This novelization of the movie of the same title is pretty much identical to the 1991 movie, with a few cameos from Hollywood figures of 1939 thrown into the mix. Howard Hughes, Margaret Hamilton, Margaret Dumont, Clark Gable, George Reeves, and Bette Davis are tossed (sometimes anachronistically) into the stew to liven it up, I suppose. As a recapitulation of the movie, it's okay, but as literature, each page would be put to better use as fishwrap for very tiny fish. Every once in a while, I get the urge to revisit some pulp fiction. In this case, it was artificial pulp fiction, an attempt to capture the thrills of the real stuff from the 1930s and 1940s. It's too deliberate in the attempt to be convincing. But the great thing about it is it only took a little longer to read than the movie takes to watch. I recommend the movie instead. You get to look at Jennifer Connelly in it. ( )

If you enjoy novelizations of movies, you'll probably enjoy this book.

Being a fan of the movie, and having just recently rewatched it before spotting this at a local library sale, I grabbed this book as soon as I saw it. Of course, the fact that this novelization was written by Peter David, whose comic book work I've enjoyed over the years, certainly helped cement my decision to buy this book.

There are, as noted on the "About the Author" page in the back, a few liberties taken with time and the placement of certain actors in the act of filming certain movies that weren't actually filmed at the time the story takes place in an effort to add some big names to a story that takes place in Hollywood in 1938. But, considering how many glaring inaccuracies appear in biopics and other films about actual events, I'm willing to let it slide. Especially since it provides a nice moment where Clark Gable gives some gruff to one of his costars over a certain comic book he is found to be reading. The costar? George Reeves. The comic? Action Comics. (If you didn't know, George Reeves would later play Superman).

Also, there's a nod to another action hero whose exploits take place in the same time as a Nazi laments that he didn't decide to join "that dig in Tanis." ( )