Sat 4 Apr 2026
MAXWELL GRANT – The Living Shadow. The Shadow #1. Written by Walter Gibson. Bantam, paperback; 1st printing, June 1969. First published in The Shadow, a Detective Magazine. April-June 1931.
If this book were to be rated on its literary qualities, there would not be a great deal to talk about — except for the desire of every reader who finishes it to want more.
The problem is that the Shadow, while everywhere he is needed and when, cannot be pinned down to work at the crime;s solution, and indirect and artificial methods of story-telling must be used to locate him and his thoughts, His legwork is done by Harry Vincent, mysteriously saved from suicide, and the insurance broker, Claude Fellows. The crimes are jewel robberies, and the trail leads to Chinatown, with all of that area’s sinister reputation surrounding it.
There is mention, totally unconnected, of the Shadow’s radio program, that can’t be made to fit. Other occasional discrepancies interrupt the otherwise exciting flow of action, which is not helpful. But I do want more!
Rating: **
April 5th, 2026 at 8:29 am
I love the old pulp heroes! My very favorite was The Spider, mostly written by Norvell Page — I may be exaggerating but I firmly believe the total body count in those adventures equaled three times the world population.
Claiming second place in my heart was Doc Savage, most of whose adventures were penned by Lester Dent. Following closely at third place was Walter Gibson’s The Shadow; Gibson was good at plotting but pretty clunky at writing, otherwise The Shadow, otherwise that dude who knew what fear lurked in the hearts on men would have been vying for second place. A distant fourth pace goes to The Avenger, most often written by Paul Ernst; the ability of this character to change his malleable face was dropped (sadly) after a dozen stories; the paperback pastiches written by Ron Goulart in the 70s could not hold a candle to the original adventures.
And there are too many pother to mention. So many pulp heroes, so little time…