The Last Place God Made

The Last Place God Made is a refreshingly old-fashioned adventure tale which has more in common with the Spicy Adventure pulps of yesteryear than modern novels, and it is all the better for it. One of Jack Higgins’ early works (1971) this is just a tremendously enjoyable action adventure with terrific movement, atmosphere, and action. Higgins has always had a fascination with planes, no more so than here in this robust and entertaining adventure story set in 1930s Brazil, a lot of it in the Amazon. In fact, it reads like an old black and white, 1930s action/adventure movie.

Twenty-three year old flyer Neil Mallory crash lands with mail deep in the Amazon. Enter forty-five year old, larger-than-life Sam Hannah, a WWI flying ace known as show more The Black Baron, who as an old friend remarks, would have been better off dying in a blaze of glory during that war. Rescuing Neil and then offering him a job flying an old Bristol biplane delivering the mail when his passport and money are stolen by a beautiful girl, this vibrant man’s man adventure has just begun.

Higgins does a wonderful job of moving this story forward in great gulps, while giving us atmosphere enough for ten books. The Amazon is a living character here, filled with Indian tribes like the Civa, Cicero, and especially the Huna. The tale itself is rich and exciting in a Spicy Adventure Magazine way, with a beautiful girl, the massacre of missionaries deep in the jungle, exciting rescues and action, betrayal and drinking, and a nun who doesn’t seem to understand that her bull-headed stupidity is getting everyone around her killed. The sections in and out of the Amazon, and the scenes of flight and action are equally exciting.

Mallory tends to come off a bit too squeamish and hypocritical about violence, and the reader might see the betrayal coming early on as I did, but it makes things no less enjoyable. In fact, this is a wonderful read, full of life and adventure, and a romance that doesn’t end like you think it will. You’ll have a fabulously good time reading this one if you enjoy robust adventure and action, because this is top-notch pulp.

As with The Kufra Run, Higgins here is no fan of the Oxford comma, or ending a sentence to begin a new thought, making for some crazy sentences now and again. But this is such a fast, fun read you won’t care, because he’s a great storyteller, and this is a great story. This is why James M.Cain said all you can do when someone wants to write is give them a typewriter, and all the creative writing courses in the world are bunk. You can either write, or you can’t, and wow, can Higgins write. Great, old-fashioned stuff! show less

A different setting to many of Higgins usual novels, although fans will still be glad to see the usual type of characters and plenty of killing....

The book follows the adventures of Neil Mallory, a pilot for hire in the Brazilian Jungle he is saved from a crash site by Sam Hannah.

Hannah was an ace in the First World War but now with no adventure in his life he is turned into an alcoholic, brawling, swindler who thinks only of himself.

Hannah enlists Mallory as a pilot delivering mail and goods to outposts in the area.

All around the Huma Indian tribe are massacring the white man. Only Mallory can see things from their point of view. When a holy order of the sisters of pity is slaughtered Mallory finds that 2 are unaccounted for.

When the show more missing nun’s sister turns up (an up and coming MGM film star) they request help to try and rescue the nuns or recover the bodies.

What happens next is a lot of violence, varied deaths and testosterone by the bucket load..... just the way it should be. show less

SUMMARY:
Reissue of the timeless Higgins classic'¦In 1930's Brazil, Neil Mallory works as a courier flying mail and machine parts around the Amazonian rain forest. On a routine day his plane falls in a terrifying and potentially fatal crash; his life saved by the bravery of the enigmatic Captain Sam Hannah.In need of a partner, Hannah recruits Mallory as his right-hand-man in travelling to the deepest and darkest heart of the jungle, coming up against indigenous peoples, and a beautiful woman with secrets to hide.As Mallory and Hannah's friendship turns them into adversaries, the game is set for competitive bravery and a battle of wills as they oppose each other in one of the most hidden and remote places on Earth.

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