SINISTER SERVICE
First Published in June 1942 - 191 pages
This book is divided into two distinct parts. The first half of the
book is a story that is in fact a rewrite of a previous story by W. E. Johns.
It had originally been called "NAZIS IN THE NEW FOREST" and the heroes were Steeley and
Tubby. This Steeley story had been published in 'The
War Thriller'
(number 586) on 27th April 1940. In 'Sinister Service', Steeley
becomes Lance Lovell and Tubby becomes Lance's brother, Rodney Lovell. As to
the second part of the story, it appears to be completely original but there
has to be a possibility that it is a rewrite of another Johns
story - either previously unpublished or published in a unknown periodical.
If anybody can shed any light on this, please let me know!
FORWARD BY RODNEY LOVELL
The
forward, written in the first person, as is the entire book, tells us how
Rodney Lovell came to be in the Secret Service (or, as some call it, the
Sinister Service). He and his brother Lance, who is some three years older than
Rodney, are the sons of a diplomat, and were born in Germany. They speak German
as well as they speak English. They both also learned to fly. After the death
of their father, they returned to England with their mother. Time passes and
Rod is invited on a trip to the New Forest with his brother Lance. At this
stage, Rod doesn't know his brother's occupation.
PART ONE
Lance
and Rod are driving through the New Forest when they almost run over a woman
who runs out in front of their car. Two men are chasing this woman, whose name
is ascertained to be Julia Ashton-Harcourt. The two men are armed and
dangerous. Taking Julia back to her house, Lance and Rod find out that she has
suspicions about gliders silently landing in the night. On investigating her
suspicions, Julia had then found herself being pursued by the two armed men.
Lance's car is stolen and our heroes are forced to use Julia's car. On
returning to Julia's empty cottage a bomb is discovered in her kitchen. The
following day, investigations are carried out and Lance, Rod and Julia go to Garthstone Manor, where they are suspicious of Mr. Smith,
the owner, particularly as he has been burning things in his back garden, such
as glider parts. After a meal at a hotel, Julia returns home alone to get her
belongings as she intends to move out. When she doesn't return, Lance and Rod
return to her house to find her car on the drive. Julia has disappeared and our
heroes fear that she has been kidnapped. Lance and Rod take the car and intend
to go back to Garthstone Manor to look for Julia but
they begin to feel sleepy. Lance realises just in time that an attempt is being
made to try to gas them by turning the exhaust back into the car. After
smashing the windscreen to get fresh air and then pretending to crash they are
approached by a car containing two men. Lance and Rod overpower the men and
find Julia tied up in the back of their car. Arrangements are made for a police
raid on Garthstone Manor. Lance, Rod and Julia return
to the Manor in advance of the raid and see a glider land and hear German being
spoken. Here, in an addition to the original text, Lance, Rod and Julia get
lost in a maze in the grounds and also meet the mysterious 'Hylda'
- who turns out to be a chimpanzee. A shoot out occurs and the baddies
escape in three cars. Lance and Rod manage to hijack a fourth car in order to
pursue them. The chase leads to Conway in Wales where the Germans are planning
to meet a waiting submarine. Lance has managed to organise naval support and
the Navy arrives in time to ram the Germans' submarine causing it to sink. The
day is saved but there is still to be a surprise in store for Julia.
PART TWO
Lance
and Rod are sent by General Carteret to Germany to rescue a man called Doctor
Luther Colburg. Colburg is
a Czech inventor and a specialist in armour plating, who has been kidnapped. Parachuting into Germany, our two heroes head for Obendorf, on the Elbe. Stopping at a 'Bierhaus', Lance gets chatting with a man and
persuades him to put them up for a few days. The man, Schmidt, has a son who is
a fanatical Nazi. Learning that Colburg
is being held in a college and that the Commandant of the college is expecting
a visit from Bureau 17, Lance forms a plan. The next day, Lance and Rod
travel to Hamburg and ring Commandant Wolff at the college to tell him of their
proposed arrival and to have a car meet them at the station. This way, Lance
and Rod are taken to the college and meet with the Commandant. They order him
to bring Colburg to see them straight away.
Dismissing the guards and knocking out the Commandant, Lance and Rod make a
daring escape in the car belonging to the real visitors from Bureau 17, who
have just arrived. Changing the car for a lorry, they make for Hamburg and the
address of a secret agent that can help them. Here, they intend to hide up for
a few days, until they can rendezvous with a plane that is due to meet them.
Hidden in a secret room, things take a turn for the worse when the house is
raided by the Germans and the occupiers are arrested (and killed). The Germans
are not aware of the secret room, however. Lance and Rod have to shoot their
way out of the house and they take Doctor Colburg
with them. They set fire to the house so that the Germans cannot use it as a
trap for unsuspecting agents. At a checkpoint, Lance sets fire to a load of
straw piled high on a military lorry. This diversion enables our heroes to get
through to the rendezvous. Hearing the baying of hounds, Lance realises that
the Germans have got tracker dogs after them. There then follows a desperate
shoot-out as our heroes wait for the aeroplane to come and pick them up. The
pilot is wounded and Lance has to fly the plane home. Rod mans the rear guns to
fight off enemy aircraft that try to stop them. Coming down in the North Sea,
our heroes are rescued by a British patrol boat. Back in England, General
Carteret enrols Rod as an active member of his staff.
Sinister Service
Subtitle - The adventures of Lance Lovell, counter-espionage
officer, told by his brother and unofficial assistant, Rodney Lovell.
Publication Details - originally published by Oxford
First Edition
French Edition – note the removal of the Swastika
Frontispiece
Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it