Shadow of a Broken Man (A Mongo Adventure) Book

Now its been a while since I have been so quickly and deeply hooked in a book like this so I cannot express my delight and enjoyment at reading Shadow of a broken man. I must say its been a while since I have read over 200 pages in an evening.

So why the total abandonment of time and responsibilities to read this book - and thats a good question I have been pondering.

I think the first is the characters in general - (we will get on to the hero of the story in a second). To me they are not just well rounded and so clearly described but in their own senses they are utter caricatures of themselves. From the mountainous enermy agent to the over the top boisterous foreigner and the shifty and untrustworthy and creepy government agent - they all seem all the more real for being just a little too dramatic.

And then there is the good Doctor himself - so utterly fantastic but by the end of the story so totally believable. What I think I like about him so much is that from his write up on the book cover (and on this site) he sounds so over the top - world famous acrobat, doctor criminology and private detective not to mention black belt in Karate. However all these skills (and I am sure as the series progress there will be more added to it) are not over played or made to be excuses for cheap jokes or plot devices. In fact the whole character of Mongo the Magnificent is rather down played which I think shows the restraint and maturity of the author.

And then there is the story - yes it is rather dated now having been written in 70s but to be honest once you get in to the story it becomes superficial and is quickly over looked and forgotten. I will not say too much of the story as I do not do spoilers but I will say that the impossible situation is resolved quite satisfactorily and hints at future stories which will be just as imaginative and thrilling.

Now I saw this book being referenced many times with glowing reviews and comments which usually makes me rather hesitant and suspicious but not in this case. ONCE I had found my copy I can see that the praise is most certainly worth it and yes I will try my best to read the rest of the series.