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The Killer Mine
Smuggled illegally into his native land after many years' absence, army deserter Jim Pryce finds himself deposited on a Cornish beach. Little does he suspect, setting out along the road to Penzance, that he is about to walk straight into a mine disaster, and into a story involving his own history.
295 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1947
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66 people want to read
About the author
Hammond Innes
104 books107 followersRalph Hammond Innes was an English novelist who wrote over 30 novels, as well as children's and travel books.He was awarded a C.B.E. (Commander, Order of the British Empire) in 1978. The World Mystery Convention honoured Innes with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bouchercon XXIV awards in Omaha, Nebraska, Oct, 1993.
Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex, and educated at the Cranbrook School in Kent. He left in 1931 to work as a journalist, initially with the Financial Times (at the time called the Financial News). The Doppelganger, his first novel, was published in 1937. In WWII he served in the Royal Artillery, eventually rising to the rank of Major. During the war, a number of his books were published, including Wreckers Must Breathe (1940), The Trojan Horse (1941) and Attack Alarm (1941); the last of which was based on his experiences as an anti-aircraft gunner during the Battle of Britain at RAF Kenley. After being discharged in 1946, he worked full-time as a writer, achieving a number of early successes.
His novels are notable for a fine attention to accurate detail in descriptions of places, such as in Air Bridge (1951), set partially at RAF Gatow, RAF Membury after its closure and RAF Wunstorf during the Berlin Airlift.
Innes went on to produce books in a regular sequence, with six months of travel and research followed by six months of writing. Many of his works featured events at sea. His output decreased in the 1960s, but was still substantial. He became interested in ecological themes. He continued writing until just before his death. His last novel was Delta Connection (1996).
Unusually for the thriller genre, Innes' protagonists were often not "heroes" in the typical sense, but ordinary men suddenly thrust into extreme situations by circumstance. Often, this involved being placed in a hostile environment (the Arctic, the open sea, deserts), or unwittingly becoming involved in a larger conflict or conspiracy. The protagonist generally is forced to rely on his own wits and making best use of limited resources, rather than the weapons and gadgetry commonly used by thriller writers.
Four of his early novels were made into films: Snowbound (1948)from The Lonely Skier (1947), Hell Below Zero (1954) from The White South (1949), Campbell's Kingdom (1957), and The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959). His 1973 novel Golden Soak was adapted into a six-part television series in 1979.
Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex, and educated at the Cranbrook School in Kent. He left in 1931 to work as a journalist, initially with the Financial Times (at the time called the Financial News). The Doppelganger, his first novel, was published in 1937. In WWII he served in the Royal Artillery, eventually rising to the rank of Major. During the war, a number of his books were published, including Wreckers Must Breathe (1940), The Trojan Horse (1941) and Attack Alarm (1941); the last of which was based on his experiences as an anti-aircraft gunner during the Battle of Britain at RAF Kenley. After being discharged in 1946, he worked full-time as a writer, achieving a number of early successes.
His novels are notable for a fine attention to accurate detail in descriptions of places, such as in Air Bridge (1951), set partially at RAF Gatow, RAF Membury after its closure and RAF Wunstorf during the Berlin Airlift.
Innes went on to produce books in a regular sequence, with six months of travel and research followed by six months of writing. Many of his works featured events at sea. His output decreased in the 1960s, but was still substantial. He became interested in ecological themes. He continued writing until just before his death. His last novel was Delta Connection (1996).
Unusually for the thriller genre, Innes' protagonists were often not "heroes" in the typical sense, but ordinary men suddenly thrust into extreme situations by circumstance. Often, this involved being placed in a hostile environment (the Arctic, the open sea, deserts), or unwittingly becoming involved in a larger conflict or conspiracy. The protagonist generally is forced to rely on his own wits and making best use of limited resources, rather than the weapons and gadgetry commonly used by thriller writers.
Four of his early novels were made into films: Snowbound (1948)from The Lonely Skier (1947), Hell Below Zero (1954) from The White South (1949), Campbell's Kingdom (1957), and The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959). His 1973 novel Golden Soak was adapted into a six-part television series in 1979.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 27, 2019
Funny thing at work, here, it appears. For The Killer Mine seems to have taken much of the material from Hammond Innes' earlier 1940 wartime espionage novel, Wreckers Must Breathe, and reworked it into postwar crime adventure. Substitute a clandestine smuggling base for a secret Nazi submarine pen and being lost in the maze of an abandoned Cornish tin mine for the wandering in a bricked off part of London's ancient sewers turned into a labyrinth and you have the core mystery and device for suspense in place.
But something else occurs, here, too. Hammond Innes has grown tremendously as a writer since penning Wreckers Must Breathe. His flawed protagonist is center stage. And the exploits as well as fears and repressed desires make army deserter Jim Pryce all the more interesting. He is a perfect example of the postwar liminal character, caught between and betwixt. And things don't resolve themselves in this novel, either. At book's end, we're still unsure of his fate. Ambiguity runs rampant. It makes for a far better read than Innes' earlier prewar and early war novels.
But something else occurs, here, too. Hammond Innes has grown tremendously as a writer since penning Wreckers Must Breathe. His flawed protagonist is center stage. And the exploits as well as fears and repressed desires make army deserter Jim Pryce all the more interesting. He is a perfect example of the postwar liminal character, caught between and betwixt. And things don't resolve themselves in this novel, either. At book's end, we're still unsure of his fate. Ambiguity runs rampant. It makes for a far better read than Innes' earlier prewar and early war novels.
March 1, 2021
Hammond Innes was part of a great tradition of British thriller writing that featured ordinary men thrown into extreme circumstances. Along with Desmond Bagley, Alistair MacLean, Gavin Lyall and others, he wrote a very male-oriented brand of tough-guy tales that often illuminated out-of-the-way places and unusual occupations.
This one takes place in Cornwall, where centuries of tin and copper mining have left the coast honeycombed with old mineshafts. Jim Pryce is a deserter from the British army who has been languishing in Italy; he pays a smuggler to drop him on the Cornish coast where he was born, hoping to find a job and rebuild a life. The only work on offer is with the smuggler's boss, who needs men with mining experience to expand a subterranean network of tunnels he uses for his operation. Not incidentally Jim hopes to clear up the mystery clouding his family; his mother died when he was young and his father took him away to Canada. There's a young woman who knows something about what happened but won't talk about it; mysterious things are going on down in the old mines.
That's about it: he toils for the smuggler's mad scheme while trying to find out what happened to his mother. There's lots of information about mining in Cornwall which is interesting if you like that kind of thing; there's some nice descriptive writing and some clunky dialogue. The story doesn't really amount to much. Not a classic, but entertaining for those who like an old-fashioned adventure yarn.
This one takes place in Cornwall, where centuries of tin and copper mining have left the coast honeycombed with old mineshafts. Jim Pryce is a deserter from the British army who has been languishing in Italy; he pays a smuggler to drop him on the Cornish coast where he was born, hoping to find a job and rebuild a life. The only work on offer is with the smuggler's boss, who needs men with mining experience to expand a subterranean network of tunnels he uses for his operation. Not incidentally Jim hopes to clear up the mystery clouding his family; his mother died when he was young and his father took him away to Canada. There's a young woman who knows something about what happened but won't talk about it; mysterious things are going on down in the old mines.
That's about it: he toils for the smuggler's mad scheme while trying to find out what happened to his mother. There's lots of information about mining in Cornwall which is interesting if you like that kind of thing; there's some nice descriptive writing and some clunky dialogue. The story doesn't really amount to much. Not a classic, but entertaining for those who like an old-fashioned adventure yarn.
December 13, 2018
A good book.
May 1, 2024
A great thriller! Good prose, fast-paced, and very atmospheric. I didn't care for the love interest, or the fate of a certain character.
June 20, 2020
I really wanted to like this one. I've enjoyed reading Hammond Innes over very many years and didn't realise he'd set one in Cornwall. The mining parts of the Poldark books were always a highlight. I'm familiar with the area. There were even two people in my class at school with the same names as two of the main protagonists. But it's not his finest hour. The plot is not strong. The characters, the setting and the individual incidents are all excellent but there's little joining them together in a believable way.
July 8, 2020
3.5 Hammond Innes writes good old-fashioned adventure stories: delightfully devoid of the sentimentalist goo and pseudo-belles-lettres that make the way-too-long novels of today's politically correct hipster authors so insufferably dated.
February 23, 2017
When I began Killer Mine, I started to recall what I disliked about Hammond Innes. Although this is an early novel, (published in 1947) it has the common features of his later work which gives it a formulaic feel. The first person narrator, Jim Pryce, is another foot loose anti hero operating on the wrong side of the law. (He deserted from the army in 1944 and has been keeping ahead of the authorities ever since). The antagonist is a man with an obsession he will carry out at any cost. The female lead while not a shrinking violet is not a film noire adventuress either. She still enters an old mine shaft and rescues Pryce while both escape a second time when the mine is deliberately flooded. There is a long standing family conflict which plays out in the climax. Add a background in mining and this could be a plot summary for Golden Soak except Golden Soak begins in Cornwall and plays out in Western Australia while Killer Mine is set in the tin mining area of Cornwall for the whole novel.
This could have meant that Innes would be constrained in his opportunity to introduce minor characters speaking broken English or Pidgin English. Alas, he has Mulligan, skipper of the smuggler's ship, who has a faux Scots accent. The reader is, however, more likely to tire of the Cockney accent of one of the miners.
The novel is a competent thriller nevertheless, building up to a climax without having to resort to artificial plot elements. It never lags and there is no deus ex machina.
Its particular interest, however, may be in how it reflects the period in British history after the war. Men keeping just one step ahead of the authorities because they are deserters or operate in the huge black market created by post war conditions. I note that other writers of this period, such as Nicholas Monsarrat in The ship that died of shame also use smuggling as their subject.
This could have meant that Innes would be constrained in his opportunity to introduce minor characters speaking broken English or Pidgin English. Alas, he has Mulligan, skipper of the smuggler's ship, who has a faux Scots accent. The reader is, however, more likely to tire of the Cockney accent of one of the miners.
The novel is a competent thriller nevertheless, building up to a climax without having to resort to artificial plot elements. It never lags and there is no deus ex machina.
Its particular interest, however, may be in how it reflects the period in British history after the war. Men keeping just one step ahead of the authorities because they are deserters or operate in the huge black market created by post war conditions. I note that other writers of this period, such as Nicholas Monsarrat in The ship that died of shame also use smuggling as their subject.
April 13, 2012
One of my favourite writers, I'm never disappointed. He always write a gripping good story, and the reader is never disappointed.
March 1, 2016
A good tale and perhaps important it gives some feeling for the period after the 1946 war. Period books are important for this.
February 9, 2024
A rollicking good read as expected but with a rather unsympathetic, flawed protagonist who deserted the army at Monte Cassino where the rest of his platoon were killed. Having spent some time in the lignite mines of Italy, Jim Pryce is coming back to Cornwall and a country he hadn’t visited since emigrating to Canada with his father when Jim’s mother suddenly abandoned the family. He’s had a letter from a former acquaintance with the promise of work and is desperate enough to run the risk of being arrested as a deserter.
As soon as he comprehends what the job entails he regrets his decision but has no means of escape and the opportunity of discovering what happened to his mother, through the intriguing presence of Kitty, a young girl who knew her well, persuades him to persist. Jim’s mining skills are in demand at the almost derelict tin mine which is being used for a mad and almost certainly unworkable scheme for smuggling goods along a tunnel blasted through the sea bed from an undersea adit. Everyone is on edge and the tension and danger ratchet up, aggravated by the presence of an old man obsessively determined to re-open the mine and work the seam of pure tin that he’s discovered.
One slight irritation is the author’s idea of a Welshman speaking is hackneyed (look you) and cartoon-like, yes it is indeed to goodness like Private Cheeseman in Dad’s Army. Plus, he ignores the fact that in Welsh, bach (dear) mutates to fach when referring to a girl.
As soon as he comprehends what the job entails he regrets his decision but has no means of escape and the opportunity of discovering what happened to his mother, through the intriguing presence of Kitty, a young girl who knew her well, persuades him to persist. Jim’s mining skills are in demand at the almost derelict tin mine which is being used for a mad and almost certainly unworkable scheme for smuggling goods along a tunnel blasted through the sea bed from an undersea adit. Everyone is on edge and the tension and danger ratchet up, aggravated by the presence of an old man obsessively determined to re-open the mine and work the seam of pure tin that he’s discovered.
One slight irritation is the author’s idea of a Welshman speaking is hackneyed (look you) and cartoon-like, yes it is indeed to goodness like Private Cheeseman in Dad’s Army. Plus, he ignores the fact that in Welsh, bach (dear) mutates to fach when referring to a girl.
August 22, 2025
The setting is so similar to that of Wreckers Must Breathe that it is hard to distinguish it. Both are set in Cornwall, both have plots which revolve around the caves running out under the sea. The main difference is the loss of the Germans that provide the narrative propulsion in the earlier book, which has rather more going for it; instead, the thriller element replaces this with smuggling (something for which Cornwall was notorious).
If I had read this first, I might have given it a higher rating, and a lower rating to wreckers. It really won't help if (like me) you read the two books one after the other.
If I had read this first, I might have given it a higher rating, and a lower rating to wreckers. It really won't help if (like me) you read the two books one after the other.
November 14, 2021
I first read this about forty years ago. When I'd finished it I must have put it in the attic for safe keeping!
The storyline is still a great one, and quite a bit faster paced than I recall, the whole chain of events takes less than a week. I still can't get my mind around flooding the mine and using it to smuggle contraband though!
The storyline is still a great one, and quite a bit faster paced than I recall, the whole chain of events takes less than a week. I still can't get my mind around flooding the mine and using it to smuggle contraband though!
February 14, 2023
A Cracking Good Read!
Hammond Innes at his best. The action prevails from start to finish. Fine descriptions of Cornish tin mining and its hardships. The hero wins out and gets the love of his life. What better?
Hammond Innes at his best. The action prevails from start to finish. Fine descriptions of Cornish tin mining and its hardships. The hero wins out and gets the love of his life. What better?
April 30, 2023
Spannend, zonder twijfel, tot het eind. Je weet niet wie er uiteindelijk nog overeind zullen staan.
De personages zijn wat plat en voorspelbaar en het plot is soms gezocht. Maar wel met veel plezier gelezen.
De personages zijn wat plat en voorspelbaar en het plot is soms gezocht. Maar wel met veel plezier gelezen.
September 16, 2017
Jim Price. Two words say so much.
March 26, 2018
A hearty tale of well-deserved comeuppance. Old but good!
February 19, 2024
I wish they had a map of the mine. I found it hard to visualize but interesting none the less.
December 5, 2024
Ondertussen wel gedateerd, maar wel prettig leesbaar nog door de setting in jaren 40.
December 20, 2024
A serviceable adventure of a mine engineer doing an illicit job. Second half better than first.
August 15, 2013
Hammond Innes always maintains a good standard as a thriller writer
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews