Bulldog Drummond (1920)

Bulldog Drummond by “Sapper” (H.C. McNeile) – After the action of the Great War is over, a wealthy young man finds excitement when a beautiful young woman asks for his help.

This is a classic of 1920’s British thrillers.  Capt. Hugh Drummond, DSO, MC is a wealthy young man, home after serving in the war.  The genteel life of clubs and theatre bore him.  So he places an advertisement in the newspaper volunteering to do pretty much anything (criminal endeavors considered as well).  Within the stack of responses is one from a young woman in desperate need of help.  What begins as a bit of gallant silliness turns deathly serious.  Drummond will face a criminal mastermind and a sadistic thief among the adversaries ahead.

McNeile had a hit on his hands from this first novel.  Drummond hit a chord with post-war England.  He was bold and athletic, and of the proper class with the proper sensibilities.  Drummond stories would continue for several decades, passing to other authors after McNeile’s death.

His hero was a perfect physical specimen with one exception.  He is repeatedly described, by the author and other characters, as having an ugly face.  At the same time, he has the personality that attracts both men and women.  Ian Fleming noted Drummond as one of the inspirations for James Bond. 

The storytelling here is classic action/thriller.  It’s compact and moves along briskly.  Like its hero, the story doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking deeply about the subject.  Good guy, beautiful girl, bad guy, go.  What surprised me was how vicious a character the sadist Lakington is shown to be.  My assumption was that character descriptions and actions like this were a much more modern literary trend.  Lakington would fit perfectly into a modern serial killer story.

Think of Drummond as Sherlock Holmes’s mirror image.  The Great Detective is brains first, and brawn only when required.  Drummond prefers not to think (he claims it gives him headaches), and just move directly to beating people up.  Both face criminal geniuses who become recurring challenges through the series.

All told it was a fun rollicking ride.  But not without a couple items that may be awkward for modern readers.

Today, we would call Drummond an adrenaline junky.  In his case, he fell in love with the violent action of the war.  What had been a “sanctioned” form of killing while in service becomes a rather casual series of deaths here.  From his point of view, these are all “bad guys” and deserve death.  My problem is more the several occasions when he has captured the “bad guys” and can turn them over to the authorities.  Which he considers and rejects each time.  Each is subjected to Drummond’s personal form of justice.

His politics are perfectly consistent with a Tory of post-war England, as is his racial views.  They don’t get a lot of play, but they are decidedly reactionary in nature.  At the time, the western nations were focused on the “Red Menace”.  Anything with even a whiff of Communism would elicit exactly the kind of reaction written here.  If that is a problem for you in your reading, you might want to skip these.

Overall, Drummond is a bit of a “Mary Sue” character.  Other than his “ugliness”, he is the perfect man of the age.  Women swoon and men flock to his leadership.  For me, it made him a bit of a cartoon.  But still fun.

Why You Will Like It – A fast-paced thriller with a slightly cartoonish hero who is mostly fun.

Rating – *** Worth A Look