Series: Misc
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 0380006901
Publisher: Avon
Reader Rating: Not rated
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 0380006901
Publisher: Avon
Reader Rating: Not rated
Description: Serious pulp, written by a man who preferred to be known as "A" instead of "Abraham" Merritt. It's one of those adventure stories that involves vaguely supernatural elements that are never quite all they're cracked up to be: in Merritt's novel, the heavy is a criminal mastermind of unknown origin who claims to be none other than Satan himself (if that's so, why does he need to eat, sleep and brush his teeth like the rest of us?). A wisecracking tough-guy adventurer (not unlike an urban Indiana Jones) gets caught up in his net and risks his very life to free a beautiful woman held in Satan's thrall. The big gimmick here is that the bad guy's victims are forced to walk up a mechanized staircase (with rotating steps), and if they place a foot incorrectly they're put to an ignominious end. Hugely popular in its day, the story was filmed at least once during the later silent era.
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