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The Devil's Mountain
Originally published in serial form from 1922―1923 in Planter’s Punch , The Devil’s Mountain is a novel by Jamaican journalist, H.G. de Lisser. When an American moving picture company comes to stay at the Myrtle Bank Hotel, Lawrence Beaman, a humble local man, is captivated by the beautiful leading actress, Marian Braeme. Also taking a liking to Marian is the widowed Lady Rosedale, who aims to take the girl under her wing and teach her in the ways of proper society. Not one to be deterred and at the encouragement of another hotel patron, Mr. Phipps, Lawrence continues in his pursuit of Marian, until one night, when he can no longer hold back his feelings, declares that he is in love. “I know it,” she replies at last, “but I wish you hadn’t said it. It’s no use…it is impossible, you have no idea how impossible it is.” When the conversation is over and the two go their separate ways, they awake the next morning to the news of a robbery at the Myrtle Bank Hotel, with Lady Rosedale’s jewels the thief’s prize. All at once, the patrons are thrown into chaos with Lawrence at the center of Lady Rosedale’s suspicions and a mystery unraveling before their very eyes.
224 pages, Paperback
Published September 12, 2023
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 26, 2023
This review is of the Mint Editions paperback edition.
The Devil's Mountain is a so-so mystery, with a side of romance thrown in. There are some entertaining supporting characters, and several lovely descriptions of the Jamaican countryside. I might have liked the book more, but I wasn't able to fully immerse myself in it because of the scores of typos in the book.
Every chapter of this book has errors in it. There are misspelled words, missing words, repeated words, misused words ("everyone" instead of "every one"), missing punctuation, misspelled names, transposed words, and occasionally entire sentences mangled so badly that they are incomprehensible. The copy I received is not marked as a review copy, and the Kindle sample contains the same errors as my print edition; I found scans online of the periodical the book was originally published in and none of these errors appear there, so they are new to this edition.
The publisher boasts that each of their books is "freshly typeset [and] clean and easy to read," but they must not employ proofreaders because there is no way a human being would read a sentence like "Major Fellspar do the bar, and Lawsistent with his dignity thar he should be personally identified with this search for stolen jewels" (first sentence of Chapter VIII) and think that it should be printed and sold for $14.99.
I applaud Mint Editions for republishing obscure works, but I cannot recommend their books due to the many errors they contain.
The Devil's Mountain can be read for free, sans typos, online at the Digital Library of the Caribbean in Planter's Punch Vol.1, No 3.
2.5 stars rounded down.
Received via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.
The Devil's Mountain is a so-so mystery, with a side of romance thrown in. There are some entertaining supporting characters, and several lovely descriptions of the Jamaican countryside. I might have liked the book more, but I wasn't able to fully immerse myself in it because of the scores of typos in the book.
Every chapter of this book has errors in it. There are misspelled words, missing words, repeated words, misused words ("everyone" instead of "every one"), missing punctuation, misspelled names, transposed words, and occasionally entire sentences mangled so badly that they are incomprehensible. The copy I received is not marked as a review copy, and the Kindle sample contains the same errors as my print edition; I found scans online of the periodical the book was originally published in and none of these errors appear there, so they are new to this edition.
The publisher boasts that each of their books is "freshly typeset [and] clean and easy to read," but they must not employ proofreaders because there is no way a human being would read a sentence like "Major Fellspar do the bar, and Lawsistent with his dignity thar he should be personally identified with this search for stolen jewels" (first sentence of Chapter VIII) and think that it should be printed and sold for $14.99.
I applaud Mint Editions for republishing obscure works, but I cannot recommend their books due to the many errors they contain.
The Devil's Mountain can be read for free, sans typos, online at the Digital Library of the Caribbean in Planter's Punch Vol.1, No 3.
2.5 stars rounded down.
Received via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.
Displaying 1 of 1 review