 | #071 "The Plot Master"
Vol. 12, No. 5 Published: 02/01/35 Submitted: 03/23/34 under the same title Author: Walter Gibson Review date: Apr 07, 2001 |
THE PLOT MASTER was originally published in the February 1, 1935 issue of The Shadow Magazine. The Plot Master is Eric Hildrow, a master of disguise who never appears to his henchmen in the same disguise. He's a genius of subterfuge, out to get the secret submarine plans of Commander Joseph Dadren. These plans hold the secret of an invention that is apparently destined to revolutionize naval warfare. At the secret naval base at Cedar Cove, the submarine is being built under the commander's supervision.
Hildrow's first attack is on Professor Arthur Whitburn, the old inventor who lives in the old house on Death Island. Whitburn has duplicate copies of the submarine plans which Hildrow must destroy in order to make sure the sole copies retain their enormous value. But Whitburn, sensing the attempt upon his plans, calls upon The Shadow.
Whitburn has dealt with The Shadow before. This story is a sequel of sorts, because it refers to previous adventures on Death Island, as recounted in THE RED MENACE, the fourth Shadow story, published four years earlier. It mentions that Harry Vincent had long ago aided The Shadow in giving protection to Professor Whitburn. And The Shadow had rescued Harry from imprisonment within the walls of the submarine room.
Anyway, Professor Whitburn has Burbank's phone number from that previous adventure, and establishes radio communication with him. He calls upon The Shadow for assistance, and before you know it The Shadow is flying his famous autogyro to Death Island to confront The Plot Master.
Yes, this story features the autogyro, one of my favorite parts of the early Shadow stories. The autogyro plays a fairly large role in this story. Later in the story it appears, manned by ace pilot Miles Crofton, and successfully makes an amazing landing on the roof of a speeding train car.
The story gives us a clue into Crofton's background. Apparently he had once been tricked by men of crime. The Shadow had rescued him from a hopeless situation. A daredevil, a stunt flier, Crofton had since been ready to do The Shadow's bidding. If this comes from a published magazine story, I haven't read it. But I'd sure like to!
But anyway, back to our plot. The story later moves to Cedar Cove, where Harry Vincent is employed as secretary to Commander Joseph Dadren. There, Harry creates a diversion so as to keep the secret plans safe until they can come under the protection of The Shadow. To create the diversion, he sneaks out of his room, while a special gadget created by The Shadow creates typing noises to give the appearance that Vincent is still in his room. This gadget was used a few months later in another Shadow story, MURDER EVERY HOUR. If it appeared in any others stories, I haven't read them. (Anyone?)
Then our story moves to Washington, D.C. for the amazing climax. The Shadow appears there as Henry Arnaud, and with the assistance of Harry Vincent and Vic Marquette of the Secret Service, helps safeguard Senator Ross Releston who now has the secret plans stored in his vault. When the evil Eric Hildrow shows up to steal the plans, The Shadow is ready. And there's the ultimate showdown which is one of the best written by Walter Gibson.
This is one of the top Shadow novels. It's got just about everything. It's got death traps from which there can be no escape: "The Shadow was encased in a trap of death. Death by confinement, within the suffocating walls of the air-tight submarine chamber."
There's the squishy cups that The Shadow uses to climb sheer walls. There's the explosives in the lining of his cloak. There's the secret messages transmitted on the open airwaves using emphasized words in advertisements over WNX Radio in New York. There's the autogyro. The typewriter gadget. And the famous vial containing the purple liquid; the strengthening elixir which gives The Shadow extra vitality when he most needs it.
Yes, it's all here in this amazing Shadow novel. It's a real classic.