| Various Series Books or What I've read and what I thought of it |
Dick Hamilton's Fortune On a recent road trip I stopped in at several antique stores and poked around to see if any series books were lurking in the dust. In one shop I spied a likely looking dust jacket and on closer inspection saw that it was Dick Hamilton's Fortune. This was the Goldsmith edition and in rather good condition. I had never read one of the Hamilton books, so due to its condition, reasonable price, and the fact that Howard Garis was the author, I decided to pick it up. Written in 1909 as the first of six books in the series, Fortune is a solid read. It comes from a time that almost no one alive now can relate to. The early years of the last century were prosperous ones for America and more importantly they were hopeful ones. Airplanes and automobiles were still new and exotic. There were new inventions to spur the imagination and fortunes were being made by the captains of industry. Dick Hamilton was the son of a fabulously rich man. Mr. Hamilton was not merely well off, but belonged to the strata of wealth that knew virtually no bounds. A multi-millionaire in an age when a new car cost $400, he could afford to live like a king. Dick's Mother has died some years before and had been a woman of huge wealth apart from her husband's money. She left a curious will in which Dick will inherit only after fulfilling certain obligations. As the book begins, Dick has a birthday which triggers his mother's will. As near as I can recall Dick's age is never given, but I was left with the impression that he had just turned 18. In short, the will gives Dick almost unlimited spending money. For one year. In that year he MUST make an investment that pays off....or else. I found the will arrangement to be a contrived annoyance but otherwise the book is fairly well plotted and brought off. Dick is a likeable enough fellow and there are several other well drawn characters among the supporting cast. Dick spends his money in some predictable ways but also in some surprising and interesting ways. Garis seems best when he is writing about various off-beat personages. His nutty inventors and "good boy in the rough" type characters are done well. His weak areas are in bringing places alive. For instance, Dick and his pals go "out west" to investigate a goldmine that the Hamilton's have bought into. They get on a train and ride out to "Yazoo City" and proceed to have exciting adventures, yet the reader is given no sense of place. Yazoo City could as well be in upstate New York or just about anywhere. The Hardy Boys book "The Secret of Wildcat Swamp" will give you much more of a feeling of "being there" than Dick Hamilton's Fortune. In fact at times the book's action seems to take place in a vacuum, with no local color or "extras" pottering about in the background. Dick has what can charitably be called a weird Aunt and Uncle. He spends a week in their house and has a miserable time. So does the reader. Dick exhibits almost no humor or creativity, and mainly just suffers at the hands of his idiotically tightwad relatives. Here again Garis shows an inability to flesh out a scene. All the reader really knows is that poor Dick is in the company of unpleasant people to whom he must kowtow. The ending is much better than you think it is going to be, by not being overly predictable or trite. However, we find out along with Dick that his "test" is just beginning and that in order to keep his fortune he must continue to jump through numerous required hoops. Thanks Mom. Dick Hamilton's Fortune is a decent read with above average writing for the period. While the other books in series are not on my "must have" list, I do intend to keep an eye out so as to see how Dick fares the rest of the way. Mark Johnson May 26, 2002 Commentary Home Copyright 2002 R. Mark Johnson |