You can’t fail to want to read a book called The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril can you? And just look at that cover!
This is pulp book set in a pulp era. I should explain a bit more. The novel has two protagonists, Walter Gibson who used to write The Shadow, and Lester Dent who penned Doc Savage. These were two incredibly popular pulp magazines that were effectively monthly short novels published on cheap paper with fantastical covers. Now I’ll be perfectly honest, and will admit that I’ve not really read any of these pulp titles, but I’m inclined to maybe give one or two a go.
These two rivals don’t especially like one another, but in this entertaining novel, they end up getting involved in a complicated real-life case involving strange Chinamen, toxic gas, and strange sects.
There are plenty of other real-life characters who get involved in the case, not least HP Lovecraft and a certain L Ron Hubbard (he hasn’t invented a “religion” at this point, and is instead an up and coming pulp author).
I could get into the story a bit more, but it’s as rip-roaring and believable as the pulps it’s gently mocking. So I’ll just say that this is page-turner. It maybe goes on a little long with a couple of false endings, but I liked it nonetheless.