New-York tribune., 1922-02-05

"a. !. iutnain's Sons. s.
MIDNIGHT Ey Octnvus Roy Cohcn
published 10y Dodd Mead e. Co. SITS
THE COTTON BROKER. BY John Oven
Published by George H. Doran Com
pany 81
co,OMER ALI. b. s. b II. Hurst Pub
lished by Harper & Bros sl.75.
."HERE is the widest possible d.
*erslty Of theme and style in
these four novels. Their one
common clement is that Of
horror None Of them could be placed
IN the category of JOY books.
From the standpoint of literary
depth and significance Miss Sackville-
Vests novel cxccls it's COMPANIONS.
Against bleak background Of English
factory life she projects the powerful
but thwarted personality of Silas Dene.
workman Of uncommon intelligence
whose soul is turned to bitterness and
hate by the aficton Of his blindness.
Dene's psychopathic maladies. his
strange perverted twists OF imacina-
tlon, his delight in thoughts of cruelty
and violence, the petty malevolenccs in
which his starved and bruised spiritual
nature finds expression, all these things
are depicted by the author with a quail
lty OF relentless psychological insight
that suggests Andreyev or Dostoevsky.
The suggestion OF mclodramatic ey-
aggeration that would ordinarily at
tach TO the horrible crimes which Dane
commits is quite absent from Miss
Sackvllle-W Vests novel. Beneath hcr
comprehending and imaginative touch
this Samson who is always craving
some new temple to pull down about
his head is removed from the ordinary
Judgments Of humanity. He assume .
the proportions Of a symbolic figure;
and his crimes are no more shocking
than those of the characters Of Greek
tragedy, who are SO clearly shown to
be carrying out the DEGREES Of rrcsisti
bic fate
The sweep and power Of the authors
style correspond with the ambitious
character Of the plot. The opening
chapter, a sketch Of the factory in
which the final act OF the tragedy is
destined to take place, is what may be
called a specimen of bravura writing.
There IS a wise economy in the num-
ber of characters: such figure as
Silas Dene should not be obscured hv
a mass Of irrelevant detail. In bitter
ness. IN strength and in deeply haunt
ing quality "The Dragon in Shallow
Waters" may fairly be compared with
Emily Bronte's masterpiece, "Wuther
ing Heights'
Octavus Roy Cohen oscillates be-
tween mystery tales and comedic
stories of the life of the Southern
negro. In "Midnight' he has written
detective story that is we'll above the
general average in plausibility and
genuine fascination.
A man is found shot dead in taxi
cab. How he entered it is altogether
unknown, for the driver thought he
was carrying only a woman passenger.
Further evidence about the identity of
the murderer IS practically lacking.
Under these circumstances David Car
roll, the familiar hero Of Mr.. Cohen's
detective romances, is hard pressed to
uphold his reputation. 1t is finallv
chance, combined with Carrolls faculty
tor keeping an open mind and seeing
the possible value Of the most trifine
details, that leads to a satisfactory
clearing up of the case The authors
ability as writer OF mystery tales is
we'll known, and midnight" is GER
tainly equal to the best that he has
done in this field.
The ups and downs in the career of
an English cotton merchant are
sketched by Mr.. Owen with sympa-
thetlc realism. Crossford, "Prosper ritv"
Cr0ssford, as he is popularity known.