The Ka of Gifford Hillary

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Toohey
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The Ka of Gifford Hillary

Post by Toohey »

A great, fast and fun read of by Wheatley is the Ka of Gifford Hilary.
I love it how a warning is given to skip the boring/political part early on in the book.
If only all the novels I've read so far contained a similair warning. Then we skip to the parts containing the 'real' story and ignore the 'data dumps' which slow down his fiction.
Hoyo de Monterrey
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Re: The Ka of Gifford Hillary

Post by Hoyo de Monterrey »

Toohey wrote:If only all the novels I've read so far contained a similair warning. Then we skip to the parts containing the 'real' story and ignore the 'data dumps' which slow down his fiction.
A fair point - but in most of the other novels DW's political agenda is presented in more easily digestible chunks.

Still, it's a cracking good story - in particular, the account of Hillary's attempts to escape from his coffin is quite outstanding.
"Here's to crime"
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gloomysundae
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Post by gloomysundae »

I think the coffin episode is one of Wheatley's finest horror moments - he really communicates the sheer terror of the situation and Giff's increasingly desperation brilliantly.

Peter Haining extracted this chapter and ran it as "The Coffin" in his collection The Unspeakable People: Twenty of the World's most Horrible Stories (Leslie Frewin, 1969) although of course, it really should be read in the context of the novel.

Of those I've read, this and Gateway To Hell suffer worst from his political soap-boxing. In the case of Ka ... this is doubly unfortunate as, IMO, it puts the dampers on what is an otherwise exciting - even fun (all that death-ray stuff) - story.
Toohey
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Post by Toohey »

Got a copy to re-read at home. That death-ray is crazy!
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