Red Masquerade

Lone Wolf #4

by Louis Joseph Vance

Red Masquerade By Louis Joseph Vance

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Louis Joseph Vance was a novelist educated in the preparatory department of the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He wrote short stories and verse after 1901, then composed many popular novels. His character "Michael Lanyard", also known as "The Lone Wolf", was featured in eight books and 24 films between 1914 and 1949, and also appeared in radio and television series.

Vance was separated from his wife (whom he married in 1898 and by whom he had a son the next year) when he was found dead in a burnt armchair inside his New York apartment; a cigarette had ignited some benzene (used for cleaning his clothes or for his broken jaw) that he had on his body and he was intoxicated at the time. He had recently returned from the West Indies, where he gathered material for a new book. The death was ruled accidental.

Reviews

[Mh430 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots to enjoy in this novel. First, there's an extended flashback to Michael Lanyard's life before the First World War to when he was an unabashed thief and the possibility of reformation not even a faint glimmer on the horizon. The bulk of this story though, takes place a year or so after the Armistice and Lanyard is still a highly regarded intelligence operative. Here he's tasked with stopping a monstrously evil plot that could easily have been lifted from a Fu Manchu or James Bond novel. Lanyard is off screen for long periods of time however, and the daughter he never know he had, Sofia, is the proxy hero(ine) of the story. Curiously enough, because of the circumstances of cruel fate, her childhood parallels that of Lanyard himself, a chaotic and loveless upbringing without moral guidance. So what could be more natural than for her to become a self-assured thief as well? But it doesn't happen like that. Possibly the concept just didn't appeal to the Victorian sensibilities of forty-something year old author Louis Joseph Vance. Anyway, Sofia comes across as rather insipid, deploring her miserable existence but taking no decisive steps to escape from it. She doesn't act, she reacts to the people around her and that doesn't make for particularly exciting reading. Fortunately, her father comes out of the shadows at novel's end and the villain's bloody-handed plot is foiled in a satisfactory manner (3.5 stars)

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: we learn more about Michael and his illegal activities before the Great War. After the war he's still a spy.

[Edward Butler · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a fan of the Lone Wolf novels, but sadly this one was rendered unreadable for me by the vile Asian stereotypes.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much different than the first three novels that focus solely on the Lone Wolf this was more about the daughter and her adventure than of Michael Lanyard. Very interesting turn of the characters.