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Green Fire
The mysterious Orient held the terrifying secret of the "Green Fire"When Francie Mannering goes to exotic Hong Kong for vacation, she meets Max Forrest again, the man she had loved - and lost. At first it seems that he hasn't changed, but Francie soon realizes that he is no longer the man she once cared about. He is strangely involved in a sinister plot that threatens to ensnare Francie in a death trap!A horrifying chain of events turns Francie's vacation into a nightmare, her nights stalked by shadows, her days haunted with evil. Who wants her out of the way so desperately he would kill to do it?
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 10, 2013
2 1/2 Stars
Anne Anne Anne, WHAT am I going to do with you? This story had SO much potential. *sigh*
In a nutshell, a young woman in a troubled relationship (her fiance has gone off the deep end) goes to Hong Kong to visit her brother who is in government service there. It seems as good a good place as any to just chill for a couple of months while she gets over her crushed feelings and contemplates her future.
On the flight over, she strikes up a conversation with a pretty young woman who is to meet her fiance in Hong Kong; however when the fiance fails to show up at the airport our heroine takes Marcia under her wing. Tsk Tsk Tsk. Be wary of strangers, my friend...the baggage this woman carries with her will embroil everyone she knows in danger and intrigue. Oh! don't I make it sound EXCITING?
What follows is a series of threatening phone calls, notes and meetings on strange streets. Someone thinks our heroine has what is called "green fire" and will stop at nothing to get it from her. Amidst these goings on there is an old love interest and jealousy and suspicion. And then it all went flaaaaaaaaat.
Maybe I'm a little harsh. But you see I got my hopes up when I read it was set in Hong Kong and I thought I would get a culturally exotic experience, but aside from the odd cricket peddlar the story could have been set in New York for all the moody atmosphere we got. Most of the book's scenes take place in a living room or balcony while the characters sit around wringing their hands and sipping cocktails.
And I'm surprised at this. If Anne Maybury is excels at anything it's setting the scene. But I'm wondering if she never went to China and thus couldn't really get into it.Such a shame...
CONTENT:
SEX: None
VIOLENCE: None
PROFANITY: Very Mild
PARANORMAL ELEMENTS: None
MY RATING: G
Anne Anne Anne, WHAT am I going to do with you? This story had SO much potential. *sigh*
In a nutshell, a young woman in a troubled relationship (her fiance has gone off the deep end) goes to Hong Kong to visit her brother who is in government service there. It seems as good a good place as any to just chill for a couple of months while she gets over her crushed feelings and contemplates her future.
On the flight over, she strikes up a conversation with a pretty young woman who is to meet her fiance in Hong Kong; however when the fiance fails to show up at the airport our heroine takes Marcia under her wing. Tsk Tsk Tsk. Be wary of strangers, my friend...the baggage this woman carries with her will embroil everyone she knows in danger and intrigue. Oh! don't I make it sound EXCITING?
What follows is a series of threatening phone calls, notes and meetings on strange streets. Someone thinks our heroine has what is called "green fire" and will stop at nothing to get it from her. Amidst these goings on there is an old love interest and jealousy and suspicion. And then it all went flaaaaaaaaat.
Maybe I'm a little harsh. But you see I got my hopes up when I read it was set in Hong Kong and I thought I would get a culturally exotic experience, but aside from the odd cricket peddlar the story could have been set in New York for all the moody atmosphere we got. Most of the book's scenes take place in a living room or balcony while the characters sit around wringing their hands and sipping cocktails.
And I'm surprised at this. If Anne Maybury is excels at anything it's setting the scene. But I'm wondering if she never went to China and thus couldn't really get into it.Such a shame...
CONTENT:
SEX: None
VIOLENCE: None
PROFANITY: Very Mild
PARANORMAL ELEMENTS: None
MY RATING: G
April 27, 2022
A misfire by the normally reliable Anne Maybury, "Green Fire" relates the misadventures of Francie Mannering, a young London nurse who journeys to Hong Kong to visit her expatriate brother and becomes involved in mistaken identities, international jewel smuggling, and romantic competition. It's not just that the novel contains exotic East tropes that, while probably unconsciously absorbed by a 1963 British writer and her original readers, are unpleasant today. The mystery just isn't that gripping and Francie is an annoying heroine. Maybury's writing style, normally sophisticated, is clunky here, marked by ellipses and exclamation points. For a short novel, "Green Fire" is a chore to read. Perhaps Maybury, who'd already written several more more accomplished suspense novels, wrote this quickly after a trip to Hong Kong inspired her. She certainly went on to write deeper, better novels, particularly in the early 70s. Whatever the cause, "Green Fire" is a disappointment.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews