The boys are hired to find a missing dog, but then discover the dogs owner has spotted a coughing dragon coming up the beach in front of his house. Investigating that, the boys discover hidden caves and a long-abandoned underground railway, before coming face to face with the dragon itself. This is preposterous but such good fun that you can forgive the plot-holes (you’d use a dragon, for that purpose?) and the humorous interplay between the boys is superb (the dialogue here, in fact, is probably some of the best in the series). With a limited cast and well realised - and used -locations, this is real treat. Highly recommended.
This review is an interesting take on a story that I consider to be absolutely dreadful. But I suppose that if you look on the funny side, it's kind of like Plan 9 from Outer Space: so bad that you can't resist it! But no amount of humour can save this awful story! I couldn't give it more than two out of ten, and that's on a good day...
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That was my first story I heard - yes heard. We had all those on tape as hearplay in Germany. I loved it. And I'm still hearing The Three Investigators. The story were sold to Germany and we have meanwhile have over 180 books!
DeleteHi Mark, this afternoon, after posting my first comment, I took advantage of a rare day where work was slow and reread Coughing Dragon. It's funny how a book that took days to read in childhood can be swept through in a couple of hours today! Anyway, I agree with you that the dialogue is amusing, although maybe slapstick banter would be a better term. Nick West, as we all know today, is a pseudonym for Kin Platt, who wrote among other things one of my fave TV shows Top Cat. And I can hear T.C.'s voice in this! It might as well be Chooch and Benny the Ball talking, with a little Fancy and Spook thrown in for even more laughs. But the story is very, very weak and the characters are not endearing. Carter at one point has his face twisted in a snarl! That is a cliché worthy of the most hastily written Hardy Boys books. But at least you've convinced me of one thing: that the story has a positive aspect in its comedy. I'll raise my grade to three out of ten. I also eagerly await your review of Invisible Dog, another one that I didn't like all that much because of the (to my mind meaningless) Phantom Priest. I hope you can convince me otherwise... Anyway, thanks for the blog, it's a good read.
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Thanks for that, Robert. We bought our son a DVD of "Top Cat", which I hadn't seen for years (decades, even) and I was really surprised to see Kin Platt on the writing staff.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading the blog, I appreciate your taking the time to comment!
This has to be a lament for the dismantling of the Pacific Electric train/tram system!
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