This book was first published in 1934. While reading the initial chapters of this story, I keep thinking it was far-fetched and boring, and thought of just pitching it. Somewhere along the way I got involved in the book and kept reading it, just so I could discover how the mystery ended.
I'm glad I read it all the way through. The plot seemed a bit fantastic, but surprisingly it might have been written during our current political climate. I initially thought the author was a follower of the Isolationist beliefs of the 1930s. But the ending belied that. Moreover, due to my knowledge of the history of that period, the novel almost seems to be a history of our country's national policy from 1939-1941, despite being written well before those years.
And I wondered to myself if President Franklin Roosevelt had read this book and remembered the speech given by the character in the book who portrayed the President of the United States. As it most certainly anticipated our national policy in the early years of World War II.
Rex Stout died in 1975. I've read some of his other books and believe he still needs to be read. I'm not alone in this. Here is text from his "Fantastic Fiction" page :
"In 1959, Stout received the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award.... and Rex Stout was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century."
I'm glad I read it all the way through. The plot seemed a bit fantastic, but surprisingly it might have been written during our current political climate. I initially thought the author was a follower of the Isolationist beliefs of the 1930s. But the ending belied that. Moreover, due to my knowledge of the history of that period, the novel almost seems to be a history of our country's national policy from 1939-1941, despite being written well before those years.
And I wondered to myself if President Franklin Roosevelt had read this book and remembered the speech given by the character in the book who portrayed the President of the United States. As it most certainly anticipated our national policy in the early years of World War II.
Rex Stout died in 1975. I've read some of his other books and believe he still needs to be read. I'm not alone in this. Here is text from his "Fantastic Fiction" page :
"In 1959, Stout received the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award.... and Rex Stout was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century."
