[The Shadow 333] • Night of the Shadow

From November 1966, this is another in the series of eight new Shadow adventures written by Dennis Lynds under the honorable house name, Maxwell Grant. Unfortunately, although it's readable, THE NIGHT OF THE SHADOW is not particularly lively or inventive. If you had sampled this book to see what this Shadow guy was like, you wouldn't be excited and rush out to find more. Even sadder, if you thought this was representative of the series, you'd be unlikely to ever try a few the classic books by Walter Gibson. The actual plotting and prose are okay, but the pace is sluggish and never builds up any urgency. Like the other books Lynds wrote in this revival, there is a great deal of padding, repitition and overstating the obvious. None of the characters ever quite come to life on the page, there`s no convincing details in the Brazil or Malaysia scenes that make the setting appear in your mind, and there are a few moments that just don't work (as when Cranston is trapped in a field of giant man-eating plants which have vines which actually chase people like tentacles). Most disappointing is that the Shadow has much too easy a time destroying his opponents and seems to be just going through the motions. This story starts off with a classic sequence that launched fellow pulp hero Doc Savage on a dozen great adventures. A man desperately trying to reach Lamont Cranston is brutally murdered right outside the office door, not even managing one of those enigmatic dying clues. The fact that the killers are Malaysian and that the victim had a ring of a type made only by Brazilian headhunters give The Shadow all the launching board he needs to start after the mysterious criminals behind the killing. Sending Margo Lane and Harry Vincent to Brazil to investigate, while he himself takes off for Malaysia to work from the other angle, The Shadow quickly is dealing with a vile international conspiracy, biological warfare, the Jarro natives of the Amazon, man eating plants, ex-Nazis, and just about any other ingredient that can be thrown into the stew. Dennis Lynds' interpretation of the Shadow is essentially a new 1960s version, similar to the pulp and radio incarnations but with new details and powers. One interesting twist is that the master of darkness can channel his Chi-type energy from his mind into different senses or body parts. He can enhance his hearing to the point where he can "hear the faint squeal of the rats scurrying deep down in the sewers under the city", and he can do the same for his vision. By concentrating, he is able to focus his power into his hand, so that he's strong enough to snap a padlock. This is something new, and it actually has possibilities. The Shadow in these books is not always super-strong and able to see in the dark, but he can perform these feats if he concentrates on them. But he can also be taken off guard or lose focus enough to be vulnerable. We also learn that the Shadow power can not be taught, only passed on. Only one person can possess the mind clouding ability and other attributes at a time, and the Shadow received his powers when his teacher Chen T`a Tze relinquished them at the moment of death. (Shiwan Khan would find this information startling.) This is the "cloud men`s minds" ability from the radio series, and here it has been expanded beyond mere invisibilty to include mind control and illusion casting. Kent Allard makes one of his rare appearances, and it`s clearly stated that neither Allard nor Cranston are the true names of the man known as The Shadow. Allard walks with a limp, has "dark hair brushed straight back without a parting....he wore a dark mustache under his thick nose." (Really the best place for it.) Kent Allard is well known as an associate of Lamont Cranston, who backs Allard`s expeditions financially. There's no mention of the real Cranston, whose identity the Shadow usurped so long ago-- perhaps he`s passed on by this point. Of the assistants, Harry Vincent and Stanley the chaffeur stroll through the book without really getting a chance to shine. But Margo Lane gets a workout. Not only does she vamp a suspect for information, not only does she endure hours of torture without cracking ("I told them nothing! Nothing!"), she wipes out four thugs pursuing her into the jungle, using boobytraps and shooting two of them dead where they stand. Margo, I didn`t know you had it in you.