Bulldog Drummond Review

At first I want to state that this is a review of the new novel “Bulldog Drummond: On Poisoned Grounds” by I.A. Watson, which has been published by Airship 27. The original novels and shorts featuring Bulldog Drummond and starting in 1920 are available as a Mega-Pack, too, but not part of this review.

I was familiar with Mr. Drummond (given name Hugh) from the aforementioned Mega-Pack, but a little surprised to see a modernized version, since Airship 27 has been reviving many old series in their original settings, even though the stories are new. “On Poisoned Grounds” is set in 2018, which is pretty much the most recent which is possible, given the book needed to be written and edited and prepared for publishing first. Yet, a few lines in, I already knew I had to get this book and I would be entertained by it. Knowing the novel was written by I.A. Watson, who is quickly climbing on the list of my favourite authors, only made me buy the e-book even quicker.

The novel starts out with action - with Bulldog and an assassin falling out of the second storey of a Parisian restaurant, to be more precise. Now, Bulldog in his original incarnation was already a man of action, so I was expecting some, but few books start in the middle of the action without setting anything up. Yet, the close viewpoint made it easy to get into Bulldog’s mindset and into the story as a such.

I.A. Watson has made updates to the basic material, to Bulldog as well as to his friends and employees. His arch-enemy, whom we get to meet in this book as well, has also be discreetly updated. The new group of friends around Bulldog (former military colleagues from the unit he led while still a soldier) is a bit more diverse than before and the women are a little less passive, which is a good thing.

Yet, the basic background of Bulldog as a former soldier bored with civilian life and looking for adventure through a very unusual personal ad in the Times is easy enough to pull into the 21st century. With his updated circle of friends, which now includes a hacker as well, he’s well-suited for tackling whatever the world - or Mr. Peterson, his nemesis - can throw at him.

I have to admit that I could have done with a little less technical detail on the weapons, vehicles, and other machinery, since those are not my main focus in a story, but it makes sense that a former soldier would be up to date on that kind of data himself, so I can live with it. Bulldog’s womanizing has been reduced some and it’s very clear that the woman he ends up in bed with - a woman who is not who she seems to be - is absolute happy with it herself, so there’s nothing wrong with it. His tendency to hit everything and everyone in his path has not been reduced - but that is alright, it’s one of his biggest selling points that he is not easily cowed and heroic to a fault. Yes, he’s violent and so are his friends in the right circumstances, but they’re former special Ops, so there’s not much of a surprise there.

On the whole, the book is very entertaining and a lot of fun to read. I’m a big fan of I.A. Watson’s style in general and it works well with the story and the setting he has applied it to this time. Since this novel, unlike many others by Airship 27, is set in modern times, there’s no getting into the setting first. “On Poisoned Grounds” is a great thriller which brings back a couple of characters from the original first story about Bulldog, but often gives them a slightly different job. It has a great hero who at the same time fits with modern times and seems a little misplaced (heroic types like Bulldog are rare these days). It has a ruthless and highly dangerous villain who is always at least two steps ahead, if not more. It has a host of entertaining and at times surprising characters (shout-out to Mrs. Denny for having hidden depths aplenty!). It has twists and turns and turns backwards. It brings its hero to his very limits and does so convincingly. It doesn’t make the mistake of making the villain sympathetic. I’m sure Carl Peterson (who was already Bulldog’s nemesis in the original stories) has his reasons for what he does, but they might very well be ‘making the world burn and sit back to watch.’ And there’s nothing wrong with that when designing a pulp villain. In short: it takes the reader for an entertaining ride, which is what you can expect from any good pulp novel.

Are there negative sides, too? Well, that is pretty much down to taste, I imagine. I already mentioned the many technical details which I’m not all that hot on. There’s a lot of partially rather visual violence as well, such as people being squashed under falling cars, someone blowing themselves up, and quite some broken bones. Yet, considering what is at stake here, all of this is somewhat relative. On the whole, the few things I didn’t like about the novel have not kept me from enjoying the rest, so while there’s things I could do without, they’re not ruining the story for me.

“On Poisoned Grounds” has a lot going for itself. It has a good story, many interesting characters (like the unflappable DCI Mary McIver I haven’t mentioned so far), and twists and turns aplenty. It’s a very good novel which I can only suggest to everyone looking for a nice, modern thriller to read - as long as you like pulp material as well.