Crooked Adam

Although the people and landscape are typical D. E. Stevenson (in other words, outstanding) and this was accordingly a pleasant read, she is not at her best with futuristic military hardware and her choice of a military secret to attract blueprint-stealing spies and their paid thugs was unfortunate. A death ray! Hahahaha... oh sorry... it's straight out of the pulp science fiction of its era, and its believability is absolutely nil. D. E. Stevenson's ability to create technobabble falls far short of, for instance, Doc Smith's or Herge's. Apart from that, as much as there can be anything apart from the major plot device of the book, it's very good. She even does well with the adventure aspect of the plot, quite reminiscent of John Buchan.

This novel may appear slow to those who are more used to fast-paced thrillers written in more recent times but it is still a good story. There are all the elements of a good spy story including ingenious disguises, selfless heroism, life and death chases and the exposure of traitors. I found it very enjoyable.

A spy novel is not D.E. Stevenson's métier, and while it got a bit exciting in the last half, it wasn't terribly memorable.