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F. BOOK REVIEWS
F20. The Poor Man’s Guide to the Orient
F20.1. Virginia Kirkus’ Service 33, no. 9 (May 1, 1965): 493.
“That favorite traveling tightwad, making ends meet where the twain never does ...”F20.2. Booklist and Subscription Books Bulletin [American Library Association] 62, no. 1 (Sept. 1, 1965): 36.
“... Dodge writes for the economy-minded tourist.”F20.3. Chen, Wen Chao. Library Journal 90, no. 13 (July 1965): 3041.
“This is a light-hearted ‘aid’ to travel in the Orient, stretching from the Middle East to Japan ... While he does give pertinent information on travel, his chief contribution in this book lies elsewhere: it gives the armchair traveler a good glimpse of things he may not have seen.”F21.1. Booklist and Subscription Books Bulletin [American Library Association] 65, no. 5 (Nov. 1, 1968): 288.
“A selective, candid guide for the economy-minded motorist, whether he drives from the U.S. or rents a car upon arrival as the author recommends.”F21.2. Kirkus Service 36, no. 6 (Mar. 15, 1968): 366.
“... the jaunty Mr. Dodge (novelist, humorist, traveler), puts forth an all-ye-need-to-know companion to Mexico ... Excellent for the roamer; helpful for Hilton hibernators, too.”F21.3. Powell, Donald M. Library Journal 93, no. 10 (May 15, 1968): 2005.
“... a sprightly—sometimes too sprightly—written guide to the best things to see and do, places to stay and eat, and routes to take, with average driving times; he also provides information about the upcoming Olympics.”F21.4. Powell, Donald M. Library Journal Book Review 1968. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1969: 214.
[Reprint of F21.3]F21.5. Publishers’ Weekly 193, no. 12 (Mar. 18, 1968): 51.
“This book is subtitled ‘The Practical Motorist’s Handbook South of the Border’ and it is more than that. Any motorist (and especially the impractical one) should have something like it. It is geared toward the expectation that the 1968 Olympic Games at Mexico City will attract a prodigious number of visitors South of the border.”F21.6. Scott, Hester. “New David Dodge Book Charts Mexican Travel,” Colony Reporter [Guadalajara, Jal.] (Sept. 7, 1968): 6.
Includes a photograph of Dodge and granddaughter, Kendalita (“Jalisco Fats”).F22.1. Hubin, Allen J. New York Times Book Review (Feb. 16, 1969): 42.
“... a gripping novel, in the end a savage and disturbing one, and certainly not for the diversion of gentler spirits ... Lincoln makes the cold of spy-world a frigid horror.”F22.2. Kirkus Service 36, no. 23 (Dec. 1, 1968): 1355.
“The offhand resilience of Dodge’s earlier entertainments has stiffened up here—a sign of the times (Fleming, et al.) or perhaps just an accommodation to them.”F22.3. Leclercq, Diana. Books and Bookmen 15, no. 7 (Apr. 1970): 28.
“David Dodge’s Hatchetman is a CIA security guard who earns his bread by being prepared to lay down his life for his political betters and the Great American Dollar ... Thrills and passion and professional plotting are marred by too much belly-aching about the hero’s emotional problems.”F22.4. Library Journal 94, no. 3 (Feb. 1, 1969): 568.
“... John Lincoln, an expendable hatchetman for the Treasury Department ... [is] sent to Hong Kong to learn why so many claims for damage caused by Typhoon Xanthippe are to be paid in United States dollars. The first difficulty is on the plane when an obstreperous passenger discovers his gun, and he is forced to discard it. The next comes when he lets the Red Chinese travel agent, Ngan Hong, know that he wants to meet Everett Fong [i.e., Fung], the Chinese banker who is apparently the financial power behind Mao. The plot is a little shaky, but the picture of the Crown Colony is clear and ruthless.”F22.5. Library Journal Book Review 1969. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1970: 781.
[Reprint of F22.4]F22.6. Parley, Peter. Spectator [London] 7,392 (Feb. 28, 1970): 276.
“The best that can be said is that this tedious tale might make a good vehicle for James Coburn in one of his fantasy spy movies.” [Editor’s note: the dust jacket illustration for the British edition of Dodge’s next book, Troubleshooter, bears a striking resemblance to James Coburn]F22.7. Richardson, Maurice. Observer [London] 9,317 (Feb. 8, 1970): 34.
“Melancholy but readable adventure of American special agent in Hong Kong assigned to prevent fellow-traveling Chinese businessman from collecting vast insurance on typhoon damage. Scores with minutely detailed account of life in Hong Kong with elaborate meals and some rather gloomy love-making with a Chinese girl provided by the other side.”F22.8. Times Literary Supplement [London] 3,551 (Mar. 19, 1970): 312.
“The story, though well enough told, is finally unsatisfactory in that the end is merely brutal without emotional attachment. The initial description of a typhoon is fine.”F23.1. Frankel, Haskel. Saturday Review of Literature 54, no. 13 (Mar. 27 1971): 51.
“Mr. Dodge offers two stories, loosely connected, involving John Abe Lincoln of the U.S. Treasury’s ‘Hooligan Squad.’ The connection is Lincoln’s impotence, brought on by overwork as a stud while a prisoner of the Chinese communists. The first story is a courtroom drama, an informal inquiry into Lincoln’s time in the Chinese prison, focusing on the crucial question of why he was released; the second takes place in South Africa, where Lincoln is sent to investigate the source of diamonds coming illegally into the United States. The robust action, plus the secondary sexual theme, will please Mr. Dodge’s masculine readership.”F23.2. Kirkus Reviews 38, no. 23 (Dec. 1, 1970): 1309.
“Take a deep breath and you’ll go right on holding it—throughout this long, forcibly effective story impacted with brutality of all kinds ... A freeswinging if not altogether punchy story which has something of the manic energy of Ian Fleming and Richard Condon combined and it certainly will detain the reader in its not so gentlemanly grip.”F23.3. Library Journal 96, no. 2 (Jan. 15, 1971): 205.
“Dodge usually includes some of his travel experiences in his novels. He does so in the present work, which is really two longish short stories linked together rather tenuously ...Sex and violence permeate both stories but always within the context of the narrative ... the author has a good eye for local color.”F23.4. Library Journal Book Review 1971. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1972: 636.
[Reprint of F22.3]F23.5. Publishers’ Weekly 198, no. 23 (Dec. 7, 1970): 49.
“Fans of David Dodge’s brand of masculine adventure will not be disappointed in ‘Troubleshooter.’”F23.6. Spurling, John. New Statesman 84, no. 2138 (Mar. 10, 1972): 319.
“David Dodge’s Troubleshooter is a thriller with more than mere thrills to recommend it ... An author who can persuade you into a narrow life to experience it, and out again to pass judgment on the experience, is worth any reader’s time.”
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