Item - The Hidden Terror

I don't normally write reviews of books that I don't own, but this one is so elusive that I decided to take the opportunity while I had access to a copy obtained via Interlibrary Loan (which, at the time of this writing, was the only available copy in the United States). Anyway, I'm glad I made the effort, as this is quite a strange little book, deserving of documentation here even if not deserving of critical acclaim. As the plot summary indicates, it is more than a little outlandish. Actually, if anything, it is even stranger than it sounds. First of all, the writing is quite amateurish, with the author frequently attempting to sound literary but instead showing lapses in comprehension of the English language. Liberal doses of over-the-top gruesomeness and smirky asides about the main character's poverty add to the confusion. The piece's villain is named Von Neurlshmit, and yes, his first name is Von. His actual plan for world domination makes little sense, and the details of how he has made so much progress on the road to his goal (or how, along certain paths, these efforts are so swiftly and easily foiled) are left largely to the imagination. Perhaps most unexpected of all is the book's moral neutrality; whether the reader sets good or evil goals, there is a potential for reaching them and being rewarded. In the end, this is a book likely to induce either derisive chuckles or offended outrage. For my part, I really don't know what to make of it. I can safely say, however, that I can think of nothing else quite like it. It's almost a shame that the remainder of the series appears to have gone unpublished; while I don't expect there would have been any especially good books in it, they would likely at least have been notably odd.

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