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The Secret Masters
by
Suspense Novel--About a few Men who Wanted the World for Themselves! Kersh's classic about unlikely investigators into the diabolical schemes of men beyond the law.
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Paperback, 200 pages
Published
April 1st 2006
by Blackmask.com
(first published 1953)
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The most plot-driven Kersh book I have read, which admittedly isn't saying much. It wouldn't be Kersh without much rambling, irrelevant but engaging backstory, and weird side characters being weird, all of which is present in spades, but this also has a great 'fending off conspiracy to destroy the world' SF plot with an extremely modern feel to it, and very nasty mega-rich villains, plus a lovely central friendship. A book that deserves rediscovery. (A few racial slurs though, casually used in t
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Middle period Kersh, where he is beginning to branch out and explore more types of fiction. The closest genre this would fit into would probably be some type of mystery or adventure. Published in 1952 and long out of print, I can imagine it being read by Ian Fleming and used as an inspiration for a James Bond novel.
Moments of brilliance are found throughout the novel, and it was very well plotted and paced. I think it would stand up to repeated reading, and more artistry and skill would emerge. ...more
Moments of brilliance are found throughout the novel, and it was very well plotted and paced. I think it would stand up to repeated reading, and more artistry and skill would emerge. ...more
Kersh was one of those pulp outliers who dabbled in multiple genres without ever settling in one. The Great Wash is his espionage thriller about two journalist stumbling upon a conspiracy to destroy the world. Very much of it is in the "That was a very fascinating story you just told me. It reminds me of this very fascinating story I will now relate to you" style of writing.
If you ever wondered what an Arthur Machen penned James Bond thriller might have read like, then this book is your answer. ...more
If you ever wondered what an Arthur Machen penned James Bond thriller might have read like, then this book is your answer. ...more
I read this novel under the title "The Third Compartment", a serial in an Australian newspaper consisting of five instalments printed in January and February of 1953. It has a Vernian plot mixed with elements of a thriller, social commentary and some thin references to the international situation.
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Gerald Kersh was born in Teddington-on-Thames, near London, and, like so many writers, quit school to take on a series of jobs -- salesman, baker, fish-and-chips cook, nightclub bouncer, freelance newspaper reporter and at the same time was writing his first two novels.
In 1937, his third published novel, Night and the City, hurled him into the front ranks of young British writers. Twenty novels la ...more
In 1937, his third published novel, Night and the City, hurled him into the front ranks of young British writers. Twenty novels la ...more
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“He opened the door and led me through a corridor into a dark green lounge curiously paneled with pale green glass behind which, at cunningly measured distances, lay exquisitely painted panoramas of strange seas and beautiful landfalls. Standing in the center of the room, and slowly turning, a man might imagine that Satan had taken him to the top of a high mountain, and was showing him all the kingdoms of the earth... until he put out his hand to touch the middle distance, and felt a window, and saw through it to the heart of the illusion.”
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