Tue 9 Aug 2016
Archived Gold Medal Review: A. S. FLEISCHMAN – Shanghai Flame.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[7] Comments
A. S. FLEISCHMAN – Shanghai Flame. Gold Medal #181, paperback original, 1951.
Time out for a history lesson. At the time of this story, Shanghai was settling down under the rule of the Communists, and in this tale, the pursuit of a not-so-ordinary pack of playing cards takes place across a city increasingly dangerous to be a foreigner in, much less an American. Whites had not yet become a novelty, however, and displaced European refugees and all sorts of unsavory soldiers of fortune were still playing significant roles in the commerce and life of one of the Orient’s most exotic cities.
What Cloud does is to smuggle himself into Shanghai, hoping to regain the love of a woman he’d once walked out on, but in these surroundings all that will take is a single spark for the volatile romance to burn itself away in a spectacular flash of unrequited love.
To the intrigue in which the couple find themselves securely entangled, add a deadline for being able to safely leave the city, Chinese pirates scouring the coastline, and the several sides of a labyrinthic double-cross, and you have the kind of book that’s increasingly difficult to find these days when the whole world’s but a step away — the pure adventure thriller written for the fun of it.
Rating: B.
August 9th, 2016 at 6:49 pm
Since I no longer have a copy of this book within easy reach, I believe but am not entirely positive that the events in this book happened after the fall of Shanghai to the Communists in 1949, plus or minus a year or so.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:17 pm
I read this and one or two others by Fleishman, including a novelization of the John Wayne/Lauren Bacall film BLOOD ALLEY. All were good adventure fiction of the era in a pulp vein.
August 12th, 2016 at 3:33 pm
Hmmm. May have to track this one down.
August 12th, 2016 at 4:06 pm
Just by happenstance, I reread SHANGHAI FLAME last month. It’s set in around 1950 with plenty of suspense and flight scenes. Like David, I’ve read several A. S. Fleischman Gold Medal novels and one he sold to ACE Books, COUNTER-SPY EXPRESS. And, I read a bunch of Sid Fleischman’s children’s books to my kids.
August 12th, 2016 at 5:05 pm
My review of Fleischman’s LOOK BEHIND YOU LADY, a Gold Medal paperback original can be found here. I’d forgotten about it, till your comments reminded me, George. After all it was posted on this blog over nine years ago:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=74
August 12th, 2016 at 4:13 pm
We’ll be reprinting this Fleischman book plus Counterspy Express in December at Stark House Press, with an excellent introduction by George Kelley.
August 12th, 2016 at 5:01 pm
Great news, Greg!