A Korean Tiger

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A Korean Tiger is the twenty-sixth novel in the long-running Nick Carter-Killmaster series of spy novels.[1] Carter is a US secret agent, code-named N-3, with the rank of Killmaster. He works for AXE – a secret arm of the US intelligence services.

Publishing history

The book was first published in 1967 (Number A248X) by Award Books part of the Beacon-Signal division of Universal Publishing and Distributing Corporation (New York, USA), part of the Conde Nast Publications Inc. The novel was written by Manning Lee Stokes.[2] [3] Copyright was registered on 14 August 1967.[4]

Tagline

Killmaster stalks a traitor to recover the nuclear plans that could crush America into radioactive dust

Plot summary

The novel is set in June 1966.

Carter is recuperating at his private lodge in Indiana when he is summoned by AXE chief, David Hawk, to uncover a traitor within the organization.

Hawk reveals that Raymond Lee Bennett – a minor civil servant working in AXE – has apparently murdered his wife and disappeared only a few weeks after his retirement. His wife's body was discovered in a secret basement room in their house. Further background checks reveals that Bennett has a photographic memory and is capable of recalling every classified document he has had access to in the last 30 years. AXE fears that Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies also intend to capture Bennett to exploit his knowledge.

The FBI traces Bennett to Cologne. Carter follows with orders to get Bennett dead or alive. He tracks Bennett to the Hotel Dom. Carter breaks into Bennett's room intending to kill him. Instead he discovers the bodies of a Chinese and Russian agent. Bennett and his female companion have escaped. Carter traces their steps over the rooftops of buildings adjacent to the hotel and discovers the body of his German AXE contact. Carter allows himself to be captured by three Russian agents on his tail. Carter is tortured in a warehouse by Colonel Zoe Kalinski – a sadistic MGB agent. She is only interested in finding Bennett and the Yellow Widow – a known Chinese agent and the woman with whom Bennett has escaped. Under duress, Carter gives a false location for the Yellow Widow’s hideout. Carter escapes from the Russian agents and attempts to pick up the trail of Bennett and the Yellow Widow.

Carter suspects that the Yellow Widow and Bennett will try to enter China through North Korea. AXE agents stake out the ports of South Korea. Carter picks up the trail again in Pusan where a disguised Bennett and Yellow Widow intend to take the train to Seoul. Zoe Kalinski and her Russian colleagues have followed Carter to Pusan. They board the train and capture Carter. Carter escapes and immediately attempts to capture the Yellow Widow and Bennett in their train compartment. The train is halted by bandits loyal to the Yellow Widow. The Yellow Widow and Bennett escape and run down the tracks. The Yellow Widow is killed in crossfire and Bennett falls down the embankment. Carter captures him and together they head into the Korean hinterland.

They stumble upon the bandits' secret hideout. Carter steals some weapons and rigs booby traps to surprise the bandits when they return from besieging the train. Carter sets the camp on fire which attracts the attention of Jimmy Kim and Pok who have been searching the environs of the train for him in a spotter plane. The plane crash-lands. While Carter goes to help the crew Bennett escapes but is attacked and killed by a tiger. Carter, Kim and Pok walk back to the nearest town.

Main characters

  • Nick Carter – agent N-3, AXE
  • David Hawk – head of AXE; Carter's boss,
  • Raymond Lee Bennett – retired former AXE clerk
  • Zoe Kalinski – Colonel, MGB
  • Yellow Widow – aka Madame Hsu Tzu Tsai; real name Chung; half-Korean, half-Chinese spy
  • Jimmy Kim – AXE agent, South Korea
  • Pok – Korean orphan; Kim's assistant

Other information

  • The cover (1st US edition) shows a scantily clad Asian woman drinking wine in a scene that does not appear in the story.
  • The story takes place in June 1966 – reference is made to Bennett joining the civil service in 1936 and retiring recently after 30 years' service; reference is also made to Jimmy Kim's Aeronca 65TL first produced in 1940 being 26 years old (Chapter 8)
  • Hawk quotes from Fibber McGee and Molly - “t'ain't funny, McGee” (Chapter 2); there is an earlier reference to Fibber McGee in Danger Key
  • Footnotes in the text make specific reference to plotlines in previous novels Istanbul (Chapter 2) and The Golden Serpent (Chapter 3) – both written by Manning Lee Stokes. This is the first use of such footnotes in the Killmaster books.
  • Carter remembers a quote from "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" William Butler Yeats (Chapter 1)
  • Carter is fluent in Sanskrit (he has read the yoga sutra in its original Sanskrit; Chapter 1)
  • Carter speaks Korean poorly but is better at Japanese (Chapter 8)
  • Carter owns a 100-acre lodge in Limberlost country in northern Indiana on the edge of Loon Lake (Chapter 1)
  • It is hinted that Carter originates from Indiana
  • Carter's first love was Peg Tyler – now a married housewife with two children, with whom he keeps infrequent rendezvous
  • Della Stokes appears as Hawk's private secretary - a character invented by Manning Lee Stokes in earlier Killmaster novels
  • Carter wears gloves made from human skin to leave false fingerprints (previously used in Mission to Venice)
  • It is stated that there are only 4 Killmasters in AXE, with Carter the most senior (Chapter 5)
  • Carter's stiletto, Hugo, has the tip snapped off and is reground to a shorter length
  • Carter taunts Zoe Kalinski with the phrase ‘Think fast, Miss Moto’ – a reference to the 1937 novel and film Think Fast, Mr. Moto
  • Carter first meets Pok in this novel. Pok is introduced as Carter's Korean houseboy in The Devil's Cockpit, which is set in September 1966.
  • Hsu Tzu Tsai is mentioned in the novel Assignment: Israel also written by Manning Lee Stokes, although the character is male.

Errors

  • The author makes reference to the events described in The Golden Serpent as having taken place shortly before the present story. However, The Golden Serpent is set in July 1966 - a month after the events in this story.
  • Carter refers to the Russian intelligence agency as MGB; MGB was renamed KGB in 1954 (Chapter 3)
  • States that Dom-Hotel, Cologne has 12 floors; it only has 5 storeys.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/nick-carter/
  2. ↑ Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction: An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm. Bradley Mengel. 2009. ISBN 978-0-7864-4165-5
  3. ↑ http://www.spyguysandgals.com/sgLookupBook.asp?id=306
  4. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1967: July-December. By Library of Congress. Copyright Office, p2023
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