The Killer Mine

Hammond Innes was a good, but not great, writer of adventure stories. The best of his novels (Killer Mine, Atlantic Fury, Golden Soak) are 4-star works--his other novels range from about 2 to 3 1/2 stars. His best novels, and some of his slightly lesser works, immerse you in a largelyunfamiliar world of some kind--a bit like mixing a travel narrative with an adventure story. Many of his works involve a man on the run from somewhere, and most also involve a conveniently young, unmarried, attractive female, but there aren't any sex scenes. It can get a bit formulaic at times, which prevents a full 5-star rating. Killer Mine--set in about 1947--centers on an English Army deserter, returning (illegally) to England, and having to work using his mining skills in a shady smuggling operation on the coast of Cornwall. There are fine descriptions of this old tin mine--without this the book would rate about 2 stars and would be quite forgettable. The mine is near the famous old Botallack Mine, and Botallack is used for the basis here--as the hero--Jim Pryce--has to work in a gallery that like a similar gallery in Botallack extends out half a mile under the ocean. This book aroused an interest in me 40 years ago about Cornish mining, and that interest has been with me ever since--and when a novel can arouse such an interest, that's a good thing.