Book Review: The Master

The Master: A Tale Of Evil by Dennis Lively
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Follow intrepid Talent spy (NOT the FBI) Rex Stout as he tries to untangle a devious plan to unleash a strange poison that drives agents mad before they turn on others and ultimately themselves. He heads to South America and tries to figure out why agents are dropping like flies and who exactly is this Master, who seems to be pulling the strings of everyone he meets. He doesn’t expect to meet Pamela Rojas, the charming daughter of one of the victims, who is intent on avoiding her father’s fate.

The Master is a story told in a 50’s gangster movie style, just not set in the US. Although in some of the slower moving scenes it delved a bit too far into Coleman Francis territory (look up the MST3K version of Red Zone Cuba if you don’t get the reference.) The conversation is a little stilted, but it’s an interesting plot, if a bit far-fetched. “The Master” character is bent on world domination but seems to be playing Risk by taking South America first for some strange reason. The South American characters are described in a mildly racist style, and the hero character is a bit shallow and stereotypical. But on the whole it is pretty fast-moving, with lots of explosions, harried flights and poison-driven madness. One note, the Kindle formatting was a little off, and the book probably could have used another editor since there were some disconnects with a few character names.


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