Book Review: Danger in the Dark by L. Ron Hubbard
Yes, it’s another of those L. Ron Hubbard reprints; thanks, discount bin!
This time, we have three fantasy stories, none of which have anything to do with the cover. (It’s actually illustrating “Returned from Hell” by Steve Fisher.)
“Danger in the Dark” is set in the Mariana Islands east of the Philippines. Billy Newman was suckered into buying an island with a copra plantation. Unfortunately, a series of disasters, including a smallpox plague, have come to Kaisan Isle, something the natives ascribe to the evil spirit Tadamona. Billy naturally spurns this explanation as the foolish superstition it would normally be. But this time, Tadamona is real, and it has a bone to pick with the arrogant white man….
While it’s a neat twist on the “superior white dude overcomes native superstition” plotline, it’s still pretty darn ethnocentric–only Billy and the half-white girl Christina are willing to do anything to thwart Tadamona, while the natives have decided to surrender completely to their unseen nemesis. And the ending restores the “natural” superiority of white people.
“The Room” takes place somewhere in rural America. Uncle Toby, the local veterinarian, has disappeared. His nephew Joe has been tagging along on the rounds for years, despite his crippled leg, so starts filling in at doctoring animals. Eventually, Joe becomes aware that the study he has inherited from Uncle Toby contains objects not of this Earth, and that might have something to do with his uncle’s disappearance. Nothing is ever really explained, the story ends when Joe and his Aunt Cinthia disappear as well, gone no one knows where, and the house eventually burns down. I had to look at the dates to see that it was not a poor attempt to imitate one of Ray Bradbury’s pastorals. Mr. Hubbard’s style is not suited to this sort of story.
“He Didn’t Like Cats” is the tale of Jacob Findley, an otherwise blameless fellow who doesn’t like felines. One day a cat crosses his path, and a momentary impulse makes Jacob kick it–into traffic. The incident quickly becomes an obsession, and it’s not clear whether the cat is taking supernatural vengeance, or if it’s just an overactive conscience, but Jacob will never sleep well again. There’s some light comedy to stretch out the story as Jacob becomes the focus of a love triangle without ever grasping that fact. Mr. Hubbard is a bit too heavy-handed with the humor.
There’s a preview of the next volume, “The Crossroads”, a glossary and the usual potted material.
This is easily the weakest example of Mr. Hubbard’s work I have seen in the Galaxy Press reprints; very skippable.
