"Yellow peril": The adventures of Sir John Weymouth-Smythe : a novel

by Richard Jaccoma

Imaginative adventure novel featuring the evil Dr. Chou en Shu and British agent Sir John Weymouth-Smythe.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

383 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's the 1930s and Sir John, a dauntless agent of the British empire, finds himself pitted against sinister Chinese mastermind Chou en Shu—but is Chou the real villain, or is he fighting against something even worse? What role does the ancient Spear of Destiny play? Would Sir John's boss actually ally with Nazis? I've often thought that a pastiche where Fu Manchu is the good guy and his British enemies the villains has potential, but I don't think this quite fulfills it. There's too much stock "sinister oriental" imagery, and if you know going in that all is not what it seems (and I doubt anyone picked this up believing Sir John was a reliable narrator), that undercuts a lot of the twists. That said, this still worked pretty well for me.

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover my my edition proudly proclaims that it is written "in the outrageous style of the original pulps!", and it really is. Besides some of the graphic sex thrown in here, I wouldn't have been surprised to find that I was reading a story from the original Weird Tales magazine.

What really makes it stand out, though, is that it slyly subverts the pulp genre. You start to feel that something is amiss before you come to the full realization that our hero is actually a villain and the "evil sorcerer" that he is hunting across the world is actually the good guy.

Overall an outstanding and action-packed piece of pulp.

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't see this one getting rereleased any time soon.