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The Sinister Man
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1924
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67 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Wallace
2,126 books260 followersRichard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals.
Over 160 films have been made of his novels, more than any other author. In the 1920s, one of Wallace's publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him.
He is most famous today as the co-creator of "King Kong", writing the early screenplay and story for the movie, as well as a short story "King Kong" (1933) credited to him and Draycott Dell. He was known for the J. G. Reeder detective stories, The Four Just Men, the Ringer, and for creating the Green Archer character during his lifetime.
Over 160 films have been made of his novels, more than any other author. In the 1920s, one of Wallace's publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him.
He is most famous today as the co-creator of "King Kong", writing the early screenplay and story for the movie, as well as a short story "King Kong" (1933) credited to him and Draycott Dell. He was known for the J. G. Reeder detective stories, The Four Just Men, the Ringer, and for creating the Green Archer character during his lifetime.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 23, 2022
“Even a bachelor of science is not so scientific as to tell the truth when same leads to intensive hanging by the neck.”
A similar thing can be said about someone who writes little reviews on books as a hobby with regard to telling too many details about the plot when the same leads to intensive not hanging, but haranguing, and rightly so, mind you, as a spiller of beans.
Suffice it to say, therefore, that Wallace’s novel The Sinister Man from 1924 is a rather fast-paced and twist-spiked yarn centring on an orphaned young woman, Elsa Marlowe, who is working for the eponymous Sinister Man, Major Amery, an ungracious, arrogant man, whom she soon has reason to suspect of being the London head of a Japanese drug trafficking ring. Matters are further complicated when the reader, and eventually Elsa herself, finds out that her adoptive uncle Maurice Tarn and her trusted friend Dr Hallam are also up to their necks in the drug trade, but working for a different organization trying to push Amery’s gang out of the London market. Even though we readers often have a lot more information than Elsa, we will still be in for a lot of surprises, especially when the body count rises towards the ending of the novel, because Wallace has more than just one trump up his sleeve – some of these trumps, and this can be seen as a blemish of the book, not having been in the game from the start but being introduced at the writer’s own discretion.
I confess to being a sucker for Edgar Wallace novels because there is hardly anything you can read so well for pure enjoyment when, at the end of a day, your mind is tending towards sleep but you still have some half hour in which you know it’ll want to be occupied, but, be that as it may, I read The Sinister Man with a little less enjoyment than usual, despite the quick pace and the bucketful of surprises because in this novel, the heroine is not as spirited and resourceful as in many others of his books. Instead, Elsa finds herself drawn to Amery, who treats her rather gruffly and condescendingly, and even starts romanticizing about him. There are also times, rarely for sure, when the narrator drifts into pathos himself. Another thing that is sorely missing from this novel is Wallace’s sense of humour, which often condenses into fine epigrammatical quotations – there is a little of it here, but not much to speak of.
Still, if you want a suspense-driven novel that wards off sleep for some time in the evenings, you will get it with The Sinister Man.
A similar thing can be said about someone who writes little reviews on books as a hobby with regard to telling too many details about the plot when the same leads to intensive not hanging, but haranguing, and rightly so, mind you, as a spiller of beans.
Suffice it to say, therefore, that Wallace’s novel The Sinister Man from 1924 is a rather fast-paced and twist-spiked yarn centring on an orphaned young woman, Elsa Marlowe, who is working for the eponymous Sinister Man, Major Amery, an ungracious, arrogant man, whom she soon has reason to suspect of being the London head of a Japanese drug trafficking ring. Matters are further complicated when the reader, and eventually Elsa herself, finds out that her adoptive uncle Maurice Tarn and her trusted friend Dr Hallam are also up to their necks in the drug trade, but working for a different organization trying to push Amery’s gang out of the London market. Even though we readers often have a lot more information than Elsa, we will still be in for a lot of surprises, especially when the body count rises towards the ending of the novel, because Wallace has more than just one trump up his sleeve – some of these trumps, and this can be seen as a blemish of the book, not having been in the game from the start but being introduced at the writer’s own discretion.
I confess to being a sucker for Edgar Wallace novels because there is hardly anything you can read so well for pure enjoyment when, at the end of a day, your mind is tending towards sleep but you still have some half hour in which you know it’ll want to be occupied, but, be that as it may, I read The Sinister Man with a little less enjoyment than usual, despite the quick pace and the bucketful of surprises because in this novel, the heroine is not as spirited and resourceful as in many others of his books. Instead, Elsa finds herself drawn to Amery, who treats her rather gruffly and condescendingly, and even starts romanticizing about him. There are also times, rarely for sure, when the narrator drifts into pathos himself. Another thing that is sorely missing from this novel is Wallace’s sense of humour, which often condenses into fine epigrammatical quotations – there is a little of it here, but not much to speak of.
Still, if you want a suspense-driven novel that wards off sleep for some time in the evenings, you will get it with The Sinister Man.
August 13, 2017
My first Edgar Wallace, I immensely enjoyed this book! The pace is fast, the plot contains enough twists for a thriller or a suspence novel. Instinctively, I could guess who the hero of this romance was, but the end was a surprise for me. Looking forward to more Wallaces. :)
April 5, 2024
Another zany Edgar Wallace novel that one needs to read until the end to see what happens - the usual template though this time the action and coincidences occasionally go close to jumping the shark so to speak, but still fun and energy that keeps one turning the pages despite the suspension of disbelief teetering on the brink. This is one of the more ambiguous books in some ways as usually the villains and heroes/heroines have fairly clear hats with their roles so to speak, with occasionally someone from the gallery being shown to be the main villain actually, while here the roles change as the book goes on. Also, the heroine is a bit in-between the total ingenue (Lady of Ascot, Green Archer, Frightened Lady) or the truly resourceful girl with a secret (Valley of Ghosts, The Double, The Daffodil Mystery) and ambiguity and in-between are not really the author's strengths. Still worth reading for pure zany entertainment zigging and zagging at almost every page.
January 26, 2019
To me, Wallace's books always seem to start really slow (and a little dull) and finish with an exciting conclusion. This one has a little romance thrown in for good measure. Not my favorite Wallace book, but good enough to recommend it.
April 1, 2019
Ottima storia proprio alla Wallace, ma ho tolto una stella per il finale troppo conciso e rapido
September 27, 2015
Maurice is a man of 57 years old, he leads an import/export company but the business is unclear, there are some mysterious documents.
Mr. Tarn is also a strange person, against all logics he wants to marry Elsa Marlowe the secretary, but the problem is that, Mr. Tarn is her uncle.
Elsa is a shy girl, she is described as a person without character until the chapter XVI, where a secret is revealed: she was shielding the murderess, why? is she a victim or not?
Elsa is a faded personage, her sentiments are trapped inside her mind, but not her hate for Major Amery.
In this tale there are two interesting personages: "Fen Ho" a chinese man, with a yellow canary named "Pi" and his inscrutable eyes.
His alter ego is Soyoka a Japanese, he is a merchant but also a criminal.
Between the detective inspector Bickerson and Soyoka, there is a collaboration , how is that possible is him a spy?
The most mysterious character is "Stilman" we are sure of only one thing: he's a man.
Paul Amery is a colleague of Mr. Tarn.
He is an unpleasant person, he is a beast, and racist and also dishonest, he got trouble in Shanghai being a member of the Indian Political Service.
Mr. Tupperwill is an old banker, a true gentleman with a soul and sentiments, so rare for a banker.
This personage is depicted as an upright man and respectful of the laws, he wants to close the bank account of Paul Amery, because he is associated with dubious projects.
Mr. Tarn is also a strange person, against all logics he wants to marry Elsa Marlowe the secretary, but the problem is that, Mr. Tarn is her uncle.
Elsa is a shy girl, she is described as a person without character until the chapter XVI, where a secret is revealed: she was shielding the murderess, why? is she a victim or not?
Elsa is a faded personage, her sentiments are trapped inside her mind, but not her hate for Major Amery.
In this tale there are two interesting personages: "Fen Ho" a chinese man, with a yellow canary named "Pi" and his inscrutable eyes.
His alter ego is Soyoka a Japanese, he is a merchant but also a criminal.
Between the detective inspector Bickerson and Soyoka, there is a collaboration , how is that possible is him a spy?
The most mysterious character is "Stilman" we are sure of only one thing: he's a man.
Paul Amery is a colleague of Mr. Tarn.
He is an unpleasant person, he is a beast, and racist and also dishonest, he got trouble in Shanghai being a member of the Indian Political Service.
Mr. Tupperwill is an old banker, a true gentleman with a soul and sentiments, so rare for a banker.
This personage is depicted as an upright man and respectful of the laws, he wants to close the bank account of Paul Amery, because he is associated with dubious projects.
May 25, 2011
A very typical Wallace yarn with so many twists and turns it becomes utterly baffling by the end. Things get highly complex and highly unlikely in this tale of drug smuggling and hidden identities.
April 12, 2021
One of his best! Great story and characters. A real page turner!
August 4, 2024
A good Sunday night read. Mystery, thriller, detective story and romance neatly knitted together in a tale briskly told.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews