THE KILLERS OF KARAWALA

In his first novel, The Paper Ghost (1961-p. 859) Lindall told a suspense story that left some loose ends but that provided its own elements of sustained horror. This time, in another story, he has kept all the threads in his hands and written a book that shows evidence of greater maturity and assurance. Again the setting is Australia- but this time the desert wilderness of central Australia, where a tiny handful of operators are pursuing the search for evidence of extinct marsupials and mammals. The leader is Prof. Lithgow, ill, unable to do more than hold his helpers to their job, grimly almost insanely determined to complete his life work with the discovery of a giant dingo. Opposed to him, coveting the fame that would be his if he were to find the dingo, is Pickford, who will stop at nothing to achieve his ends. Then there is the daughter Morgan -- and Worden, whose knowledge of the country is more important than the scientific know-how of the others. The end seems in sight- but weather, the onslaught of insufferable heat, the overall threat imposed by the appearance of Bigfoot Harry, with his hate of whites, combine to intensify the conflict of wills to the point of madness. It is an absorbing story, to be read as first rate adventure against a unique background.