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Duke de Richleau #9
Strange Conflict
When the bombs fall on London, the elderly Duke de Richleau is forced to consider a problem of the utmost urgency. What methods are the Germans using to discover – with sinister effect – the secret routes of the Atlantic convoys? His answer is bizarre and fantastic. Could it really be that the enemy are in touch with supernatural powers? Can these powers only be overcome by those who have the knowledge and courage to join battle with them on the Astral Plane? The Duke and his supporters face the terrifying challenge from the Powers of Darkness.
379 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 1941
About the author
Dennis Wheatley
368 books254 followersDennis Yates Wheatley was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors in the 1950s and 1960s.
His first book, Three Inquisitive People, was not immediately published; but his first published novel, The Forbidden Territory, was an immediate success when published in 1933, being reprinted seven times in seven weeks.
He wrote adventure stories, with many books in a series of linked works. His plots covered the French Revolution (Roger Brook Series), Satanism (Duc de Richleau), World War II (Gregory Sallust) and espionage (Julian Day).
In the thirties, he conceived a series of whodunit mysteries, presented as case files, with testimonies, letters, pieces of evidence such as hairs or pills. The reader had to go through the evidence to solve the mystery before unsealing the last pages of the file, which gave the answer. Four of these 'Crime Dossiers' were published: Murder Off Miami, Who Killed Robert Prentice, The Malinsay Massacre, and Herewith The Clues.
In the 1960s his publishers were selling a million copies of his books per year. A small number of his books were made into films by Hammer, of which the best known is The Devil Rides Out (book 1934, film 1968). His writing is very descriptive and in many works he manages to introduce his characters into real events while meeting real people. For example, in the Roger Brook series the main character involves himself with Napoleon, and Joséphine whilst being a spy for the Prime Minister William Pitt. Similarly, in the Gregory Sallust series, Sallust shares an evening meal with Hermann Göring.
He also wrote non-fiction works, including accounts of the Russian Revolution and King Charles II, and his autobiography. He was considered an authority on the supernatural, satanism, the practice of exorcism, and black magic, to all of which he was hostile. During his study of the paranormal, though, he joined the Ghost Club.
From 1974 through 1977 he edited a series of 45 paperback reprints for the British publisher Sphere under the heading "The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult", selecting the titles and writing short introductions for each book. This series included both occult-themed novels by the likes of Bram Stoker and Aleister Crowley and non-fiction works on magic, occultism, and divination by authors such as the Theosophist H. P. Blavatsky, the historian Maurice Magre, the magician Isaac Bonewits, and the palm-reader Cheiro.
Two weeks before his death in November 1977, Wheatley received conditional absolution from his old friend Cyril ‘Bobby’ Eastaugh, the Bishop of Peterborough.
His estate library was sold in a catalogue sale by Basil Blackwell's in the 1970s, indicating a thoroughly well-read individual with wide-ranging interests particularly in historical fiction and Europe. His influence has declined, partly due to difficulties in reprinting his works owing to copyright problems.
Fifty-two of Wheatley's novels were published posthumously in a set by Heron Books UK. More recently, in April 2008 Dennis Wheatley's literary estate was acquired by media company Chorion.
He invented a number of board games including Invasion.
-Wikipedia
His first book, Three Inquisitive People, was not immediately published; but his first published novel, The Forbidden Territory, was an immediate success when published in 1933, being reprinted seven times in seven weeks.
He wrote adventure stories, with many books in a series of linked works. His plots covered the French Revolution (Roger Brook Series), Satanism (Duc de Richleau), World War II (Gregory Sallust) and espionage (Julian Day).
In the thirties, he conceived a series of whodunit mysteries, presented as case files, with testimonies, letters, pieces of evidence such as hairs or pills. The reader had to go through the evidence to solve the mystery before unsealing the last pages of the file, which gave the answer. Four of these 'Crime Dossiers' were published: Murder Off Miami, Who Killed Robert Prentice, The Malinsay Massacre, and Herewith The Clues.
In the 1960s his publishers were selling a million copies of his books per year. A small number of his books were made into films by Hammer, of which the best known is The Devil Rides Out (book 1934, film 1968). His writing is very descriptive and in many works he manages to introduce his characters into real events while meeting real people. For example, in the Roger Brook series the main character involves himself with Napoleon, and Joséphine whilst being a spy for the Prime Minister William Pitt. Similarly, in the Gregory Sallust series, Sallust shares an evening meal with Hermann Göring.
He also wrote non-fiction works, including accounts of the Russian Revolution and King Charles II, and his autobiography. He was considered an authority on the supernatural, satanism, the practice of exorcism, and black magic, to all of which he was hostile. During his study of the paranormal, though, he joined the Ghost Club.
From 1974 through 1977 he edited a series of 45 paperback reprints for the British publisher Sphere under the heading "The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult", selecting the titles and writing short introductions for each book. This series included both occult-themed novels by the likes of Bram Stoker and Aleister Crowley and non-fiction works on magic, occultism, and divination by authors such as the Theosophist H. P. Blavatsky, the historian Maurice Magre, the magician Isaac Bonewits, and the palm-reader Cheiro.
Two weeks before his death in November 1977, Wheatley received conditional absolution from his old friend Cyril ‘Bobby’ Eastaugh, the Bishop of Peterborough.
His estate library was sold in a catalogue sale by Basil Blackwell's in the 1970s, indicating a thoroughly well-read individual with wide-ranging interests particularly in historical fiction and Europe. His influence has declined, partly due to difficulties in reprinting his works owing to copyright problems.
Fifty-two of Wheatley's novels were published posthumously in a set by Heron Books UK. More recently, in April 2008 Dennis Wheatley's literary estate was acquired by media company Chorion.
He invented a number of board games including Invasion.
-Wikipedia
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August 14, 2022This started amazingly with the discovery that the Nazis are using occult spies to attack North Atlantic convoys. Genius plot idea, well developed and convincingly told for an occult spy value of convincing. And then we take a sharp left turn into astonishing racism and I strongly recommend that nobody should read this book ever. It could actually have been good up to a certain point, but it's amazing how racism and shitty plotting/writing go hand in hand. Almost as if retreating into hateful ignorance doesn't actually lead to imaginative achievement. Who knew.
Bonus points to DW for plagiarizing a super famous folk tale and huge chunks of one of his own other books. OTOH at least he let his imagination run wild while writing the bits that purport to be a factual history of Haiti oh no wait.
I think the best thing here is to pretend I never read it and none of us ever speak of this again.
Bonus points to DW for plagiarizing a super famous folk tale and huge chunks of one of his own other books. OTOH at least he let his imagination run wild while writing the bits that purport to be a factual history of Haiti oh no wait.
I think the best thing here is to pretend I never read it and none of us ever speak of this again.
April 5, 2013
I confess I have a particularly soft spot for this book. It was the first Dennis Wheatley story I ever read, and it set me on a path of DW admiration that has stayed with me ever since.
I realize that when reading him today, there are certain things one has to look past. His casual racism, wherein he assumes that black people are necessarily less intelligent or decent than whites, or that just about any race in existence takes second place to the English. His class-consciousness, with its obvious belief that aristocrats are automatically braver and more resourceful than the poor. And the frequently repeated implication that a physically ugly person, or one with a disability, is automatically a bad person!
But frankly, one doesn't have to get too far into the best of DW's stories to forget his faults. And to be fair, this particular story has less of these failings than some of his works. The goodies - a Franco/Russian aristocrat, a Russian Princess, a Sephardic Jew, an American and a true-blue Englishman - represent a pretty good sprinkling of the forces arraigned against the Nazi menace. And though the Haitians are represented either as evil Satanists or, more often, eye-rolling morons, one needs to remember that at the time this book was written, DW's views were more or less mainstream.
What sets Wheatley apart from most other adventure authors of his time is that his heroes are not just fighting for political ends (Allies vs Axis, Democrats vs Communists, whatever) but that these struggles are just an earthly extension of the eternal battle between darkness and light, with Satan using various earthly organizations as tools of his evil will. The Nazi party are not just a group of fascists left by a madman, but the physical wing of the devil's ploy for world dominance!
This novel is one of the classic examples of this philosophy. The German navy are playing merry hell with the Atlantic convoys, and if this isn't stopped, Britain will have to surrender to the evil Hitler. The Duke and his team are called in, and he soon comes to a jaw-dropping conclusion. The Nazis are obviously using magic to find out how to intercept the convoys. So off go the team to stop the rot - which, it transpires, is caused by a Voodoo practitioner on the Island of Haiti!
It's a fast - very fast - paced adventure tale, with lots of suspense and action, both on the Astral Plane and the physical. As is common with this author, there's a great "info dump" with lots of occult lore and historical fact woven in, but this is well integrated, and actually helps in the pacing and suspense of the story.
And right up until the final pages, it looks as if the powers of evil will win out. There are some scenes that wouldn't be out of place in a modern Oscar-winning movie, such as a fight between the Duke and the evil Voodooist, a game of tennis on the Astral Plane (truly!), a chilling scene with the goodies, protected only by a pentacle, menaced by all sorts of ab-human elementals, and a truly spectacular chase scene when the hordes of hell pursue the heroes through the spirit world. Oh, and it's got a very pretty zombie, and a guest appearance by the great god Pan, too!
What's not to like???
I realize that when reading him today, there are certain things one has to look past. His casual racism, wherein he assumes that black people are necessarily less intelligent or decent than whites, or that just about any race in existence takes second place to the English. His class-consciousness, with its obvious belief that aristocrats are automatically braver and more resourceful than the poor. And the frequently repeated implication that a physically ugly person, or one with a disability, is automatically a bad person!
But frankly, one doesn't have to get too far into the best of DW's stories to forget his faults. And to be fair, this particular story has less of these failings than some of his works. The goodies - a Franco/Russian aristocrat, a Russian Princess, a Sephardic Jew, an American and a true-blue Englishman - represent a pretty good sprinkling of the forces arraigned against the Nazi menace. And though the Haitians are represented either as evil Satanists or, more often, eye-rolling morons, one needs to remember that at the time this book was written, DW's views were more or less mainstream.
What sets Wheatley apart from most other adventure authors of his time is that his heroes are not just fighting for political ends (Allies vs Axis, Democrats vs Communists, whatever) but that these struggles are just an earthly extension of the eternal battle between darkness and light, with Satan using various earthly organizations as tools of his evil will. The Nazi party are not just a group of fascists left by a madman, but the physical wing of the devil's ploy for world dominance!
This novel is one of the classic examples of this philosophy. The German navy are playing merry hell with the Atlantic convoys, and if this isn't stopped, Britain will have to surrender to the evil Hitler. The Duke and his team are called in, and he soon comes to a jaw-dropping conclusion. The Nazis are obviously using magic to find out how to intercept the convoys. So off go the team to stop the rot - which, it transpires, is caused by a Voodoo practitioner on the Island of Haiti!
It's a fast - very fast - paced adventure tale, with lots of suspense and action, both on the Astral Plane and the physical. As is common with this author, there's a great "info dump" with lots of occult lore and historical fact woven in, but this is well integrated, and actually helps in the pacing and suspense of the story.
And right up until the final pages, it looks as if the powers of evil will win out. There are some scenes that wouldn't be out of place in a modern Oscar-winning movie, such as a fight between the Duke and the evil Voodooist, a game of tennis on the Astral Plane (truly!), a chilling scene with the goodies, protected only by a pentacle, menaced by all sorts of ab-human elementals, and a truly spectacular chase scene when the hordes of hell pursue the heroes through the spirit world. Oh, and it's got a very pretty zombie, and a guest appearance by the great god Pan, too!
What's not to like???
September 10, 2018
In principle, this is a good book with a great high-concept: World War II era espionage with a supernatural twist. Somehow, through magical means, the Nazis are able to locate many of the supply convoys that are aiding the British and destroy them, which leads our heroes to engage in their own supernatural battles across the astral plane to solve the mystery and to bring victory to the Forces of Light with echoes of the real-life military intelligence conundrum of how to crack the enemy's advantage without exposing yourself or giving the enemy time to switch up the rules of engagement before you can actualize on it. Indeed, their first true triumph, tracking the evil to its source, is only the beginning of their struggle as this leads to them suffering physical and metaphysical assault, driving them to a desperate flight towards the enemy to try and gain victory before they are worn down. There are crash landings and desperate escape from mobs and bombs and evil elementals and the summoning of Great Old Ones and corpse mutilations all as stand in for some of the real problems that faced the British at roughly the same time the novel was written and takes place in: espionage, cipher breaking, double agents, and important personal battles in out-of-the-way locales.
In the flesh, though, the book wears several deep flaws that mar it or at least flavor it. Though it is clearly wartime pro-British propaganda - with asides including mocking the effectiveness of the Blitz, praising the English spirit, attacking the French's surrender, chiding the Americans for not being involved (this was prior to Pearl Harbor), casting the entirety of Germany as being implicit in the Evil of Nazis - rarely does it chafe as such and even when it does it is largely forgivable being written in 1941 (one ending line about Anglos being the true Guardians of Light and the only hope for the entire world being a bit OTT). It's theosophic world view likewise is not too terribly overblown on the whole, though given towards long speeches written out like bad Socratic "dialogues" where a main character will essentially information dump for page after page (and sometimes chapter after chapter) while other people say things like, "That makes sense," and, "I agree". While this element could have easily be halved or cut by two-thirds, some of the pro-sex and not-quite-anti-but-almost-anti-Christian revisionism is interesting considering the time period.
Instead, the flaws are in the overall pacing (once it reaches around the half-way mark, the book nearly forgets it is a quick-paced wartime espionage novel and instead changes gears to become a romp through the tropics with barely a sentence aimed at the all-important downed convoys to be had in the last half) and some horrendously unnecessary racism. In a book about Nazi agents and European war and literal black magic, the book decides to make the "black" part of the word far too racially charged and engages in race-baiting (there is even a line, possibly as a decoy, claiming the good and powerful Euro gods are offended to help swarthy folks).
Even to what degree you can justify the racism of the book with the old hedgehog of "a different time" and "man of his time" and "in the context of its time," I still keep going back to the fact that it is a book of propaganda against Nazis for Skarl's sake. I mean...you have literary Nazis, who are like Nazis but even more evil, and this is a book designed as agit-prop to rally its readers into holding fast against the Nazi hordes, so where in the hell are the (literally, in the context of the novel) damned Nazis? Why attack one of the countries who was actually on the side of helping the US and UK during the war (after the time period of the novel, sure, but it was already extending some visas to Jewish people escaping the Holocaust). A country whose citizens were of a melanin-content that Hitler would have despised. These are the bad guys? Hell.
It also suffers from uneven information dumps. It has no problem dedicating pages to sunburns, or how victims of suicide jeopardize their immortal soul, or the shape of a particular island's geography, or how secret documents are protected from spies, or how religious rituals work but then, for all this "real world" consideration and heavy-handed moralizing, not once does something like a 5-6 hours of time-zone difference and how this would impact sleep-related astral activities get dealt with, or how jet lag would impact dream warriors, or how either of those tie into the greater plot. And its dream logic is problematic, at best, with Wheatley unsure if the dreamscape is the real world with sort of an A.R. game going on or something else entirely.
Of course, things wrap up reallllly conveniently at the end, after pages of diversions and digressions, like the ending was a known thing but Wheatley was aiming for a specific page count goal. The biggest sin here is a chase scene leading up to the climatic confrontation that serves no purpose besides to give false tension and heroic despair at a point in time the novel could easily have progressed to the final battle (and perhaps to give our white heroes a chance to flee from rampaging superstitious black folk, even though on paper the mob is doing the right thing). After that, the real final battle is mostly a philosophical thought experiment, nothing like an earlier sister battle which involved shape-shifting, walls of fire, channeling of the elements, fleeing through dreamscapes, and desperate heroics. That would have been a much more effective end than the one we got.
All it takes is to think back upon how one particular tragic romantic subplot is resolved without passion (both literally for the characters and seemingly for Wheatley), and does little besides to throw some more damnation at black-as-in-African magic, to see how this book brushed near greatness, but fell away from it: too many asides, too much quick summation of some things while other things are driven out, too cat-eating-a-canary smug with its conservative worldview with less care towards what could have been a really clever plot and more given to checking off the "early 20th century British adventure romp" checklist.
In the flesh, though, the book wears several deep flaws that mar it or at least flavor it. Though it is clearly wartime pro-British propaganda - with asides including mocking the effectiveness of the Blitz, praising the English spirit, attacking the French's surrender, chiding the Americans for not being involved (this was prior to Pearl Harbor), casting the entirety of Germany as being implicit in the Evil of Nazis - rarely does it chafe as such and even when it does it is largely forgivable being written in 1941 (one ending line about Anglos being the true Guardians of Light and the only hope for the entire world being a bit OTT). It's theosophic world view likewise is not too terribly overblown on the whole, though given towards long speeches written out like bad Socratic "dialogues" where a main character will essentially information dump for page after page (and sometimes chapter after chapter) while other people say things like, "That makes sense," and, "I agree". While this element could have easily be halved or cut by two-thirds, some of the pro-sex and not-quite-anti-but-almost-anti-Christian revisionism is interesting considering the time period.
Instead, the flaws are in the overall pacing (once it reaches around the half-way mark, the book nearly forgets it is a quick-paced wartime espionage novel and instead changes gears to become a romp through the tropics with barely a sentence aimed at the all-important downed convoys to be had in the last half) and some horrendously unnecessary racism. In a book about Nazi agents and European war and literal black magic, the book decides to make the "black" part of the word far too racially charged and engages in race-baiting (there is even a line, possibly as a decoy, claiming the good and powerful Euro gods are offended to help swarthy folks).
Even to what degree you can justify the racism of the book with the old hedgehog of "a different time" and "man of his time" and "in the context of its time," I still keep going back to the fact that it is a book of propaganda against Nazis for Skarl's sake. I mean...you have literary Nazis, who are like Nazis but even more evil, and this is a book designed as agit-prop to rally its readers into holding fast against the Nazi hordes, so where in the hell are the (literally, in the context of the novel) damned Nazis? Why attack one of the countries who was actually on the side of helping the US and UK during the war (after the time period of the novel, sure, but it was already extending some visas to Jewish people escaping the Holocaust). A country whose citizens were of a melanin-content that Hitler would have despised. These are the bad guys? Hell.
It also suffers from uneven information dumps. It has no problem dedicating pages to sunburns, or how victims of suicide jeopardize their immortal soul, or the shape of a particular island's geography, or how secret documents are protected from spies, or how religious rituals work but then, for all this "real world" consideration and heavy-handed moralizing, not once does something like a 5-6 hours of time-zone difference and how this would impact sleep-related astral activities get dealt with, or how jet lag would impact dream warriors, or how either of those tie into the greater plot. And its dream logic is problematic, at best, with Wheatley unsure if the dreamscape is the real world with sort of an A.R. game going on or something else entirely.
Of course, things wrap up reallllly conveniently at the end, after pages of diversions and digressions, like the ending was a known thing but Wheatley was aiming for a specific page count goal. The biggest sin here is a chase scene leading up to the climatic confrontation that serves no purpose besides to give false tension and heroic despair at a point in time the novel could easily have progressed to the final battle (and perhaps to give our white heroes a chance to flee from rampaging superstitious black folk, even though on paper the mob is doing the right thing). After that, the real final battle is mostly a philosophical thought experiment, nothing like an earlier sister battle which involved shape-shifting, walls of fire, channeling of the elements, fleeing through dreamscapes, and desperate heroics. That would have been a much more effective end than the one we got.
All it takes is to think back upon how one particular tragic romantic subplot is resolved without passion (both literally for the characters and seemingly for Wheatley), and does little besides to throw some more damnation at black-as-in-African magic, to see how this book brushed near greatness, but fell away from it: too many asides, too much quick summation of some things while other things are driven out, too cat-eating-a-canary smug with its conservative worldview with less care towards what could have been a really clever plot and more given to checking off the "early 20th century British adventure romp" checklist.
October 13, 2012
I'm a huge fan of The Devil Rides Out, the Hammer adaption of Wheatley's previous Duke de Richleau novel. Reading de Richleau is a bit like the supernatural adventures of an aged James Bond. Astral travel and occult doings among British high society. I picked this up along with The Devil Rides Out. In this outing, the Duke and his chums are called upon by British Intelligence to figure out how the Nazis are gleaning covert information on British convoy deployments. The Duke eliminates all the possibilities and then assumes it must be a Nazi agent on the astral plane.
He and Marie Lou (who was a bit innocuous in the last book), herself an accomplished spiritualist, proceed to stake out a British warship and catch the Nazi spy red handed. A very cool chase ensues with the three combatants shifting into antagonistic shapes in a running pursuit across the astral plane, sort of a high speed wizards' duel (the spy for instance, shifts into a snake and plunges down a hole, the Duke dives after him, changing in mid air from a falcon to a burrowing mongoose, etc). After a rousing start however, the book sort of sags in the middle, when the Duke and friends meet up with a new ally and trace the sinister occult Nazi to Haiti.
It took me quite a while to slog through the middle part of the book. I'm not sure why I had such trouble. Maybe it was the racism, something I can usually overlook when reading period fiction. Be warned, Wheatley has a lot to say about the Black Republic and its people, as well as capitulating France (there's an odd section in the middle of the book where Rex breaks off in mid-tirade and a single disclaimer taking up a whole page reads something along the lines of the text having been removed by the author rather than offend England's allies).
However, toward the last third of the book when the admittedly predictable identity of the villain is revealed, I did find myself thrown for a loop by another very cool twist I didn't see coming. The final pages involve a penultimate astral showdown with the big bad, though more abstract than the previous stuff. All in all it turned out to be a good read though, ending in a neat forties admonishment that this had been but one battle in the greater war, and a soaring declaration that the forces of darkness would surely find the indomitable island of Great Britain a bastion of light for years to come.
He and Marie Lou (who was a bit innocuous in the last book), herself an accomplished spiritualist, proceed to stake out a British warship and catch the Nazi spy red handed. A very cool chase ensues with the three combatants shifting into antagonistic shapes in a running pursuit across the astral plane, sort of a high speed wizards' duel (the spy for instance, shifts into a snake and plunges down a hole, the Duke dives after him, changing in mid air from a falcon to a burrowing mongoose, etc). After a rousing start however, the book sort of sags in the middle, when the Duke and friends meet up with a new ally and trace the sinister occult Nazi to Haiti.
It took me quite a while to slog through the middle part of the book. I'm not sure why I had such trouble. Maybe it was the racism, something I can usually overlook when reading period fiction. Be warned, Wheatley has a lot to say about the Black Republic and its people, as well as capitulating France (there's an odd section in the middle of the book where Rex breaks off in mid-tirade and a single disclaimer taking up a whole page reads something along the lines of the text having been removed by the author rather than offend England's allies).
However, toward the last third of the book when the admittedly predictable identity of the villain is revealed, I did find myself thrown for a loop by another very cool twist I didn't see coming. The final pages involve a penultimate astral showdown with the big bad, though more abstract than the previous stuff. All in all it turned out to be a good read though, ending in a neat forties admonishment that this had been but one battle in the greater war, and a soaring declaration that the forces of darkness would surely find the indomitable island of Great Britain a bastion of light for years to come.
September 29, 2015
This is the third of Wheatley’s Black Magic series that I have read. The Devil Rides out was very enjoyable. Gateway to Hell was OK, but nothing great. Unfortunately Strange Conflict, has been the worst of the bunch.
The setup is very good. During the Blitz of the Second World War, the British supply ships are being destroyed with eerie efficiency. The Duke De Richleau deduces that the Nazis are using Black Magic to intercept the ships’ locations so that their U-boats can sink them. He gathers his usual team of friends and together they begin trying to find the evil spiritualist that is working for the Nazis and kill him. The fact that this novel was actually written during the Blitz of 1941 made it especially interesting for me, as I think of it as a little time capsule of what people thought and felt during that period in history.
Unfortunately the execution of such a great premise sorely missed the mark. I have loved the Duke’s arguments about how the supernatural is real and its relation to existing religion, but for the first 30% of the novel it is almost word for word the dialogue from Devil Rides Out. The Duke spends a good portion travelling in the astral plane to find the evil sorcerer and while it was interesting, it seriously dragged.
The villain is eventually located in Haiti and the heroes leave war-torn Britain for the tropics. (Again, being that the novel was written during the Blitz and for people enduring the Blitz, I’m sure it was a perfect escape for readers at that time.) There they encounter Voodoo and everything goes crashing downhill for me.
I’ve praised Wheatley for his incredible research into religions and the occult. His level of detail and creating links between different beliefs is truly amazing. However at the time it was written, Voodoo was still a very unknown religion, considered savage, and hype of zombies and witchdoctors spoiled even the few anthropological studies at that time. Wheatley embraced the dark hype of voodoo and ran with it. It was obvious he had done a good amount of research (probably all that had been available), but I was very disappointed with his use of it.
However, I can look past that. What I couldn't get past was the incredible racism that persisted through the story. Being an older book, I can look past quite a bit of outdated thinking. Lovecraft has never bothered me, Wheatley’s other works have never bothered me, but Strange Conflict openly treats black people as being either evil monsters, or ignorant buffoons incapable of reasonable thought. At one point Duke De Richleau says that the Anglos are the only people who can save the world.
Prejudices and stereotypes aside, the book was boring. Wheatley can normally throw me for a few good loops, but this time I found most of the twists rather tedious. There were some good ones, but not enough to salvage the monotony of it. I’m very happy I accidentally skipped this book and read Gateway to Hell out of order, otherwise I would have not read the following book.
The version that I read was the Audible edition read by Nick Mercer. Mercer has read the other two Wheatley books and he did a fine job with what he had. My only criticism of his narration was that the voice of Marie Lou was different.
The setup is very good. During the Blitz of the Second World War, the British supply ships are being destroyed with eerie efficiency. The Duke De Richleau deduces that the Nazis are using Black Magic to intercept the ships’ locations so that their U-boats can sink them. He gathers his usual team of friends and together they begin trying to find the evil spiritualist that is working for the Nazis and kill him. The fact that this novel was actually written during the Blitz of 1941 made it especially interesting for me, as I think of it as a little time capsule of what people thought and felt during that period in history.
Unfortunately the execution of such a great premise sorely missed the mark. I have loved the Duke’s arguments about how the supernatural is real and its relation to existing religion, but for the first 30% of the novel it is almost word for word the dialogue from Devil Rides Out. The Duke spends a good portion travelling in the astral plane to find the evil sorcerer and while it was interesting, it seriously dragged.
The villain is eventually located in Haiti and the heroes leave war-torn Britain for the tropics. (Again, being that the novel was written during the Blitz and for people enduring the Blitz, I’m sure it was a perfect escape for readers at that time.) There they encounter Voodoo and everything goes crashing downhill for me.
I’ve praised Wheatley for his incredible research into religions and the occult. His level of detail and creating links between different beliefs is truly amazing. However at the time it was written, Voodoo was still a very unknown religion, considered savage, and hype of zombies and witchdoctors spoiled even the few anthropological studies at that time. Wheatley embraced the dark hype of voodoo and ran with it. It was obvious he had done a good amount of research (probably all that had been available), but I was very disappointed with his use of it.
However, I can look past that. What I couldn't get past was the incredible racism that persisted through the story. Being an older book, I can look past quite a bit of outdated thinking. Lovecraft has never bothered me, Wheatley’s other works have never bothered me, but Strange Conflict openly treats black people as being either evil monsters, or ignorant buffoons incapable of reasonable thought. At one point Duke De Richleau says that the Anglos are the only people who can save the world.
Prejudices and stereotypes aside, the book was boring. Wheatley can normally throw me for a few good loops, but this time I found most of the twists rather tedious. There were some good ones, but not enough to salvage the monotony of it. I’m very happy I accidentally skipped this book and read Gateway to Hell out of order, otherwise I would have not read the following book.
The version that I read was the Audible edition read by Nick Mercer. Mercer has read the other two Wheatley books and he did a fine job with what he had. My only criticism of his narration was that the voice of Marie Lou was different.
July 9, 2021
I woke up one morning terribly missing England, so I figured I'd get a book from the most English series ever by the most English writer ever.
Unfortunately, this one wasn't nearly as good as The Forbidden Territory despite the fun magical element and Christopher Lee's amusing narration. The exposition was overwhelming — even by Wheatley's standards — and I maintain that Simon and Richard should've been a composite character from day one.
Got through two thirds, so I won't count it as a DNF. Wheatley just has much better stuff.
Unfortunately, this one wasn't nearly as good as The Forbidden Territory despite the fun magical element and Christopher Lee's amusing narration. The exposition was overwhelming — even by Wheatley's standards — and I maintain that Simon and Richard should've been a composite character from day one.
Got through two thirds, so I won't count it as a DNF. Wheatley just has much better stuff.
May 17, 2021
Strange writing -- not a Wheatley classic.
March 25, 2018
বইটার নাম আর প্রচ্ছদ দেখে বেশ জমাট একখানা ভৌতিক গল্প পড়ার প্রস্তুতি নিয়ে শুরু করেছিলাম। পড়া শুরুর পর ধীরে ধীরে হতাশ হতে শুরু করলাম। এটাকে ঠিক ভৌতিক বই নয়, বরং ভূতুড়ে এ্যাডভেঞ্চার বই বলা যেতে পারে। দ্বিতীয় বিশ্বযুদ্ধ চলাকালীন সময়ে নাৎসীদের হাতে একের পর এক বিপর্যস্থ হচ্ছিলো ব্রিটিশ নৌযান। এ সময় ডিউক দ্য রিচলুর সাহায্য প্রার্থী হন স্যার পেলিনর। ডিউক নাৎসীদের গুপ্ত খবর সংগ্রহ করার ব্যাপারে তাকে শোনায় অদ্ভুত কিছু ঘটনা, যা প্রথমটায় স্যার পেলিনর কিছুতেই মেনে নিতে পারছিলেন না। অবশেষে বাধ্য হয়ে ডিউক তাকে হোয়াইট ম্যাজিকের ব্যবহার দেখিয়ে বিশ্বাস করতে বাধ্য করেন। দেশকে শত্রুর কবল থেকে রক্ষার দায়িত্ব এসে চাপে ডিউকের কাঁধে।
এই কাজে ডিউকের সঙ্গী হন তার পুরনো বন্ধুগণ যথাক্রমে- মেরি লু(ডিউকের স্ত্রী), রেক্স, সাইমন ও রিচার্ড। ডিউক তার লাইব্রেরি রুমে পেন্টাগন এঁকে ঘুমের ভেতর দিয়ে আত্না চালিত করে শত্রুপক্ষের গুপ্ত আত্নার সন্ধানে বের হন। এর ফলশ্রুতিতেই হিটলারের পক্ষ থেকে ব্ল্যাক ম্যাজিক পরিচালনাকারী শত্রুকে বিনাশ করতে তাদের পুরো দলটা প্লেন নিয়ে উড়ে যায় ওয়েস্ট ইন্ডিজের হাইতি দ্বীপে। আর সেখানে গিয়ে দেখা মেলে নাৎসীদের পক্ষালম্বনকারী শয়তান বোকারের, যার শক্তির মাত্রা তারা ঘুণাক্ষরেও আন্দাজ করতে পারেননি।
বইটির শেষ দিকে লেখক বার দুয়েক টুইস্ট দেবার চেষ্টা চালিয়েছেন। দুটো টুইস্টই বেশ দূর্বল। সচেতন পাঠকমাত্রই শুরু থেকে বুঝে বুঝে পড়ে যেতে থাকলে টুইস্ট দুটো আগে থেকে ধরে ফেলতে পারবেন। বইটিতে ইতিহাসের বর্ণনা প্রচুর, যা একটা পর্যায়ে বিরক্তির উদ্রেক করে। আর শেষের ভৌতিক স্তরে দুষ্ট আত্নার সঙ্গে মারামারিটা ঠিক জমেনি। তবে মূল ব্যাপার হলো, এই বইতে ভয় পাবার মত কিছুই নেই। খসরু চৌধুরীর অনুবাদ সুন্দর ও সাবলীল।
এই কাজে ডিউকের সঙ্গী হন তার পুরনো বন্ধুগণ যথাক্রমে- মেরি লু(ডিউকের স্ত্রী), রেক্স, সাইমন ও রিচার্ড। ডিউক তার লাইব্রেরি রুমে পেন্টাগন এঁকে ঘুমের ভেতর দিয়ে আত্না চালিত করে শত্রুপক্ষের গুপ্ত আত্নার সন্ধানে বের হন। এর ফলশ্রুতিতেই হিটলারের পক্ষ থেকে ব্ল্যাক ম্যাজিক পরিচালনাকারী শত্রুকে বিনাশ করতে তাদের পুরো দলটা প্লেন নিয়ে উড়ে যায় ওয়েস্ট ইন্ডিজের হাইতি দ্বীপে। আর সেখানে গিয়ে দেখা মেলে নাৎসীদের পক্ষালম্বনকারী শয়তান বোকারের, যার শক্তির মাত্রা তারা ঘুণাক্ষরেও আন্দাজ করতে পারেননি।
বইটির শেষ দিকে লেখক বার দুয়েক টুইস্ট দেবার চেষ্টা চালিয়েছেন। দুটো টুইস্টই বেশ দূর্বল। সচেতন পাঠকমাত্রই শুরু থেকে বুঝে বুঝে পড়ে যেতে থাকলে টুইস্ট দুটো আগে থেকে ধরে ফেলতে পারবেন। বইটিতে ইতিহাসের বর্ণনা প্রচুর, যা একটা পর্যায়ে বিরক্তির উদ্রেক করে। আর শেষের ভৌতিক স্তরে দুষ্ট আত্নার সঙ্গে মারামারিটা ঠিক জমেনি। তবে মূল ব্যাপার হলো, এই বইতে ভয় পাবার মত কিছুই নেই। খসরু চৌধুরীর অনুবাদ সুন্দর ও সাবলীল।
January 14, 2014
'Strange Conflict' has all the trademarks of a genuine Wheatley book: it is racist, sexist, chauvinist, militarist, etc. On the one hand, however, this one is much better than the post WWII books where Wheatley spends most of the pages moaning about the decline of British power and regularly descends into paranoia about Commies everywhere. In this book, published in 1941, Britain was still an empire and its enemies were easy to distinguish. In this sense, the book is a much better read than the Black Magic books from the 50s and 60s. On the other hand, the wartime context makes the text much too didactic to be anything else than bad prose. Sorry.
July 28, 2011
Another 1940's-penned adventure from DW which although in the edge of credibility nevertheless succeeds in building the tension and desperation of the heroes through the plot. The style is somewhat genteel in today's world but fun.
May 5, 2016
Second in the Black Magic series and ninth in the Duke de Richleau series. It begins after the Germans began bombing England at the start of World War II and after the French government has collapsed.
This ARC was sent to me by NetGalley for an honest review.
My Take
The accepting nonchalance of the duke and Sir Pellinore interrupting their dinner to deal with the incendiary bombs cracked me up. Then there’s the duke’s spying. I wonder if the CIA knows how much easier it is if one can travel in the astral?
Hmm, it appears that de Richleau, Rex, Richard, and Simon have been up to all sorts of mischief (through the Duke de Richleau series) since The Devil Rides Out , 1 (6). Events in this first story do make it easier for the rest of Team de Richleau to buy in and help out.
Although it doesn't mean that the duke is off the hook as he must again convince a nonbeliever of the existence of magic using such examples as Jesus Christ, Lao-Tze, St. Francis of Assisi, Marcus Aurelius, Herod, Cesare Borgia, etc. His explanation of Jesus walking on water and that "the Kingdom of God is within us" is quite intriguing. There’s a repeat of La Voisin and the Prince Borghese taking back his villa.
I knew the swastika was an ancient symbol adopted by the Nazis, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard this explanation about it. De Richleau’s explanation of baptism is encompassing, on both sides. His explanation of reincarnation does make a lot of sense as does his explanation for why our dreams are so odd. He uses Jesus Christ as an example of choosing how one will live and/or die in one’s last incarnations. And the Admiral’s civilian dreaming is quite explicit, oh là là! The captain’s dreams are, ahem, also quite interesting. It seems he prefers the feminine form.
The prejudice about black men is still here, and so very condescending. Although one particular black man does take us on a chase I would never want to experience.
One of the pluses of reading an author writing contemporaneously in the 1930s means we have a primary source for the time's culture, manners, and modes of communication and travel for that time. It does make me appreciate cellphones all the more, and our current ease of air travel, despite all the security problems we have. Although it still doesn’t explain why they couldn’t simply fly to Haiti from Bermuda. Why did they have to go up to New York City??
Ooh, Rex’s dad plays "mean" when he points out the propaganda value of Rex’s war injury. And Simon pulls Phillipa in to do her part.
Strange Conflict is FULL of action, chase scenes, drama, and plenty of tension what with the rioting townsfolk, arson, sharks, battling off the vulnerability of sleep, and zombification…eek!…
It does make sense, even if it does make me laugh, that the Haitians should appropriate the images of Catholic saints to represent their Voodoo gods. Saturday provides a synopsis of the slave rebellions on Haiti as well as why Haiti has not been able to prosper since she achieved independence.
Jeez, Simon’s efforts to keep their enemy occupied are rewarded in the most horrible way as his companion’s true identity is revealed.
After all the excitement in The Devil Rides Out about Rex being in love with Tanith, where is she? Rex is on his own in Strange Conflict, and there is absolutely no mention of her.
It is an "adventure" that forces de Richleau to consider his life, his dabbling with Magic and that he is not quite White. I haven’t been that impressed with de Richleau’s thinking in this. He doesn’t know about Voodoo? He doesn’t consider sealing all of his friends’ nine orifices as well as his own? That bargain de Richleau made with Pan was terrifying. Which way to go?? Then there’s the reveal from the Witch Doctor…and it made such sense…
Strange Conflict is an obvious propaganda piece to incite the allied population against the Germans and portray our side as allied with the side of Good. Not that that was all that difficult what with the atrocities the German armies were committing.
The Story
Sir Pellinore is shocked at the duke’s statement as to how the Nazis are likely to be discovering the route that ship convoys are taking. But the loss of supplies is wreaking havoc in vital commodities, and Pellinore is desperate enough to try anything.
Anything will include a hurried flight to Haiti in pursuit of the Thing. Luckily, Team de Richleau is rescued by Dr. Saturday and given aid for their injuries and respite for their bodies.
The Characters
The Monseigneur le Duke de Richleau, Knight of the Most Exalted Order of the Golden Fleece, a.k.a., Greyeyes, is an elderly French exile, art connoisseur, and dilettante one can count on in all things. He has studied the Right Hand Path, White Magic, but realizes he has his doubts. Max is the duke's man.
Team de Richleau includes…
…Simon Aron, a director of a financial house in London. Rex Van Wyn, a wealthy young man who enlisted in the Royal Air Force and is an ace airman who was shot down six months ago, winning the D.F.C. for gallantry. His father, Channock Van Ryn, is a banker and runs The Chesapeake Banking and Trust Corporation. Richard Eaton is married to the Princess Marie Louise Aphrodite Blankfort De Cantezane de Schulemoff (she’s had previous experience with the supernatural and magic), and they have a daughter, Fleur. Richard was rejected as a fighter pilot, so he’s gone in for intensive farming at Cardinals Folly, their place in Worcestershire; Fleur is with friends in Scotland. Jim is a gardener; Malin is their very loyal butler as well as Richard’s valet; MacPherson is the head gardener.
Sir Pellinore Gwaine-Cust, a baronet, is close to the War Cabinet; he certainly made a nice recovery from his early mistakes in the 1890s. Admiral and Captain Fennimere are the only ones who know the route the ships will take. Captain Carruthers is in charge of the convoy.
Phillipa Ricardi had been a nurse, but a bomb attack has left her mute. Her father is sending her to an uncle in Jamaica.
Haiti
Doctor Saturday comes to their rescue. Marie Martineau is a local girl from Port-au-Prince who has been missing for some time. Her parents are quite definite that they had sent her to the good Sisters of Marseilles. Celestina, a.k.a., Our Black Joan of Arc, is a Mambo who married her goat familiar, Simalo. She was also the daughter of a crude peasant who became president, General François Antoine Simon.
The Thing is the astral enemy. The Jap is a judo expert. Alfonse Rodin, a member of the Free French Forces, is his confederate.
Cochon Gris , a.k.a., the Secte Rouge, is a secret society that practices cannibalism. The Bourresouse are hunters sent out to find victims on the road. Voodoo is a religion brought over from Africa almost 400 years ago and has two pantheons of Loa, gods. A Ba Moun ("Give man") ceremony is a Voodoo practice similar to selling oneself to the devil, but one becomes a Zombie instead. It’s a nasty, nasty bargain. The Rada are from the Congo and are evil with the principal gods Papa Legba, God of the Gate; Papa Loco, the God of Wisdom and Medicine; and, Baron Cimeterre, the head god, the Lord of the Cemetery, the Lord Saturday is another of his aliases. Mah-Lah-Sah is the Guardian of the Door Sill. Baron Samedi. A Houngan is its priest who lives in a Hounfort, a Voodoo temple, with his family. Hounci are Voodoo adepts who passed the first degree of initiation; Canzos have passed the second degree. The Sabreur is the sword-bearer; the Drapeaux hold the flags. A Bocor is a priest who specializes in devil-worship. The Petro are good gods from Dahomey and deities of Health, Fertility, and Sexual Virility with Dambala as its God of Gods. Baron Carrefour is the Lord of the Roads and Travel. A Mambo is a priestess. De Richleau makes a good point about the sexual aspect of Voodoo in that it is an "object for worship [and the] one pleasure which is within the reach of them all". Erzulie Frieda is a goddess in her own right, a Venus of a Mulatto who insists on an unending string of lovers.
Pan is a Greek god of laughter, dancing, and lovemaking. There are seven planes or levels of consciousness: Earth is the lowest, then the normal sleep plane on up. The Left Hand Path is another phrase for black magic. A Magister Templi is a high level of mastery. A poltergeist is an elemental, which is why they can perform physical acts as opposed to those doing astral travel.
The Title
The title is all about the Strange Conflict between the duke and his friends and the Thing spying for Germany.
This ARC was sent to me by NetGalley for an honest review.
My Take
The accepting nonchalance of the duke and Sir Pellinore interrupting their dinner to deal with the incendiary bombs cracked me up. Then there’s the duke’s spying. I wonder if the CIA knows how much easier it is if one can travel in the astral?
Hmm, it appears that de Richleau, Rex, Richard, and Simon have been up to all sorts of mischief (through the Duke de Richleau series) since The Devil Rides Out , 1 (6). Events in this first story do make it easier for the rest of Team de Richleau to buy in and help out.
Although it doesn't mean that the duke is off the hook as he must again convince a nonbeliever of the existence of magic using such examples as Jesus Christ, Lao-Tze, St. Francis of Assisi, Marcus Aurelius, Herod, Cesare Borgia, etc. His explanation of Jesus walking on water and that "the Kingdom of God is within us" is quite intriguing. There’s a repeat of La Voisin and the Prince Borghese taking back his villa.
I knew the swastika was an ancient symbol adopted by the Nazis, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard this explanation about it. De Richleau’s explanation of baptism is encompassing, on both sides. His explanation of reincarnation does make a lot of sense as does his explanation for why our dreams are so odd. He uses Jesus Christ as an example of choosing how one will live and/or die in one’s last incarnations. And the Admiral’s civilian dreaming is quite explicit, oh là là! The captain’s dreams are, ahem, also quite interesting. It seems he prefers the feminine form.
The prejudice about black men is still here, and so very condescending. Although one particular black man does take us on a chase I would never want to experience.
One of the pluses of reading an author writing contemporaneously in the 1930s means we have a primary source for the time's culture, manners, and modes of communication and travel for that time. It does make me appreciate cellphones all the more, and our current ease of air travel, despite all the security problems we have. Although it still doesn’t explain why they couldn’t simply fly to Haiti from Bermuda. Why did they have to go up to New York City??
Ooh, Rex’s dad plays "mean" when he points out the propaganda value of Rex’s war injury. And Simon pulls Phillipa in to do her part.
Strange Conflict is FULL of action, chase scenes, drama, and plenty of tension what with the rioting townsfolk, arson, sharks, battling off the vulnerability of sleep, and zombification…eek!…
It does make sense, even if it does make me laugh, that the Haitians should appropriate the images of Catholic saints to represent their Voodoo gods. Saturday provides a synopsis of the slave rebellions on Haiti as well as why Haiti has not been able to prosper since she achieved independence.
Jeez, Simon’s efforts to keep their enemy occupied are rewarded in the most horrible way as his companion’s true identity is revealed.
After all the excitement in The Devil Rides Out about Rex being in love with Tanith, where is she? Rex is on his own in Strange Conflict, and there is absolutely no mention of her.
It is an "adventure" that forces de Richleau to consider his life, his dabbling with Magic and that he is not quite White. I haven’t been that impressed with de Richleau’s thinking in this. He doesn’t know about Voodoo? He doesn’t consider sealing all of his friends’ nine orifices as well as his own? That bargain de Richleau made with Pan was terrifying. Which way to go?? Then there’s the reveal from the Witch Doctor…and it made such sense…
Strange Conflict is an obvious propaganda piece to incite the allied population against the Germans and portray our side as allied with the side of Good. Not that that was all that difficult what with the atrocities the German armies were committing.
The Story
Sir Pellinore is shocked at the duke’s statement as to how the Nazis are likely to be discovering the route that ship convoys are taking. But the loss of supplies is wreaking havoc in vital commodities, and Pellinore is desperate enough to try anything.
Anything will include a hurried flight to Haiti in pursuit of the Thing. Luckily, Team de Richleau is rescued by Dr. Saturday and given aid for their injuries and respite for their bodies.
The Characters
The Monseigneur le Duke de Richleau, Knight of the Most Exalted Order of the Golden Fleece, a.k.a., Greyeyes, is an elderly French exile, art connoisseur, and dilettante one can count on in all things. He has studied the Right Hand Path, White Magic, but realizes he has his doubts. Max is the duke's man.
Team de Richleau includes…
…Simon Aron, a director of a financial house in London. Rex Van Wyn, a wealthy young man who enlisted in the Royal Air Force and is an ace airman who was shot down six months ago, winning the D.F.C. for gallantry. His father, Channock Van Ryn, is a banker and runs The Chesapeake Banking and Trust Corporation. Richard Eaton is married to the Princess Marie Louise Aphrodite Blankfort De Cantezane de Schulemoff (she’s had previous experience with the supernatural and magic), and they have a daughter, Fleur. Richard was rejected as a fighter pilot, so he’s gone in for intensive farming at Cardinals Folly, their place in Worcestershire; Fleur is with friends in Scotland. Jim is a gardener; Malin is their very loyal butler as well as Richard’s valet; MacPherson is the head gardener.
Sir Pellinore Gwaine-Cust, a baronet, is close to the War Cabinet; he certainly made a nice recovery from his early mistakes in the 1890s. Admiral and Captain Fennimere are the only ones who know the route the ships will take. Captain Carruthers is in charge of the convoy.
Phillipa Ricardi had been a nurse, but a bomb attack has left her mute. Her father is sending her to an uncle in Jamaica.
Haiti
Doctor Saturday comes to their rescue. Marie Martineau is a local girl from Port-au-Prince who has been missing for some time. Her parents are quite definite that they had sent her to the good Sisters of Marseilles. Celestina, a.k.a., Our Black Joan of Arc, is a Mambo who married her goat familiar, Simalo. She was also the daughter of a crude peasant who became president, General François Antoine Simon.
The Thing is the astral enemy. The Jap is a judo expert. Alfonse Rodin, a member of the Free French Forces, is his confederate.
Cochon Gris , a.k.a., the Secte Rouge, is a secret society that practices cannibalism. The Bourresouse are hunters sent out to find victims on the road. Voodoo is a religion brought over from Africa almost 400 years ago and has two pantheons of Loa, gods. A Ba Moun ("Give man") ceremony is a Voodoo practice similar to selling oneself to the devil, but one becomes a Zombie instead. It’s a nasty, nasty bargain. The Rada are from the Congo and are evil with the principal gods Papa Legba, God of the Gate; Papa Loco, the God of Wisdom and Medicine; and, Baron Cimeterre, the head god, the Lord of the Cemetery, the Lord Saturday is another of his aliases. Mah-Lah-Sah is the Guardian of the Door Sill. Baron Samedi. A Houngan is its priest who lives in a Hounfort, a Voodoo temple, with his family. Hounci are Voodoo adepts who passed the first degree of initiation; Canzos have passed the second degree. The Sabreur is the sword-bearer; the Drapeaux hold the flags. A Bocor is a priest who specializes in devil-worship. The Petro are good gods from Dahomey and deities of Health, Fertility, and Sexual Virility with Dambala as its God of Gods. Baron Carrefour is the Lord of the Roads and Travel. A Mambo is a priestess. De Richleau makes a good point about the sexual aspect of Voodoo in that it is an "object for worship [and the] one pleasure which is within the reach of them all". Erzulie Frieda is a goddess in her own right, a Venus of a Mulatto who insists on an unending string of lovers.
Pan is a Greek god of laughter, dancing, and lovemaking. There are seven planes or levels of consciousness: Earth is the lowest, then the normal sleep plane on up. The Left Hand Path is another phrase for black magic. A Magister Templi is a high level of mastery. A poltergeist is an elemental, which is why they can perform physical acts as opposed to those doing astral travel.
The Title
The title is all about the Strange Conflict between the duke and his friends and the Thing spying for Germany.
August 10, 2022
Readers of Eugene Thacker’s In the Dust of This Planet will recall the philosopher’s discussion of The Devil Rides Out. Where that book was from 1934, Strange Conflict is a WWII thriller, and amazingly, was published in 1941, right in the middle of the war. What excitement, even consolation, it must have brought to read about London during the blitz, in London during the blitz!
Fans of Stranger Things might be fascinated to find the concept of the ‘upside down’ is already a quite mature concept in Wheatley’s novels. Here, the set-up is that Nazi intelligence is consistently obtaining the routes of British supply ships, destroying them with perfect accuracy, despite extreme measures taken to keep the routes secret. Having eliminated all normal methods of espionage, the military’s chosen consultant, the patriotic Duke De Richleau avers that the Nazi’s must be using Black Magic.
It turns out that a voodoo witch doctor has contracted with the Nazis to supply the information by accessing it through the astral sphere, where all-in-the-know magicians ('old souls') can travel whilst lucid dreaming. What ensues is a suspenseful adventure that is like Stranger Things married to James Bond. De Richleau and his ragtag band of heroes journeys to Haiti to battle the voodoo master, battling vampire bats, zombies, and dark gods along the way.
This is a proper thriller, propulsive and tight, with a crisp British diction most pleasing to the ear. There is, unfortunately, a racialized, imperialistic undertone to the entire work which bothered me very little until the end of the book, when De Richleau offers a jingoistic speech in closing:
There’s also an equally laughable climactic battle featuring the god Pan offering to share De Richleau’s racist values: “[A]lthough I have many other aspects which are far more ancient, on earth I’m best known as a Greek; so we’re allies you see.”
The book is so much fun, it’s a shame the jingoism weighs down the tail end. I would like to excuse Wheatley as caught up in the spirit of the times, but I can remember that John Steinbeck was also the author of a war-era novel of consolation and encouragement in the face of Nazi invaders, The Moon Is Down, and his humanism in that book is a more unifying response to Nazi values. Perhaps we can conclude that the more literary Steinbeck calls his readers to a higher standard, while the conservative and popular Wheatley only feeds popular (read: wrong-headed, fallacious) notions of nationalism. De Richleau’s imperialism mirrors the Third Reich idea that a pure European race is the light of the world — and Wheatley doesn’t seem to see the contradiction to that. I would still consider recommending the book to younger readers, with caveats about the ending, but as a pro teacher, the text smacks of something parents and administrators would complain about, so I will remain silent about it in my literature classroom. That speaks to the risks and weaknesses of the current political discourse, sadly.
Fans of Stranger Things might be fascinated to find the concept of the ‘upside down’ is already a quite mature concept in Wheatley’s novels. Here, the set-up is that Nazi intelligence is consistently obtaining the routes of British supply ships, destroying them with perfect accuracy, despite extreme measures taken to keep the routes secret. Having eliminated all normal methods of espionage, the military’s chosen consultant, the patriotic Duke De Richleau avers that the Nazi’s must be using Black Magic.
It turns out that a voodoo witch doctor has contracted with the Nazis to supply the information by accessing it through the astral sphere, where all-in-the-know magicians ('old souls') can travel whilst lucid dreaming. What ensues is a suspenseful adventure that is like Stranger Things married to James Bond. De Richleau and his ragtag band of heroes journeys to Haiti to battle the voodoo master, battling vampire bats, zombies, and dark gods along the way.
This is a proper thriller, propulsive and tight, with a crisp British diction most pleasing to the ear. There is, unfortunately, a racialized, imperialistic undertone to the entire work which bothered me very little until the end of the book, when De Richleau offers a jingoistic speech in closing:
As long as Britain stands the Powers of Darkness cannot prevail. On Earth the Anglo-Saxon race is the last Guardian of the Light, and I have an unshakable conviction that, come what may, our island will prove the Bulwark of the World.’
There’s also an equally laughable climactic battle featuring the god Pan offering to share De Richleau’s racist values: “[A]lthough I have many other aspects which are far more ancient, on earth I’m best known as a Greek; so we’re allies you see.”
The book is so much fun, it’s a shame the jingoism weighs down the tail end. I would like to excuse Wheatley as caught up in the spirit of the times, but I can remember that John Steinbeck was also the author of a war-era novel of consolation and encouragement in the face of Nazi invaders, The Moon Is Down, and his humanism in that book is a more unifying response to Nazi values. Perhaps we can conclude that the more literary Steinbeck calls his readers to a higher standard, while the conservative and popular Wheatley only feeds popular (read: wrong-headed, fallacious) notions of nationalism. De Richleau’s imperialism mirrors the Third Reich idea that a pure European race is the light of the world — and Wheatley doesn’t seem to see the contradiction to that. I would still consider recommending the book to younger readers, with caveats about the ending, but as a pro teacher, the text smacks of something parents and administrators would complain about, so I will remain silent about it in my literature classroom. That speaks to the risks and weaknesses of the current political discourse, sadly.
November 2, 2024
There is not much to recommend this book. It has a great premise about the Nazis using black magic to attack the shipping lanes that were so important to the British war effort during WWII. The problem is that the book takes a sharp turn halfway through and the story moves to Haiti where Voodoo and Astral Plains take over. From there the book becomes too Pulpy and concerned with more page-turning action than anything mystical or dark. The characters are cardboard cut-out creations defined more by latent racist attitudes and stereotypes than substance and the passages that take place in the Astral Plain are fanciful at best. Wheatly would have done better to stay with the Nazis and given de Richleau a real villain to tackle. This book dives deep into the waters of pulp and seems rushed and poorly researched with little insight or understanding by the writer of its subject matter or the supernatural. It was like watching Shakespeare presented as a kids cartoon. Wheatly is a better writer than Christopher Lee - who does his best - deserves far better than this.
March 23, 2021
It is difficult to do this book justice as it was written at the height of the Second World war by someone known for somewhat reactionary views.
It is a black magic story and will have no interest to people who are materialists as there is much talk of "Astral Planes" and the ability to shape-shift into absolutely anything when one is on such a plane.
The story is about the Nazis using "Dark Powers" to spy on British Atlantic convoys.
The Duc de Richelieu and his followers track the Dark Lord to Haiti where they seem doomed to defeat but somehow manage to escape in the last few pages when their enemy just seems to give up.
Wheatley's comments about People of Colour are fairly mild for their time, especially when dealing with Haiti.
Oddly enough his prejudice seems most obvious when dealing with the French for whom he feels nothing but contempt for their defeat by the Germans—so much so that my edition appears to be censored.
It is a black magic story and will have no interest to people who are materialists as there is much talk of "Astral Planes" and the ability to shape-shift into absolutely anything when one is on such a plane.
The story is about the Nazis using "Dark Powers" to spy on British Atlantic convoys.
The Duc de Richelieu and his followers track the Dark Lord to Haiti where they seem doomed to defeat but somehow manage to escape in the last few pages when their enemy just seems to give up.
Wheatley's comments about People of Colour are fairly mild for their time, especially when dealing with Haiti.
Oddly enough his prejudice seems most obvious when dealing with the French for whom he feels nothing but contempt for their defeat by the Germans—so much so that my edition appears to be censored.
March 18, 2023
Dennis Wheatley’s Duke de Richelieu series is like if James Bond were pitted against the forces of Satanism and he had little to rely on in combat other than arcane occult knowledge. As such, the novels n the series, including this one, are full of suspense, action, and thrills, but their age causes them to suffer from the author’s outdated views on Anglo Saxon supremacy and the inferiority of other races. This novel actually ends with a quote that states that the Anglo Saxon race is one of the last guardians of light and that Britain must prevail. If one can ignore such nonsense, these adventure stories are entertaining. It is a shame that publishers with ownership over these works have chosen not to edit some of the content just as they did with Agatha Christie’s, “Ten Little Indians,” where they changed the Indians to soldier and renamed it as, “And Then There Were None.”
May 3, 2021
Another fine book that takes you back to better simpler times. An historic genius, Wheatley puts the reader right there in any period he chooses, in this instance you are in WWII London the minute you start to read. A time where people worried little of the trivia of our time. The Black Magic spin on our shipping convoy attacks is simply mind boggling to those with an open mind. Get lost in history, espionage, black manage, the fight against fascists in this wonderful elegant read. If you tired of today authors need to spit out foul language due to their lack of vocabulary, want to get lost in a novel that takes you back, buries the reader in imagination, get the Duke de Richleau series.
September 17, 2021
Really enjoyed this book. I'd read some poor reviews about Wheatley's work just before beginning the first chapter a few weeks ago. Though I found the first chapter intriguing I didn't pick the book up again until yesterday. Once I read chapter 2, I was hooked and finished the book in one day. I would say it was the introduction of the Duke's friends, Rex, Richard and especially Simon, got me a little more interested in the adventure as the Duke was too typically and unbelievably perfect, as protagonists often are.
August 20, 2019
Yet another superb black magic book from Dennis Wheatley.
It is engaging, full of twists and with superb pacing.
The reason for the lower score is due to the vile amount of racism in this book. It’s age doesn’t excuse it, and sadly it is very very hard to look past it because it is so frequent.
As a story in of itself it is fab, but it’s attitude to different ethnic groups makes it hard to recommend in 2019.
It is engaging, full of twists and with superb pacing.
The reason for the lower score is due to the vile amount of racism in this book. It’s age doesn’t excuse it, and sadly it is very very hard to look past it because it is so frequent.
As a story in of itself it is fab, but it’s attitude to different ethnic groups makes it hard to recommend in 2019.
July 18, 2021
This book was written in 1941. It deals with a devilish plot by the Nazis to sink Allied shipping. The Duke , a marvellous character, suspects that the u boats are receiving information over the astral plan. We now know they were breaking our codes.
However this is an action packed adventure which, apart from some long expositions of Voodoo, kept me turning pages till the explosive finale.
There is no doubt that here we have Wheatley on the top of his form.
However this is an action packed adventure which, apart from some long expositions of Voodoo, kept me turning pages till the explosive finale.
There is no doubt that here we have Wheatley on the top of his form.
September 21, 2021
Another great book by Dennis wheatley. Highly recommended.
August 16, 2022
I fell in love with the story before reading the book, since my loved uncle told it. Years later he gave me his book as a present, so now that's my precious.
May 3, 2023
Pretty good this one.
Find out more about what I thought, and some general author info as well, in my review:
https://youtu.be/Pqyc3mf4SCg
Find out more about what I thought, and some general author info as well, in my review:
https://youtu.be/Pqyc3mf4SCg
August 14, 2023
This book devotes an entire chapter to an insect battle on the astral plane and that isn’t even that weirdest part.
November 24, 2025
Not great some yarn about.the Germans using g black.magic to sink.our shipping in WW2 very racist in tone and I wouldn't read again.
November 23, 2023
Fun, but very much of its time.
November 6, 2022
About 20 pages could be easily chopped for pacing. A little too much “history teacher syndrome” information dumping. The end is a little too convenient but there was just enough intrigue to keep me reading.
November 20, 2016
I know Wheatley is a just supernatural pulp writer but I'm always disappointed in his books. The first one I read, The Devil Rides Out, I liked despite its flaws--mostly, being too long. This is the third I've read since then and the quality keeps going downhill, so this may be the last. The set-up is promising: during WWII, the Nazis are using a satanist to help them get secret British navy plans, and the same intrepid group of occult warriors from Devil Rides Out go to do battle on the astral plane (and later, in Haiti) for the forces of light. The first half is fun but things bog down quite a bit from halfway point. I can overlook the casual racism of the time, but not the weak writing, the cardboard characterization, and the way he drags out the action as though he was getting paid by the word.
May 2, 2015
Enjoyable Hokum.
In WWII, the Duke De Richleau, a kind of supernatural James Bond, battles voodoo forces of Haiti that are astrally projecting themselves to find ships in the Atlantic and inform the Nazi's.
De Richleau has the ability to astrally project as well and sets out to find who is stealing the secrets by occult means. (If he has this skill, it makes you wonder why he doesn't just astrally project into Hitler's bunker and end the war sooner)
The story is fun and inventive, but sometimes the writing is over-long and tedious.
A byproduct of the time it was written, the text occasionally has some eye-popping casual racism with regards to the "Negros" and "Wooglies" of Haiti.
In WWII, the Duke De Richleau, a kind of supernatural James Bond, battles voodoo forces of Haiti that are astrally projecting themselves to find ships in the Atlantic and inform the Nazi's.
De Richleau has the ability to astrally project as well and sets out to find who is stealing the secrets by occult means. (If he has this skill, it makes you wonder why he doesn't just astrally project into Hitler's bunker and end the war sooner)
The story is fun and inventive, but sometimes the writing is over-long and tedious.
A byproduct of the time it was written, the text occasionally has some eye-popping casual racism with regards to the "Negros" and "Wooglies" of Haiti.
May 5, 2016
This was another enjoyable entry in the Black Magic series by Dennis Wheatley. It is set during the second world war and was written about this time. Some of the characters and cultural attitudes are dated and downright racist, but if you can read past this you may find this occult adventure enjoyable.
There was a time when Mr. Wheatley was wildly popular but is no, sadly, all but forgotten.
World of warning: the perpetually offended Social Justice Warrior types should avoid this book...it may be 'triggering'.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
There was a time when Mr. Wheatley was wildly popular but is no, sadly, all but forgotten.
World of warning: the perpetually offended Social Justice Warrior types should avoid this book...it may be 'triggering'.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
June 11, 2015
A vintage Wheatley... crisp action in an exotic but deadly setting and a number of resolute heroes (and heroine) that eventually triumph after a number of twists and turns... the squeamish may complain its non-p.c. but it has to be seen in context of its times - 1941 - when the outcome of the war was still in doubt.
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