THOSE IN PERIL – A READER’S OPINION

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High veldts and deep jungles, a righteous but rogue Afrikaner, gold and diamond mines, accidental love and high octane action very well captured in the back drops of the Dark Continent. This summarizes the works of one my favourite author – Wilbur Smith. Though I use the common Library for borrowing novels, I bought a copy of “Those in Peril” – the latest novel by Wilbur Smith from an online book store. I was a little excited on the prospect of reading his new novel. I had in mind the vivid African landscapes, the hapless men pitted against fate and the hunting, soldiering, and chivalrous Afrikaner hero with some of his black and faithful side kicks.

The story began on a ship. The fast paced story line from “As hungry as the sea” flashed through my mind. But as I read on and on, I realized with a sinking feeling that this was not what I expected. The story was a loosely put together one with a wealthy oil magnate’s daughter being captured by the Somalian pirates, and the head of the security for the oil company - of course an ex military man – being sent in for the rescue. On the due course of the story, the wealthy oil magnate and the security man falls in love with each other. The author, when narrating the love in between, becomes so childish that he makes the protagonist and his love life exchange teenager like love notes quipping” from H to H”. The depiction of the valentines is so amateurish that I felt I was being attacked by a serious case of Mills and Boons syndrome, which in comparison provides what it is known for.

It was really hard for me to believe that this novel is the work of the man who famously wrote the Golden Fox, created the Courtneys and provided immense and satisfying entertainment for the casual readers. I hope that this is one of those bad books amongst the many good ones.   

Comments

  1. JoshjoeNovember 25, 2011 at 10:05 AM

    No body thinks of putting a comment here. So what to the desperate author do? pot one by himself, for himself :)

    ReplyDelete

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