Here we have Black Fury, the third in the Rex Brandon, Jungle Hunter series from Bold Venture Press.
This is a 12-volume series that was published in England from 1951-52 by Curtis Warren. They were written by Denis Hughes (1917-2008), who was a prolific writer mainly of western and science-fiction works. He is largely unknown because almost nothing appeared under his name but rather under a dozen pseudonyms. This one appeared under the name Marco Garon.
Full disclosure: I was sent a copy to proofread.
This time our hero, Rex, a geologist and big-game hunter, is again in the Belgian Congo on an expedition looking for mineral ores. For a difference, he doesn’t have his old tracker from the first two books but is now assisted by Impo. In pygmy country, they come across a strange sight: a red-bearded white man living wild who has a gorilla that protects him. Running afoul of the gorilla, Rex and Impo then have a bad encounter with the pygmies. And we get hints of something dark that may be coming.
When Rex reaches out via radio to authorities, he is asked to come in immediately for a special meeting. Heading in, he encounters another expedition led by a fellow adventurer “Mac” McNulty and his assistant Muuma.
Once back at headquarters, they are informed of a serious matter in the area: a secret radio operating in the jungle, most likely by a hostile foreign government, which may be fermenting native unrest. An agent was sent in, but nothing has been heard of the agent. They want Rex and McNulty to take their men and look for the transmitter. An RAF officer named Graham accompanies them.
Rex realizes that the probable location of the station is near where they encountered the strange red-bearded man with the gorilla. Is he connected? And there is a rumor of a lost female movie star in the area as well.
Heading back, Rex and his associates will find themselves dealing with crocodiles, groups of gorillas hunting them down, dangerous animals, hostile pygmies, and more. Their lives will be in danger, along with that of a young movie starlet. Will they escape with their lives, and more importantly figure out what is going on and stop it?
Some may be put off by the ultimate cause of what is going on, but they need to keep in mind that this was a real source of concern in that part of the world. They aren’t what we would have now, though certainly better than what we might have seen in the 1920s or ’30s. But you can still enjoy this work. I would have preferred a lost civilization or the like, but the action and danger caused by the jungle animals make up a bit for that.
Again, this is a short novel, and the story moves right along. The characters are rarely given any physical descriptions. I was a little disappointed that N’gambi from the first two novels didn’t return, and that other characters weren’t even given first names. But it doesn’t matter as things move right along.
This is another fun and I look forward to volume 4, which will be White Gold.
