all, for the $3.00, it's not going to leave your children hungry...but I am happy it was a digital download. I would hate to think that trees had to die to produce this book.