The Forbidden Land

The Forbidden Land by Dan Cushman. Ray Blades had been in Africa too long, always looking for that big stake so he could return to Manitoba, Canada with money in his pockets. When a beautiful white woman mistakes him for someone else, he hires out to take her to find her missing father and husband. Deep in the jungle a madman is holding them prisoner. He is Herr Lutgow, a gorilla-sized man with the strength to go with his appearance. Blades must enter the compound, rescue the prisoners, and escape with them into the jungle, even if he has to kill Lutgow first. This was another great adventure by Dan Cushman, even if it is the same plot and characters, just different names and situations. Cushman makes them come alive, and the characters are memorable regardless of their names.

Savage Interlude

Savage Interlude by Dan Cushman. Jim Crawford, Botamba, and the Hammer, from Naked Ebony, are back in this tale of the African Congo. A photographer is murdered in Cairo because of something he brought back from the Congo, and Crawford trailing his girlfriend, a dancer in one of the backstreet dives, tells him the object must be somewhere in his baggage at the hotel where he was staying under a fake name. Breaking in, he finds only a metal spearhead and undeveloped film, either might be the clue to the mystery. But then a white woman shows up, claiming to be the photographer’s wife, and she tags along with him and the Hammer as they track the dead man’s trail backwards to start from the beginning, in hopes of discovering the secret worth millions. This is another good yarn, but with the same formula as all Cushman’s stories. And, as usual, Crawford ends of with the girl he plans to spend the rest of his life with – or until the next adventure, and another girl. We never learn what becomes of these beautiful women, either.

Naked Ebony

Naked Ebony by Dan Cushman. Jim Crawford and his African assistant, the giant Botamba, are in a bar to meet Ed Foley. It seems Foley has a scheme to make some money, but wants Crawford’s strong arm to pull it off. He’s to meet a girl in the hotel and take a package to be delivered. However, another man, the Hammer is also after the package. The Hammer, Runkhammer, is a huge, muscular man of great strength, and Foley is afraid of him. Crawford receives the package, and then everything goes wrong. They lose the package, and the girl and her scientist husband disappear again with the package after Crawford removes it from the Hammer’s clutches. Cushman uses the same formula for all his stories, though this one is set in Africa, not Asia. The beautiful girl is Eurasian, a mix of French and Asian. She falls in love with Crawford, naturally. Still, the story could be set in any locale, and it would have worked. The author makes every story an adventure, and the characters are classics. The title may be a little misleading, but a fun read.