ALFRED HITCHCOCK and The Three Investigators in THE MYSTERY OF THE NERVOUS LION

Armada

Text by Nick West
Based on characters created by Robert Arthur

Copyright 1971 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.




In The Mystery of the Nervous Lion, written by Nick West, The Three Investigators are being sent by film director Alfred Hitchcock to the theme park - Jungle Land. The owner of Jungle Land, who is Hitchcock's friend, has rented out the park to a movie company - who has trouble with the owner's nervous lion.

Southern California is full of theme parks, some of which have come and gone, so this story of a theme park was rather appropriate for the series. Jungle Land is more like a zoo, rather than a typical theme park with attractions and rides. With only about four people to run Jungle Land, including the animal handler and the animal doctor, it is not surprising to me that Jungle Land was on the verge of bankruptcy and that they had allowed a film crew to film on their Land. I was surprised that Jim - the owner, along with Jim's nephew Mike - had made the trained lion as pretty much of a pet. So, while it was a surprise for Jim and Mike to find out that George the lion is nervous, it was not a surprise to me that the lion was a pretty dangerous animal to be around. Although, there was a good reason why the George the lion was nervous - having Jim and Mike in a sort of denial about George the lion being harmless was very reckless to me.

I liked the fact that the Three Investigators spent much more time at Jupiter's Uncle Titus's "Jones Salvage Yard" than they have spent in the earlier books. The Salvage Yard, after all, is Jupiter's home as well as The Three Investigator's Headquarters. So naturally the Investigators should spend more time in the Salvage Yard. There is more time spent with Uncle Titus and Aunt Matilda as well as time spent with their Bavarian helpers, the brothers Hans and Konrad. As a result, there was an equal amount of time spent between Hans and Konrad as well as spending the time with The Three Investigator's chauffeur Worthington.

There is quite a lot of danger for The Three Investigators involving escaped animals, as well as danger with an auto metal shredder.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

PRIVATE

VISION

Written by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Copyright © 2010 by James Patterson



In the first book of a new series Jack Morgan, Private written by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro, has former Marine Jack Morgan running an investigation company called Private. Morgan and his investigation company are investigating an NFL gambling scandal and the serial slayings of schoolgirls. But the case that gets to Morgan - is the murder of his former lover, who was also his best friend's wife.

Considering that Morgan has a team of high-tech investigators in his company, but also that his company is worldwide, it is hard to believe that Morgan's company makes that much money to pay for all of that. Granted Morgan's father had started the company, and had provided the money to both Morgan and his brother in order for them to run their own businesses - but when you consider that Morgan's father had wound up in jail, this made such an inheritance to the brothers confusing. Was the money from Morgan's father legitimate or not? The book was not very clear on the reasons of why Morgan's father went to jail in the first place, nor of how Morgan's father had built up enough money to start such businesses for both of his children. Supposedly Private was started by Morgan's father as well, but I had no idea of that from reading the book.

Considering what kind of cases that were involved in the book, the cases portrayed did not seem as intense to me as they should have been. This is probably because Morgan has a team of qualified, high-tech cyber investigators that was working all of the cases, instead of just Morgan working the cases by himself. With Morgan not working the cases, it lessons the intensity of the story for me that Morgan does not personally experience the chance of failure for not directly working the cases. The cyber investigators were especially important in the book for the investigation dealing with the cyber-related serial killings. As a result of the team of investigators, I felt no sense of desperation or code of honor from Morgan in the solving of these cases. Morgan seemed to me more like he was someone who was just developing his portfolio with his business operations, rather than as someone who was really interested in solving the cases. I cared more for Morgan's Second-in-Command Justine Smith, since Smith was the one who was in the streets determined to catch the serial killer.

Actually, what I liked best about the book and Morgan was of Morgan's guilt when he was in the military and survived a helicopter crash - in which Morgan was forced to leave a man to die inside the helicopter crash. The military aspect of Morgan was much more relatable to me than his dysfunctional relationship with his gambling brother, of which I could never really understand why they became at odds with each other in the first place. Morgan's brother was a real jerk, and I could not believe that the two of them ever had any kind of loving relationship when they were kids.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.