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THE MAJOR HAS SEVEN GUESTS by Cohstance Wagner Kirkus Star

THE MAJOR HAS SEVEN GUESTS

By

Pub Date: March 14th, 1940
Publisher: Stokes

Remember Seven Keys, to Baldpate? Well, this should appeal today to a parallel market. It's a good 'un, straddling the thriller and the good fiction classes, so sell in both fields. Fifty per cent of the story is the buildup, mounting tension and hatred as the seven guests in a small Balkan Fascist country inn are made prisoners. The thesis is that in periods of strain the pattern of each life is revealed, and in the process it adds up to holding -- if not lasting -- entertainment. There's action in the form of attempted escape, release, murder. By the close all but three have reverted to type, and the liberal, the whore and the narrator alone reveal real courage and human principles. Sell in your suspense class; the yarn holds water and is intelligently mounted.