The House of Ravensbourne

The first thing you need to realize is that I read this melodrama paperback by accident. In researching a gothic paperback to joint-read with Nick at The Book Graveyard, I inadvertently picked the wrong book – The House of Ravensbourne. Granted, this 1965 Pyramid Books edition (R1205, cvr Mort Engel) is dressed up as a gothic, as well as the publisher's reprint in 1973 (N31927), it's still a melodrama. It's not a gothic. Unfortunately, this sort of thing happened often in the publishing world. Plenty of early 20th-century mystery novels and pulp stories were introduced to an unsuspecting public as gothic paperbacks in the 1960s and 1970s. 

The House of Ravensbourne began its literary life as The Amateur Governess, a hardcover published in 1964 by Hurst & Blackett's Valentine Romance Club. It was reprinted under that title in 1977 by Coronet. The author is Mary Ann Gibbs, a romance novelist who authored nearly 40 works over her thirty-year career. 

Catherine Whittingham and her sister Isabelle are the daughters of a successful British General. They live in Grey Ladies, a robust mansion located in a rural portion of the English countryside. After a decorative ball, Catherine is notified that her father has died from a sudden illness. During the will reading, the siblings learn that they are penniless as their father squandered away the family's fortune at the roulette table. Catherine is set to marry a wealthy young man named Anthony, but turns down any wedding preparation to concentrate on finding a new temporary home for her and Isabelle. They relocate to Brighton, where Isabelle will live with a rich widow, a sort of substitute daughter who can enjoy a splendid upbringing of dance and piano recitals, balls, and exquisite travel. But Catherine isn't offered the same deal.

Catherine becomes employed by Mrs. Ravensbourne, a wealthy widow living in a large estate next door to Isabelle's new residence. Her charge is a young woman named Amy, Mrs. Ravenbourne's neglected niece, who lives in an attic bedroom, eating table scraps and wearing rags. In the novel's backstory, we learn that Mrs. Ravensbourne's daughter Edith is her primary concern, a sick woman with a serious heart condition. When Amy's mother passed away, her father asked Mrs. Ravensbourne to take care of the child. Only she doesn't provide any care for the child other than shelter. This is where Catherine's journey begins. 

Through the first few weeks, Catherine must adjust to her new living conditions, the bitter rivalry between Amy and Mrs. Ravensbourne, and the harsh treatment heaped on her by the Ravensbourne staff. These scenes were just so moving, conveying the horrors of child abuse and neglect and how these things curb the ability to grow and mature. Catherine, through selfless sacrifice, becomes Amy's friend and mentor, encouraging her to make the most of her living conditions and situation. It was this portion of the narrative that reminded me of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Flowers in the Attic, as dismal as they may be. 

Catherine's self-discovery is a large portion of Gibbs's story, complete with the fallout of Anthony's marital vow, her eroding relationship with her sister, the adjustment to living as a commoner, and a light romantic spark for Amy's father, William. There are a couple of other interesting threads woven into Gibbs's effective prose that include Edith's growing relationship with Catherine, William's strife in building a local employment union, and a mesmerizing mystery on just who Amy's real mother is.

What started as an accident suddenly became one of the best reading experiences I've had. The House of Ravensbourne was a roller-coaster of emotions that left me glued to every page. Maybe I'm just becoming sensitive to this sort of thing in my older years, but the book was like the finest episodes of Downton Abbey – family turmoil, riches, romance, and political upheaval – all thrust into the pages of this simple little paperback.

So why did Pyramid pick this book to market as a gothic? The only real evidence is a short-lived plot in which Catherine occasionally hears footsteps outside of her bedroom door at night. There is also a disturbing scene where an attacker breaks into Amy's room and attempts to kill her. Perhaps someone at Pyramid found these elements prevalent enough to warrant a gothic treatment? If that's what brought you to the book, then you may be pleasantly surprised that this novel is so much more than that. Highest recommendation.

Burma Rifles

I've been on a Frank Bonham kick of late and wanted to continue reading his westerns, crime fiction, and juvenile fiction. I stumbled upon a striking cover for Burma Rifles (artist unknown) while surfing for more information about the author. This book was originally published in hardcover in 1960 by Thomas Y. Crowell Company. It was reprinted as a Berkley Highland paperback in August 1965. It went through at least four printings through April 1969. 

In Bonham's 1963 novel Deepwater Challenge, the author showcased a deep passion for Japanese-Americans relocated during WWII. In that novel, the character of Aki is revealed to be a Japanese-American farmer forced to abandon his home and business. As a diver, he volunteered to assist the U.S. Military during the war. Burma Rifles exhibits that same spirit and admiration for the Japanese-American history and culture. On the copyright page, it states:

This book is dedicated to those Americans of Japanese ancestry who served with the armed forces of the United States in World War II. In particular, it is the author's wish to commemorate the heroism of the fourteen Nisei volunteers with the 5307th Composite Unit – popularly known as “Merrill's Marauders” - whose very presence behind the enemy lines in Burma involved courage beyond the call of duty.

The author also includes a two-page Foreword about the history of Niseis, their achievements during WWII, and the bitter treatment of the Japanese and Japanese-Americans who spent the war in relocation centers. He applauds their willingness to forget past unhappiness and their resounding ability to live in the present. Bonham lists several resources he used for the book, including Charlton Ogburn's The Marauders and interviews with several military leaders. 

The book introduces readers to Jerry, a young Japanese-American living on his family's Southern California farm. Both of his parents were born in Japan and moved to the U.S. chasing the American dream. Jerry is in the drugstore when a radio broadcast announces that Pearl Harbor has been bombed. In an instant, Jerry's friends and fellow citizens turn on him, an event that escalates into a horrific attack on his family's farm. It is these scenes where Jerry is “born”, where his adversity, kindness, and strengths rise to the occasion. As a reader, I became so enamored with this character. I gained an instant respect for him and his family. 

Jerry is recruited into the Army. He is sent, along with dozens of other men of Japanese ancestry, to a special boot camp that specializes in combat and linguistics. It will be Jerry's role to translate on the field of battle, including interrogating prisoners, reading intelligence reports, and listening to Japanese conversations behind enemy lines. A good portion of the book is dedicated to Jerry's training and his experiences training for Operation Galahad, a massive fight in the China Burma India theater. 

The book's second half is an action-packed sequence of grueling battles in the jungle. Jerry's first experiences in battle are especially emotional, but Bonham doesn't pull any punches. The visceral details - harrowing sense of doom, the aura of blood-drenched foxholes, exhaustion, desperation – it's just intoxicating under Bonham's compelling prose. While there's not one main objective, the day-to-day routine is enough adventure to pack the pages. Jerry interrogates several prisoners, including a female dancer, and develops some strong connections with his Japanese ancestry. It all culminates in a blistering final fight to take a Japanese island stronghold. 

There aren't a lot of books that I would swear to read again. However, I enjoyed Burma Rifles so much that I have to read it again. There are so many little details, so much emotional dexterity, and a battle-born texture to it that just has to be relived again. I was saddened to leave Jerry's journey at the end of the novel. That's a sure-fire sign of a great book – never wanting it to end. Burma Rifles was that good.

You can read the novel for free HERE or buy a vintage copy HERE.

Ingram

Louis C.K. is one of America’s top stand-up comics, so it came as a surprise when he released Ingram, a literary historical novel inspired by the work of William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell and John Steinbeck. 

Our narrator is Ingram, a young boy (age likely under 10) living in abject parental neglect in rural Texas during what is likely the Great Depression (the exact era is never disclosed). His parents treat him like a piece of livestock. No school. No love or care. He sleeps on a blanket in the shed of his father’s unproductive farm. His parents taught him nothing about the world and barely acknowledged his existence. 

The imminent foreclosure of the farm and the separation of Ingram’s parents find the boy cast onto the dusty road to fend for himself in a world where he knows less than nothing about being human, much less independent. Battling ignorance and starvation in the early chapters, the reader is left wondering how little Ingram will survive. 

Much of the novel is a “fish out of water” story about Ingram learning about basics (“if you don’t drink water daily, you’ll die) as if he were an alien trying to assimilate among earthlings. His travel-by-foot adventure reminded me of a tragic Huckleberry Finn, but instead of a trusty slave, Ingram is mostly alone - relying on the kindness of strangers to cobble together enough life lessons to help a young boy survive the crushing poverty of his existence. 

There are moments of joy and humor that C.K. delivers quite well, but Ingram’s adventures and the working-poor’s poverty along the way are some bleak fiction. It’s also compelling as hell. The reader grows to love our pre-pubescent, stoic narrator who has nothing going for him other than his innate innocence about…everything. 

This is one of the best books I’ve read in ages. Although it’s technically literary fiction, the pages fly by like a pulp novel because the narrator is a kid. There’s no central plot to the book other than a young man’s education among the dusty roads, tumbleweeds, and Ingram’s coming to terms with the abject neglect of his earliest years. 

I don’t get the impression that the novel has been a tremendous economic success. I suspect people didn’t know what to make of a serious historical novel by a raunchy stadium comedian. I hope that the book is rediscovered in paperback and has a second life. It’s really something special, and I want to read more Louis C.K. serious fiction. Highest recommendation.

Get the book HERE.

Hawker #08 - Terror in D.C.

I read the first six Hawker novels in quick succession and enjoyed them immensely. I took a breather and read the seventh installment a few years later. Again, after a hiatus, I have returned to the series with the eighth novel, Terror in D.C., published in 1986 by Dell using Randy Wayne White's manly pseudonym of Carl Ramm. The whole series is available in reprinted digital and print editions from Open Road Media. 

In the book's opening chapters, Hawker is involved in an active shooter situation at a school. In a rather confusing opener, Hawker is seen moving throughout the school's outer perimeters and into a local neighborhood. In pursuit of the shooter, he stumbles upon a woman who fools him into a false sense of security. Hawker is shot in the chest, and the game's over – literally. It turns out this was a simulated firefight hosted by a recruiting division of the C.I.A. The whole thing was orchestrated by Hawker's employer, Jacob Montgomery Hayes, upon request by the agency. The C.I.A. is aware of Hawker's vigilante missions, his determination to stop crime, and the success he's experienced in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Houston. 

Unfortunately, Hawker is denied by the C.I.A., but this was all a ruse. Behind the scenes, the agency wants to utilize Hawker to perform some off-the-radar missions (isn't all of the C.I.A. Off-the-radar?!?). Hawker is advised of a serial bombing affecting suburban families in the D.C. area. Readers already know the Iranian cell behind these attacks, but Hawker gets to work on the investigation. He finds the spearpoint, a local businessman that is funding the activities. Hawker also romances a U.S. Senator, a woman who will apparently pay larger dividends in a through-story. As the book closes, it is implied that Hawker is now on the run from the C.I.A., and this Senator may be helping him avoid capture. 

Hawker novels are breezy, senseless fun that reads a lot like Dirty Harry or some of the higher-numbered Mack Bolan novels. It's a formula, but the hero's finesse is appealing to me. As always, there are a few mentions of Hawker's prior experiences with the Chicago Police Department and what led to his vigilante missions. I wish the author would delve more into Hayes and his butler Hendrikcks, a former British secret agent. This seems to be a missed opportunity.

You can get Terror in D.C. HERE.

Deepwater Challenge

Based on a small sample size, what I've read by Frank Bonham has been exceptional. He authored for the pulps in the 1940s and 1950s, then moved into writing full-length novels and television scripts. He's mostly known for his western writing, but he was a consistent juvenile and YA writer. I found a copy of his YA novel Deepwater Challenge. It was published in 1963 by Thomas Y. Crowell Company with cover art designed by Albert Burkhardt. 

Cam Walker has graduated from high school and is prowling the docks searching for the right boat. His father is down and out with debilitating arthritis, so it's up to Cam to bring home the bacon – but in this case, it's fish. His parents have saved $7K for a boat, hoping that Cam can start up a successful fishing and salvage business. But Cam quickly realizes it's not enough money to purchase a decent floating tub. This is when he runs into his fiercest rival, an elderly fisherman named Graber. 

Cam wants to buy Graber's overpriced boat, but his father insists that he seek consultation from a family friend, a former Japanese salvage diver named Aki. After Aki reveals that Graber's boat is significantly damaged, Cam purchases another boat using financing. This infuriates Graber, and he becomes one of the primary plot devices – this maniacal lunatic prowling the sea, hoping to wreck and sink Cam. 

With Aki, Cam begins diving in deep waters to harvest abalone, a meaty shellfish that grabs onto the ocean's rocky settlements. But Aki is too old now to successfully make the dives, and Cam is inexperienced. Cam's older brother Steve, a former U.S. Navy diver, joins the trio. But, he has a secret that he withholds from Cam and Aki – he isn't healthy enough to make the dives, yet wants to contribute to the family's new fishing business. 

First off, Bonham can write his grocery list and make it interesting. I was so invested in the education portions of this novel, the intricacies of diving, the technology (as antiquated as it might be now), and the art of abalone harvesting. However, Bonham introduces another interesting plot device with salvaging boat wrecks. There's a thread here of the trio discovering some rare 1800s coins that will hopefully fund their enterprise. Getting the coins to the surface is one of the most exciting portions of the book. Additionally, I was fascinated by the character of Aki and his history as a Japanese-American. He was forced to relocate with his family after WWII, causing him to lose his family's business.

In the “About the Author” section, Frank Bonham explains that he spent a great deal of time researching for this book. He frequently performed skin diving with a friend from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, interviewing professional abalone divers, and cross-checking facts with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. He presents these fishing facts in a pleasurable way. Deepwater Challenge is a fascinating book for any reader, young or old.  

You can read this book at Archive.org HERE. 

Black Berets #02 - Cold Vengeance

I enjoyed The Deadly Reunion, the debut in the team-commando series Black Berets. This was a Dell paperback title that was published between 1984 and 1987. The house name was Mike McCray, but in reality, these books were authored by John Preston and Michael McDowell. As much as I loved the first installment, it has taken me six years to return to the series. I'm rolling my sleeves up for Cold Vengeance, the sophomore effort from the duo, originally published in 1984.

In the debut, Beeker, Rosie, Cowboy, Harry, and Marty are introduced. This is an old CIA special forces squad that made a name for itself during the Vietnam War. Their old warhorse officer, Parker, put the band back together to liberate one of their own from a Laotian prison camp. As that book ended, the team realized that Parker was a criminal drug lord and was just using the team to gain more fortune for himself. Realizing they were double-crossed, the team took the fortunes of war for themselves in an effort to create a mercenary enterprise.

In Cold Vengeance, the novel begins with Parker's cohorts invading the team's headquarters in the Pacific Northwest. The team is away on a mission, leaving only Beeker's “son”, a mute boy, behind. In a riveting, action-packed sequence of events, the young boy hunts and kills Parker's trio of goons, fatally eliminating each one with a bow-and-arrow. These scenes were some of the best I've read in ages. It reminded me of David Morrell's equally amazing archery scenes from Rambo II. But, despite the boy's best efforts, the trio burns the headquarters.

The team returns, finds the place in ruins, and uses their newly acquired fortune to rebuild a better headquarters. I enjoyed this portion of the storytelling, with all the nuances and caveats of gun placement, barrier resistance, ammo stores, and the team's living conditions. In many ways, this team operates similarly to The Hard Corps, another outstanding team-commando paperback series. The Black Berets and The Hard Corps run a profitable, professional business – they aren't weekend warriors.

The plot of Cold Vengeance is the team's efforts to infiltrate and destroy a terrorist cell that may be operated by Parker. This is a good plot device as it serves two purposes: a storyline that works as a stand-alone novel, but also a way to wrap up the events about Parker from the debut.

Cold Vengeance was another fantastic entry, complete with an emphasis on furthering these characters and their personal histories. Readers learned a bit more about Cowboy's past as well as some intricate details concerning Marty's hobby of blowing things up – he's really into things that go boom. While there's plenty of action with chattering gunfire, bloody fisticuffs, and some graphic torture, both authors understand proper setup and delivery. There's a story here, and its told efficiently. The Black Berets continues to outshine much of the 1980s competition.

Get the book in reprint HERE or original paperback HERE.