Night of the Black Frost

My monthly review of an Arthur Catherall book continues. I've become quite fond of the British author and his nautical adventure fiction that was originally catered for the young adult market. I've covered his books HERE and featured the author's literary work and author on a podcast episode HERE. I continue my examination and enjoyment with the author's Night of the Black Frost. The book was published in both England (J.M. Dent) and America ((Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard Co.) in 1968. 

Norwegian young adult Leif has just graduated high school and is in that life-lull deciding how to spend his time prior to college. His friends convince him to tour Europe for months, but Leif's father has another plan. He'll support and pay Leif's way to northwest to the Barents Sea, a frigid wasteland of ice between the Arctic Ocean and Russia. He convinces Leif to spend a few weeks with his uncles, Peder and Jan, on their commercial fishing expeditions. Leif, longing for adventure and maturity, accepts.

Onboard his uncle's fishing trawler, Leif experiences a harrowing two-day adventure. His Uncle Peder is hesitant about Leif's participation in the dangerous fishing expedition. Uncle Jan is a bit more patient and understanding. For Leif, his endurance and stamina is tested when two Russian pilots plunge into the frosty ocean in an accident. When Peder and Jan attempt a rescue they become lost at sea. It is up to Leif to run the trawler, make a rescue of his uncles and the pilots, while enduring a black frost (when fog turns to ice). 

This 166-page book was a short perfect example of what Catherall does so well – nautical adventure storytelling that features ordinary young people facing life-threatening adult decisions that accelerates their maturity and personal growth. As I always preach in these reviews, throw out the stigma of young adult. The book has an intense survival element with some gritty life choices including possible amputation of a leg, frostbite, hypothermia, and a very personal conflict facing one of the Russian pilots. There's turmoil and intrigue involving the Russian government and their interaction with these Norwegian fishermen. 

Night of the Black Frost is a fantastic adventure that showcases everything I love about this captivating author. If you like books in the style of Hammond Innes (The White South comes to mind) then look no further than this must-read. Highly recommended.

Con & Ginty #01 - Coral Reef Castaway

British writer Arthur Catherall used his own name and a variety of pseudonyms to write adventure novels and stories marketed for young adults. One of those was Peter Hallard, a name Catherall used to write Coral Reef Castaway. The book was published in England by Phoenix House Ltd. in 1958 and in the U.S. by Criterion Books. The American edition, in hardcover, contains illustrations by Terence Greer.

As I've alluded to in my reviews, and discussed on a podcast feature, Catherall's writing was certainly marketed to teen boys, but in reality there's nothing that floats it too far from the adventure buoy established by the likes of Ace, Bantam, or Fawcett Gold Medal paperbacks. Often a younger character is featured as the protagonist which aligns with a teen consumer. That connection is prominent in Coral Reef Castaway.

The book begins with a young man named Con Murray aboard a pleasure schooner in the Pacific. With trade winds blowing from the Queensland Coast, the voyage is sailing peacefully northwards inside the Great Barrier Reef. Due to a whaling accident, Con is accidentally thrown overboard and left behind. When a search of the waters fails to discover Con the ship's crew assumes he is dead. But, little do they know that the ravaged and weary young man has found a cay for sanctuary.

On this small little island Con is saved by another castaway, an old man named Ginty. After nourishment and rest, Con learns that Ginty experienced a ship wreck 21 years ago and he's been on this island since. But, now that Con is there he has a plan to escape the island with hundreds of thousands of dollars in valuable pearls. Shortly before his shipwreck, Giny had invested his time in pearl culturing – deliberately placing a small pebble inside of an oyster so they grow the pearl. Pear farming is explained masterfully by Catherall through his character. I found it nothing short of fascinating and now I want pearls. 

Con and Ginty can now work together to dive to the ocean depths to harvest the pearls. One man to crank the air pump and another to dive. Also, the two can successfully paddle boat the 30+ miles to civilization. But, like any good rags to riches tale, the endeavor introduces a criminal element that shakes the narrative and spins the moral compass of key characters.

Coral Reef Castaway is an enjoyable diving adventure that includes some tense moments in deep water. There's the obligatory ordeal with sharks and razor-sharp coral, but Catherall's leading duo experience the most trouble on land fighting the two-legged predator. There's diving rivalries, gunfire, survival elements, and the aforementioned underseas adventure to keep readers engaged for 200 pages. The central highlight is the old man of the sea mentoring the next generation. Catherall is an experienced journeyman and lived an exciting life of adventure. His resume of fishing, diving, and surviving in exotic locales inserts itself intentionally into the makeup of these characters and how they behave in harsh conditions.

If you love Catherall's writing as much as I do then you'll find plenty to like here. Don't let the cover and young adult stigma fool you. This is a recommended read. If you like both of these characters, Catherall wrote at least one more book starring the duo, Barrier Reef Bandits, published in 1960. I can't locate enough information to determine if Guardian of the Reef from 1961 includes these same characters. You can get these books HERE.

Bulldog #01 - Ten Fathoms Deep

I've recently re-discovered the literary work of Arthur Catherall. He's quickly becoming my destination for instant gratification. His books, marketed for young adults, have adventure ingredients that aren't a far cry from a Fawcett Gold Medal or Ace paperback from the mid 20th century. Catherall authored a number of stand-alone adventures and mysteries, but he created a number of successful series titles as well. I covered one of these titles, the Fighting Four, and enjoyed the tense atmosphere and brisk pace of the WW2 high-adventures. Looking to repeat my enjoyable reading experience I opened up the series debut of Catherall's Bulldog series. 

In Ten Fathoms Deep, readers are introduced to 17-year old Jack Frodsham. After finishing school, Jack arrives in Singapore to meet with his father, Captain Frodsham. The Captain has enjoyed a successful salvaging and freighting career with his tugboat, Bulldog. Based out of the Lion City of Singapore, Frodsham has made his living in the warm rolling waters of the South China Seas. Now, his dreams of Jack joining the family business have become a reality. 

In the first chapter, Jack's father meets with a man who was purportedly dead. The man, “Husky” Hudson, explains to the Frodshams that he was a mate on the freight ship Tenasserim under the command of Captain Miller. However, the ship was mysteriously attacked and sunk. Hudson was ruled dead by drowning, but he managed to escape the attack. He advises the Frodshams that a criminal enterprise that owned the ship sunk it for insurance money. Captain Miller, who died in the attack, was left posthumously scrutinized under a false public statement that the Tenasserium perished due to the Captain's poor navigation of the the reef. Hudson wants to bring honor to Captain Miller's widow and has a plan in place.

Shortly after meeting with Hudson, Jack's father is nearly killed in a stabbing. Now hospitalized, he asks that Jack meet with Hudson to go over the plan and to take control of the Tugboat for all future jobs. His mate will be Hudson and they are joined with a small group of Malays led by Ahmat. Together, the crew will man the Tugboat to a secret place where Hudson knows that the Tenasserium is lying intact in just ten fathoms of water. If they can successfully retrieve the vessel they can prove that it wasn't the Captain's negligence or a reef miscalculation that led to the sinking. But, as the salvage operation commences, the crew are plagued by two rival tugboats and a crew of cutthroat criminals doing the bidding of a mysterious mastermind. 

Ten Fathoms Deep is an amazing book. First, forget the young-adult stigma that may be associated with Catherall and this series. The book reads like a nautical adventure penned by someone like A.S. Fleischman. In fact, the nautical fiction written by the likes of John Blackburn, Conrad Dawn, Arthur D. Howden Smith, and James Gribben certainly would welcome the Tugboat crew. While there isn't any romance, which is par for the course for a good nautical romp, there's plenty of tense adventure and intrigue that saturate the book under Catherall's excellent prose. 

The book, right at 200 pages, is brimming over with a frantic pace as the Tugboat races against the clock to salvage their target before they are obliterated by rival ships. There's a panic-stricken moment of horror when the Tugboat is nearly bombed and Jack must penetrate a pitch black ocean bottom without a guide. There's shipwrecks, island adventure, sunken treasure, some shady characters, fisticuffs, an aerial romp, and some gun-play. But what really sets this book apart is the amount of contractual intrigue. What I mean by that is that Jack and Hudson must navigate some of the details of the Tenasserium's original logs, their competition with a rival salvage gang, and the swerve of an existing job to take on the Tenasserium retrieval. There's also numerous hotheaded propositions made that force Jack into some really tight spots.

With the level of adventure and exciting locale, Ten Fathoms Deep gets my highest recommendation. This is a must-read and you can get your copy HERE.

Additionally, there were at least eleven of the series installments published between 1954 through 1968. The books were published by J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. in England and Criterion Books in the U.S.

Fighting Four #02 - The Tunnel Busters

Way back in 2019 I read a novel by British writer Arthur Catherall titled The Strange Intruder. I enjoyed the book immensely and have kept a watchful eye out for the author's work ever since. Unfortunately, despite his accomplishments as a successful young-adult writer, he has gone out of print and out of the public's eye. Thankfully, the power of the internet has produced some scans of a few of his out-of-print books including three of his exciting Fighting Four novels.

Based on the success of W.E. Johns young-adult military heroes, the Biggles, and his subsequent series Gimlet, many authors were hopeful to attract the same consumer base. Like Johns' mid-20th century novels, Catherall established his own team of military heroes, what I refer to as “Team-Commando”, in 1959 titled The Fighting Four. There were five books published between 1959 through 1964 beginning with the series eponymous debut, The Fighting Four. These WW2-fiction novels were published by Children's Press in England using Catherall's pseudonym of A.R. Channel. 

Typically I like to start any series with the debut. Unfortunately, the series starter isn't available to me so I settled for an introduction to the Fighting Four by way of the second installment, The Tunnel Busters, originally published in 1960. 

This 188-page book begins with a fitting introduction to the team members. Sam Foster is the radio communications specialist. China Brown (questionable name) manages the teams firearms and logistics. Curly Bates is the explosives expert. The group is led by all-around fighting man Sergeant Ted Harris. Based on their success in the first book's adventure, which featured a Norwegian locale, the four have been assigned an explosive new mission. 

Hitler has routed supplies for his troops by way of railroad through an underground tunnel from rural France into Italy. Due to the rugged mountaintops, the interior design of the tunnel, and the anti-aircraft defense, British intelligence wants the team to parachute in and detonate explosives within the tunnel. Paramount to the mission's success is working with the rebel French in an isolated village controlled by the Germans.

The Tunnel Busters was a nonstop action sequence permeating with tension. The book's pace kicks off with Sam's spiraling descent away from the team due to a barrage of German gunfire. Miles away, Sam befriends a young shepherd boy and his dog that prove crucial to the mission. From the onset there's a gunfight with Germans, a tense standoff in a nearby village, a rescue attempt, the aforementioned tunnel busting business, and a wild hostage situation that elevated the book's finale into an emotional roller coaster as German leaders are set to execute members of the team. 

Don't be afraid of the “young-adult” aura of this series and its reputation. Despite violent details from the author, it is clear that enemy forces are dying. Granted the team will typically just knock out their opponents or “riddle them with gunfire”, but Catherall's storytelling has a darker overtone at times with talk of torture, firing squads, and threats of mass slaughter. Comparisons are often made to Johns' Gimlet series, which is expected. However, from research online, it suggests that The Fighting Four are more “adult” in nature compared to the Gimlet or Biggles series. 

Despite lukewarm reviews, my sample-size experience with The Fighting Four was exceptional. I thoroughly enjoyed this high-adventure military yarn and would definitely recommend it to men's action-adventure fans of any age. I'll be reading more of these books. You can get them HERE.

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 121

In this episode, Eric embarks on a globe-trotting nautical adventure with a spotlight on Arthur Catherall, exploring his World War II-era series set in exotic locales. He also dives into a recent western discovery, reviews a thrilling novel about a runaway rollercoaster, and shares his thoughts on the latest short story collection from Bruce Elliott, newly released by Stark House Press. Stream it below, watch on YouTube HERE, or download HERE.

Listen to "Episode 121 Audio" on Spreaker.

The Strange Intruder

Arthur Catherall (1906-1980) was an adventurer at heart. From climbing mountains in Lapland and Algeria to sailing trawlers in the Atlantic and Arctic, the British author certainly had many life experiences to inspire his literary work. Utilizing over six different pseudonyms, Catherall wrote a high volume of young adult novels like “The Strange Intruder”. This sweeping 1964 adventure tale was first released as “The Strange Invader” before being reprinted by Archway as “The Strange Intruder” in 1968.

While never specifying a time period, the novel seems to be set in the present day (1964). The wind-swept location is the chilly Faroes Islands, geographically positioned north of the British Isles and just Southeast of Iceland. In the book's opening pages we read that the 900-ton schooner Faroes Seeker has struck an old wheelhouse assembly and torn the ship's hull. Miles off coast, the crew becomes stranded and forced to use battered sails on storm-ravaged seas. 

The book's young protagonist is Sven Klakk, a 16-year old fishermen learning the trade with his uncles. He's part of a small village living on the islands and has enough experience with a plethora of rigging, climbing, fishing and...adventuring. In some ways Sven is the life of the island, always there to help the elders while slowly evolving into a full-time role as statesman. Sven and his father see the ship and eventually round up the village to start making supplies available for the surviving crewmen.

In a wild turn of events, the villagers spot a crew member jumping from the ship and swimming to a storm-battered enclave. Sven, panicking to save the swimmer, races to the cliffs and the narrative really builds steam as we learn the crew member is actually a polar bear escaping captivity from the ship. Once Sven meets the bear...the fight is on. With very little supplies, an old shotgun and the storm raging on the island, the story has Sven and the villagers fighting off a ravenous polar bear that's angry out of his element.

Like most of Catherall's work, this is a coming of age tale about a young man saving his village. Metaphorically, the bear is Sven's own childhood raging to break free. With the backdrop of swollen seas, rocky cliffs and island life, the author creates a vivid, enjoyable adventure read for anyone. I'm passing it on to a 67-year old to read next. The kid in us never really ages.

Buy a copy of the book HERE