SCORPUS THE MOOR

Themes for Leslie Turner White have been largely period, sometimes historical, but always dependent on carefully researched background. This time he has chosen the reign of Nero in Rome with its violent excesses, cruelty and violence.""Scorpus the Moor"" was a name chosen by Abon Ben Merene to conceal the fact that he was not sought as the murderer of a bes son of a high ranking nobleman close to Nero. Actually, he was not guilty- but the facts were ba to come by. His father collected wild beasts in Africa for use in the games of the Coseum his grandfather had an Arab st farm. Abou himself had trained and driven horses and knew how to handle wild beasts, and despite his wild escapades was chosen to go on the ship which carried both to Italy. It is an exiting story; Abou's skills save his life- and the lives of others. He makes some friends and more enemies, buys a slave girl to save her slave girl to save her from a ruffian, and as the story closes he has achieved his goals- won a chariot race for a will-wisher who has shielded him, rescued the girl who had been condemned- as a Christian- to the arena, and escaped from Italy, with the girl as his bride and the promise to become a Christian given to Peter. Mr. White has included so much and provided so many plot threads that his characters suffer. But even more disastrously his syntax limps, his style straddles contemporary and traditional eras. Read only for details of place and time, he stands as good pseudo-historical-adventure.