White Raven

by Michael Blodgett

Product Details Paperback Publisher: Bantam Books (January 1986)

Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Michael Blodgett was born on January 1, 1940 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Blodgett attended the University of Minnesota and began his acting career in his hometown of Minneapolis. Michael earned a law degree in political science from Cal State Los Angeles and attended Loyola Law School for a year. Blodgett quit acting in the late 70s and became a successful novelist and screenwriter. He penned the novels "Captain Blood", "Hero and the Terror" and "The White Raven". In addition, he either wrote or co-wrote the scripts for the Chuck Norris action vehicle "Hero and the Terror" (1988) , the hit comedy "Turner & Hooch" (1989), "Rent-a-Cop" (1987), "Run" (1991), and "The White Raven" (1998). Michael Blodgett died at age 67 from a heart attack on November 14, 2007.

Reviews

[Paperback Papa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is pretty typical of a lot of 1980's thrillers. It's about a gigantic diamond (the White Raven) that is worth many millions of dollars. The thing is, the diamond is missing, and has been for years. But now Rudolph Hess, Hitler's second in command, who is old and crazy and sitting in prison, has asked to talk to a noted journalist in private, face to face. Speculation is that Hess knows where the diamond is and is going to tell the journalist before he dies.

You can imagine what happens. Every crook and sinister organization in the world--from the mafia to the Neo-Nazis--descends on the poor journalist, trying to capture and torture him, and extract the location of the diamond.

The book is a little slow in places, which accounts for my 3-star rating. But when it's galloping along, it's pretty good. And I tip my cap to the author for a spectacular twist regarding the location of the diamond. I did not see it coming, but smiled and nodded when the author hit the punch line.

It's not the greatest 80's thriller, but it's not bad. If it had been 50 pages shorter, it would have been better.

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1987. Suspense thriller.