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Gregory Sallust #11
Black August
circa 1960
First Gregory Sallust book published, number 10 in chronological order.
England, involved through the ruin of other countries, is faced with financial collapse and revolution, bringing panic, street-fighting and an uncontrolled exodus from the cities to the countryside, where bands of starving people wander, pillaging for food.
Out of the terror and the bloodshed steps Gregory Sallust, to take the leadership of a group of men and women seeking only to survive: to lead them through bitter hardship and terrible hazard to a rural settlement which they fortify against invasion, and which, at first, seems reasonably secure. .
First Gregory Sallust book published, number 10 in chronological order.
England, involved through the ruin of other countries, is faced with financial collapse and revolution, bringing panic, street-fighting and an uncontrolled exodus from the cities to the countryside, where bands of starving people wander, pillaging for food.
Out of the terror and the bloodshed steps Gregory Sallust, to take the leadership of a group of men and women seeking only to survive: to lead them through bitter hardship and terrible hazard to a rural settlement which they fortify against invasion, and which, at first, seems reasonably secure. .
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
5 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Wheatley
385 books248 followersDennis Yates Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) [Born: Dennis Yeats 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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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 24, 2025
For anyone who likes a good, fast-paced , lucidly written adventure tale, it's hard to go past Dennis Yates Wheatley. In his time he was one of Britain's best-selling authors, and the press called him (not without justification) "The prince of thriller writers." A revival today would be good to see. However, as with many authors who were plying their trade in the first half of the twentieth century, modern readers should be aware that some of the "givens" of Wheatley's backgrounds are a little, urm - let's say "unreconstructed."
Wheatly believed that the Aristocracy were, by definition, finer and more "noble" than commoners, that the poor should know their place (and touch their forelocks to the rich,) any form of redistribution of wealth was evil, and that Asians, Africans and Hispanics were automatically inferior to Anglo-Saxons. It was all right to be a Jew, an American or a European if you were absolutely well-educated and rich, but of course that was only second best to being British.
Any modern reader who is capable of getting by this and taking Wheatley on his own terms is in for a real treat. Many of his books also bring in Satanism and black magic, which of course are staples of modern popular literature, but a real envelope-pusher in DW's day!
Wheatley also gave us one of the toughest, most intriguing secret agents of all time - Gregory Sallust, the "Scarlet Imposter". You think Bourne or Bond had the right stuff? Sallust could outfight, outshag and outspy them both without putting down his pate de foi-gras sandwich!
"Black August" is sort of, kind of, a Gregory Sallust book, erm, but it also kind of isn't... OK, I know that's a bit ambigious. Let me explain.
The Sallust "timeline" is, normally, pretty consistent, starting with Gregory as a journnalist foiling international spies back in the 30s, ("Contraband") and going on until his late middle age after the war, with a series of adventure tales that end with "The White Witch of the South Seas." Reading these in series paint a perfect picture of this imaginary larger-than-life character's biography. And all of them are real page turners.
But it is not unknown for an author to sometimes write a story about a character, then use the same person (same name, same attributes) in another series of works not entirely internally consistent with what has gone before, and sometimes in direct contradiction. And that's what we have here. this one is a "post apocolyptic" story that takes place in an imaginary future (at the time it was written) in which Britain has become a fascist police state, ruled by the "Greyshirts," and in which all the social conventions have broken down. It's a great adventure story, but obviously written before Wheatley had truly worked out what he wanted to do with Sallust... and therefore contradicts what the "other," more familiar Sallust does in his lifetime.
There is probably a technical name for this, such as "pre-reboot" or "alternate universe Sallust" or something... it would be as if Tolkien wrote a story about Frodo in which the heroic hobbit went to fight in the war between the Dwarves and the Orcs and married a dwarf queen, or something. Such a tale might well make an intriguing altenate-universe fanfic, but it could never be canon! And "Black August," quite simply, is "out of canon." I'm sure I am not the only Sallust fanatic that devoutly wishes DW had written the same book but called his hero something different, and published it as a work of Dystopian SF.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is, this book was less enjoyable than the other Sallust books for me simply because it does not fit into the established universe of the others, rather than any failings in the writing itself. Those who have never read the other Sallust books, and take this one in isolation will possibly find it a gobsmackingly great read. As for me, I'd rate any of the other Sallust books as 4 or 5 stars, but this one barely scrapes a three.
Wheatly believed that the Aristocracy were, by definition, finer and more "noble" than commoners, that the poor should know their place (and touch their forelocks to the rich,) any form of redistribution of wealth was evil, and that Asians, Africans and Hispanics were automatically inferior to Anglo-Saxons. It was all right to be a Jew, an American or a European if you were absolutely well-educated and rich, but of course that was only second best to being British.
Any modern reader who is capable of getting by this and taking Wheatley on his own terms is in for a real treat. Many of his books also bring in Satanism and black magic, which of course are staples of modern popular literature, but a real envelope-pusher in DW's day!
Wheatley also gave us one of the toughest, most intriguing secret agents of all time - Gregory Sallust, the "Scarlet Imposter". You think Bourne or Bond had the right stuff? Sallust could outfight, outshag and outspy them both without putting down his pate de foi-gras sandwich!
"Black August" is sort of, kind of, a Gregory Sallust book, erm, but it also kind of isn't... OK, I know that's a bit ambigious. Let me explain.
The Sallust "timeline" is, normally, pretty consistent, starting with Gregory as a journnalist foiling international spies back in the 30s, ("Contraband") and going on until his late middle age after the war, with a series of adventure tales that end with "The White Witch of the South Seas." Reading these in series paint a perfect picture of this imaginary larger-than-life character's biography. And all of them are real page turners.
But it is not unknown for an author to sometimes write a story about a character, then use the same person (same name, same attributes) in another series of works not entirely internally consistent with what has gone before, and sometimes in direct contradiction. And that's what we have here. this one is a "post apocolyptic" story that takes place in an imaginary future (at the time it was written) in which Britain has become a fascist police state, ruled by the "Greyshirts," and in which all the social conventions have broken down. It's a great adventure story, but obviously written before Wheatley had truly worked out what he wanted to do with Sallust... and therefore contradicts what the "other," more familiar Sallust does in his lifetime.
There is probably a technical name for this, such as "pre-reboot" or "alternate universe Sallust" or something... it would be as if Tolkien wrote a story about Frodo in which the heroic hobbit went to fight in the war between the Dwarves and the Orcs and married a dwarf queen, or something. Such a tale might well make an intriguing altenate-universe fanfic, but it could never be canon! And "Black August," quite simply, is "out of canon." I'm sure I am not the only Sallust fanatic that devoutly wishes DW had written the same book but called his hero something different, and published it as a work of Dystopian SF.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is, this book was less enjoyable than the other Sallust books for me simply because it does not fit into the established universe of the others, rather than any failings in the writing itself. Those who have never read the other Sallust books, and take this one in isolation will possibly find it a gobsmackingly great read. As for me, I'd rate any of the other Sallust books as 4 or 5 stars, but this one barely scrapes a three.
March 19, 2015
This tale of desperation & anarchy really sucked me in, no matter that it's 70 years old. The part on the ship lost me but I really enjoyed the rest of the tale. Excellent! Looks like I picked a good one for my first Dennis Wheatley.
Back cover:
England Falls To Anarchy: murder, rape, starvation stalk the land. Gregory Sallust, the tough, enigmatic journalist, takes command of a small body of men and women, leads them out of the bloody chaos of London to establish a fortified settlement on the Suffolk coast.
Back cover:
England Falls To Anarchy: murder, rape, starvation stalk the land. Gregory Sallust, the tough, enigmatic journalist, takes command of a small body of men and women, leads them out of the bloody chaos of London to establish a fortified settlement on the Suffolk coast.
August 11, 2024
Dennis Wheatley wrote 11 novels featuring the “hero” Gregory Sallust. This is the first one he wrote, but is the 11th if you are looking at chronological order in terms of when it is set. I prefer reading in the order the author wrote rather than in chronological order, so read this one first. I have the 4th but not yet the 2nd or 3rd, so will not be reading others in the series for a while.
I put “hero” in inverted commas, as Sallust does not necessarily come across as a particularly likeable man. In some ways he is, but he certainly has some serious flaws. As do all the other men in this novel. I find the two ladies who appear throughout to be much more likeable and less flawed than the men. I think this is a deliberate ploy by Wheatley, showing us men totally revealed with their strengths and weaknesses clearly on display.
This novel was set in the future at the time it was written, although it would be quite distant past now. A time when there are worldwide catastrophes resulting in a lack of food and goods, breakdown of the financial systems, swiftly followed by a breakdown of society. Riots throughout the country. I chose to read it, not deliberately, in August when there are riots throughout the country!
It is a good adventure novel, making you want to keep turning the page to find out what is going to happen next. As I have found is the case with Dennis Wheatley novels. It also has good love interest. And I certainly identified with the heroes despite their obvious flaws, and wanted them to succeed, which I find always makes a novel much more enjoyable. But as I have commented in a previous review of one of his works I think he overdoes the accents, to the point where it disturbs the flow. In the case of this novel, the East London accent.
Not the best of Wheatley’s novels, but still recommended
I put “hero” in inverted commas, as Sallust does not necessarily come across as a particularly likeable man. In some ways he is, but he certainly has some serious flaws. As do all the other men in this novel. I find the two ladies who appear throughout to be much more likeable and less flawed than the men. I think this is a deliberate ploy by Wheatley, showing us men totally revealed with their strengths and weaknesses clearly on display.
This novel was set in the future at the time it was written, although it would be quite distant past now. A time when there are worldwide catastrophes resulting in a lack of food and goods, breakdown of the financial systems, swiftly followed by a breakdown of society. Riots throughout the country. I chose to read it, not deliberately, in August when there are riots throughout the country!
It is a good adventure novel, making you want to keep turning the page to find out what is going to happen next. As I have found is the case with Dennis Wheatley novels. It also has good love interest. And I certainly identified with the heroes despite their obvious flaws, and wanted them to succeed, which I find always makes a novel much more enjoyable. But as I have commented in a previous review of one of his works I think he overdoes the accents, to the point where it disturbs the flow. In the case of this novel, the East London accent.
Not the best of Wheatley’s novels, but still recommended
January 16, 2018
I read a short plot description, years ago, of an apocalyptic book, set in the UK, involving an economic collapse causing petrol shortages, starvation and a rapid descent into anarchy. No title or author was mentioned. Despite correctly guessing at the author and looking through his works, I missed this book until now, when I stumbled across it in my library's Overdrive collection.
It was written shortly after the Wall Street Crash and is a thriller, part of a series featuring Gregory Sallust, A James Bond style action man. I believe that the remainder of the series are set a decade later, during world war 2.
I found the author's elitist worldview and outdated social politics unpalatable, the characters for the most part, unlikeable and the 1930's , toffee-nosed dialogue grated on my ear. About half way through the pace stalls with a dreary boat trip and the ending was disappointing.
Despite these negatives, the book contained sufficient apocalyptic elements for me, as a committed apocalyptophile, to find it enjoyable. There's a road trip (through Kent and Suffolk) featuring actual landmarks (always a bonus in these days of search engines and streetview) and then the usual creation of a base and battles for resources.
It was written shortly after the Wall Street Crash and is a thriller, part of a series featuring Gregory Sallust, A James Bond style action man. I believe that the remainder of the series are set a decade later, during world war 2.
I found the author's elitist worldview and outdated social politics unpalatable, the characters for the most part, unlikeable and the 1930's , toffee-nosed dialogue grated on my ear. About half way through the pace stalls with a dreary boat trip and the ending was disappointing.
Despite these negatives, the book contained sufficient apocalyptic elements for me, as a committed apocalyptophile, to find it enjoyable. There's a road trip (through Kent and Suffolk) featuring actual landmarks (always a bonus in these days of search engines and streetview) and then the usual creation of a base and battles for resources.
May 29, 2025
Wheatley's third published novel, this is a political science-fiction novel set in a world where almost all of Europe's political systems have failed. It follows several British characters, who are trying to find a place to wait out the political upheaval, or maybe create their own haven. At the time of writing, this was probably pretty wild stuff -- and I have to say, reading it in 2025, there are a LOT of echoes of our current world's political issues -- but it's very, very British, and very, very 1930's political. Wheatley is a savvy enough writer that it's an interesting read, and the action sequences are quite well done, but they are few and far between, and a lot of the character relationships are pretty stuffy to the modern reader. An interesting book, as a time capsule.
May 25, 2022
Sallust
Never read a book about Gregory before without the accompaniment of Sir Pellinore Grains Cost but this time he managed splendidly without the man with an eye for a good horse and a pretty lady but no brains, no brains at all.
Never read a book about Gregory before without the accompaniment of Sir Pellinore Grains Cost but this time he managed splendidly without the man with an eye for a good horse and a pretty lady but no brains, no brains at all.
January 5, 2026
I read an article that compared the character to James Bond and the author to Ian Fleming. Although this ilisted as No 10 in the series, it's actually the first. A good counter-factual history about England falling to the Reds in early '30's.
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June 14, 2021Trash but enjoyable trash : )
June 30, 2021
This has not aged well. First read it back in the '60's and thought it good. Does not stand up to re-reading. Attitudes of author a little out of date too.
February 4, 2017
Black August receives 3 stars not for reasons of racism, classism, and sexism, though it is occasionally a bit of a slog because of this. This effort gets 3 stars because the book was confused about what it was: adventure, action, apocalyptic meditation. Then there was the issue of the whole aborted adventure on the high-seas...what was that all about.
what was interesting was how a Brit in the 1930s would view the apocalypse...good early effort that.
If you are a diehard Wheatley fanboy you'll enjoy this effort...otherwise, you may wish to steer clear.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
what was interesting was how a Brit in the 1930s would view the apocalypse...good early effort that.
If you are a diehard Wheatley fanboy you'll enjoy this effort...otherwise, you may wish to steer clear.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
July 25, 2013
A great Wheatley novel with some great twists in the story. At times the book drags on slightly, especially the lengthy section that takes place on the boat. However, the book makes an exciting read with a gripping ending.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews