The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Ace, 1972)

Lifeline was having a pre-Christmas mini-bookfair, and I found this one one of the tables:

 

THE
MONSTER
MEN

Number Thirteen was what they called him--the latest and best of Dr. Von Horn's attempts to make life from lifeless chemicals.  He found himself an almost-human on Von Horn's hideaway jungle island off the coast of Borneo.  He saw the monsters that preceded him and grew used to those hideous mockeries of humanity.

Not until Number Thirteen met the American girl who was Von Horn's unwilling prisoner did he realize how different he was from the others.

Because, monster or not, he turned against his master and threw in his lot with the girl and his friends--in a desperate attempt to escape the island of terror.

 Or, in soap opera parlance: Can a Frankenstein's monster find love with a mad scientist's beautiful daughter?  This was first published in 1913, and alas, it shows.

Neutron Star by Larry Niven (Sphere, 1972)

 

Larry Niven is one of the brightest new talents in s.f. and the title story of this collection won him the 1966 Hugo Award.  The seven other stories are thronged with superbly original characters and whole races of creatures such as grog, thrint and bandersnatchi, inhabiting worlds like LookItThat, Down, Jinx--indeed an entire galaxy of planets with their own histories, ecologies and epochs.

A collection of short stories written in Larry Niven's award-winning prime.  What a pity they're contained in a book with an ugly cover that conveys nothing.   Would it have been too much to ask for the cover artist to have depicted some of those "grog, thrint and bandersnatchi" instead of this naked muscleman floating in space? 

The Secret Woman by Victoria Holt (Fontana, 1972)

 

Voyage into mystery...

When Anna Brett sets sail for a Pacific island, she is already in love with Redvers Stretton, captain of the Serene Lady.  Stretton has lost an earlier ship in mysterious circumstances, and with it some priceless diamonds.

On the primitive island of Coralle, with its beliefs in witchcraft and the powers of darkness, the truth about Captain Stretton comes to light.  And the haunting riddle of the Secret Woman is finally revealed...

Here we have a variation on the Women Running From Houses theme--Woman Standing in Front of a Palm Tree.

This book actually got me thinking: namely that Gothic Romances share a lot of the ingredients of crime fiction, but they're mixed in different proportions.  Here we have a story filled with crime--murders, attempted murder, sabotage (the hero's ship is blown up), theft (the priceless diamonds mentioned above), blackmail and identity theft (the plot's resolution turns on the swapping of two babies many years before).  Yet none of these seem really important--instead the story focuses on the emotions of our rather passive heroine.

Again, unlike in crime fiction, no one actively seeks to solve the crimes or bring the perpetrators to justice in this book .  The heroine, as I said, is rather passive and very naive.  She lets things happen to her rather than directing events.  The hero is absent through most of the book and if anything, is even less interested in investigating mysteries than the heroine.  There's an anti-heroine (in another kind of story she'd be a femme fatale!) who is responsible for the murders and attempted murders.  However her misdeeds take place offstage--and her downfall is recorded in a short chapter and is brought about by accident.  None of her co-conspirators are caught or face any kind of punishment for their crimes.

So I'm left imagining the story as written by a different author: a story where hard-boiled Captain Stretton searches for the men who blew up his ship and stole the diamonds, and tangles with the shady dame who tries to poison him....

The Craghold Curse by Edwina Noone (Belmont Tower Books, 1972)

This book is a weird mashup--combining ghosts, gangsters, G-men and some kind of demonic desk clerk!  When I saw it in the Green Shed I just had to buy it:

 

A "holiday of horror" --well, we've all had those.  You flight is delayed.  The airline loses your luggage.  The air-conditioning in your hotel room fails, and it rains the whole time you're away...

Oh.  Not that kind of Horror Holiday?

HORROR HOTEL

Craghold House had much to offer as a resort.  It was a picturesque area surrounded by Craghold Lake, Goblin Wood, and the Caves of Hex.  It was an area rich in legends of doomed families, curses and ghosts.  Theresa Galliani and her father would take a vacation here like no other--a vacation at Craghold House.

How could anyone resist a resort like that?