The Shadow Strikes

The Shadow Pulp #327

by Walter B. Gibson

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Walter Brown Gibson (September 12, 1897-December 6, 1985) was an American author and professional magician best known for his work on the pulp fiction character The Shadow. Gibson, under the pen-name Maxwell Grant, wrote "more than 300 novel-length" Shadow stories, writing up to "10,000 words a day" to satisfy public demand during the character's golden age in the 1930s and 1940s.

Reviews

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 2 out of 5]

So in the mid-sixties Belmont books revived the Shadow (written by Dennis Lynds, not Gibson) for a brief run of new paperbacks. The death of a Yugoslavian immigrant involved with an East European refugee-resettlement group draws the Shadow's attention: Was it just a hit and run accident? Who is the silent, scarfaced killer hunting down the people involved? What's behind it all?
This is competent but not up to the best of the original pulp. It's a lot talkier and the international-intrigue aspects seem to owe a lot to James Bond (I also wonder if the caped Shadow being described as bat-like was meant to invoke comics' Caped Crusader). Probably a cooler read back when pulp reprints weren't around as an alternative.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man is killed in what is made to look like a hit-and-run accident, but it leads The Shadow to uncover an international crime scheme. This one has a kind of James Bond feel to it, and the shadows original helper -- Harry Vincent and Cliff Marsland -- are nowhere to be found, having been seemingly replaced by Margo Lane. It doesn't read like one of the original Shadow novels (this having been written in the 1960s), but it is still a very good story.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of Men??? The Shadow knows!!!