THE LOVE MACHINE Jacqueline Susann

THE LOVE MACHINE. Jacqueline Susann. Simon and Schuster; 1969. 

Jacqueline Susann followed up her smash bestseller -- a highly entertaining potboiler -- Valley of the Dolls with this well-plotted anti-romance. Although the main character, TV personality and producer Robin Stone, is a man, Love Machine follows the Dolls formula with its story of three women who fall in love with Robin. Robin describes television itself as being a "love machine," but the term is used by the press and gossip columnists for Stone himself. 

Susann was excoriated by the critics, not only for her unapologetically undistinguished if functional prose style, but for the fact that a woman dared to write about sex in all its facets and employ four-letter words to boot. Admittedly Harold Robbins was never seen as any kind of great writer, but he was not necessarily taken to task for any vulgarity, as Susann was. Whatever her flaws as a writer, Susann was an excellent storyteller, kept things moving in a generally unpredictable fashion, and created believable, three-dimensional characters. Her dialogue also rings true more often than not. 

The three women who fall for Robin include the model Amanda, the actress Maggie, and the bosses wife, Judith. My favorite character, however, is Ethel, a plain publicity woman determined to have it all despite her lack of beauty, and who hooks up with a second-rate singer, Christie Lane, who becomes a TV star. As for Robin, you get the impression that Susann doesn't quite understand him any more than Robin understands himself, and there are chapters where he undergoes psychoanalysis and even travels to discover more of his background and what makes him tick. He has qualities that are both admirable and just the opposite. 

Although Robin is neither gay nor bisexual, there is some interesting LGBT stuff, especially as Love Machine was published the very year of Stonewall. Robin becomes friends with a handsome gay Italian, Sergio, who is the caregiver for Robin's adoptive mother. He basically has a positive if somewhat patronizing attitude towards this character. Learning that Sergio undressed him after he passed out, he implies that Sergio may have had his way with him. Sergio asks Robin if he would take advantage of a drunken woman, and wonders why he would assume that he, Sergio, would. In another sequence, Robin has hot sex with a woman who turns out to be transgender, but learning the truth does not anger him. The book is, of course, full of a lot of typically sixties negativity about LGBT matters -- and the word "faggot" is used far too often -- but in other ways Susann was a bit ahead of her time. 

Although Susann can't resist going the soap opera route in certain areas -- one major character is a Kay Kendall-type whose fatal illness is hidden by her loved ones -- the book contains some sharp and satirical observations. I even confess I found the ending moving. 

Verdict: No literary genius, perhaps, but the woman could tell a good story. Much better than the film adaptation. ***. 

THE DEMON'S DEN

 

THE DEMON'S DEN. The Hardy Boys # 81 (1984). Franklin W. Dixon (house pseudonym). 

When a boy who is tall for his age is kidnapped from a camp, the chief suspects are members of a cult who fear the oncoming apocalypse. Frank and Joe, however, think the head of the camp may be involved. The cultists believe the boy was taken by the “devil,” whose minions are as “tall as trees.” Meanwhile Fenton Hardy, our heroes' private eye dad, is trying to find a scientist who was involved in dangerous genetic experiments. The fellows wind up deep in the Canadian wilderness, where some of the frightened loggers actually believe in the stories of Paul Bunyan, and his equally large son is supposedly ruling over the territory. Undeterred, Frank and Joe proceed in finding Bunyan’s – or “the devil’s” HQ – coming across outsized footprints and the like. As usual, there is a more realistic explanation for things involving a race of supermen. This is an above-average latter-day Hardy Boys adventure. Gary Lang’s cover illustration depicts Frank and Joe the way they would actually look, like handsome young men who are mature-enough looking to not only be taken seriously by those they question during their investigation but who certainly look as if they can acquit themselves nicely in a fight with desperadoes. 

Verdict: This has its silly aspects, but it's an exciting adventure story for kids of all ages. ***. 

NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF

NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF. The Hardy Boys # 59.(1979). Franklin W. Dixon (house pseudonym). 

In this excellent adventure story for kids of all ages with many interesting facets, the boys investigate a supposed werewolf curse affecting the son of a construction contractor. At the same time some of the man’s buildings have been sabotaged, meaning he could go out of business. One of the fellow's employees is a native American who is hoping to find a missing bejeweled axe that belonged to his ancestor. A phosphorescent wolf – shades of Hound of the Baskervilles  -- appears at different times to menace assorted characters. There are many suspenseful and exciting sequences that range from dark forests to isolated mansions to high beams on skyscraper frames. In addition to Frank and Joe Hardy, we have lovable, chubby Chet Morton, who develops a crush on the contractor's pleasingly plump daughter. 

The first 58 books in the Hardy Boys series were published by Grosset and Dunlap, who lost the contract to the Wanderer books division of Simon and Schuster. The series continued in both paperback and hardback format for quite a few years. It was then replaced with The Hardy Boys Case Files, a somewhat edgier series for older readers. When that series wrapped up its run, we had The Hardy Boys, Undercover Brothers, where they became agents and the stories often were turned into trilogies. Currently Frank and Joe still have their own series in "The Hardy Boys Adventures" (as well as a new television program). The cover of Night of the Werewolf is typical for the time as if portrays the boys as looking a little too young and much less tougher and competent than they actually are in the stories. 

Verdict: One of the better of the post-58 books in the series. ***.