Don't Call It Black Magic; They Hate That Term

Sometimes (OK, frequently), I want to read something quick and entertaining. Enter Martin Caidin's Indiana Jones and the White Witch, which succeeds on both counts.

It's 1930, and Indy's in England on sabbatical, learning to fly a plane under the tutelage of Gale Parker. While flying (and upchucking) over the town of St. Brendan Glen, Indy notices the town is under attack. As Gale grew up there, they land and rush to the scene. They learn an armed group showed up, seeking a map they were more than willing to kill for. A map leading to a considerable quantity of gold, in bar, statue, and early Christianity vintage coin form. So Indy and Gale are asked to do all they can to find this gold before the man responsible for the attack, Konstantin LeBlanc Cordas.

The situation is complicated by a couple of factors. One, the map (both copies of it) has only landmarks drawn on it, but no names. Two, St. Brendan Glen is home to some powerful forces, and people who know how to use them, including Gale and her friend Caitlin. The people there are Wiccan, so they tend to be in tune with the world around them, and can manipulate as needed. Also, Caitlin's the current wielder of a sword pretty well-known in Arthurian legends (Folklore? Mythology?), and she's honor bound to use it against the people responsible.

I imagine it had to be tricky for writers to tell stories with characters people are familiar with from movies, since the reader compares what they're reading to what they've seen on the screen. Or perhaps I'm the only one who does that. It would be easier for the writers if I am, since throughout the book, I was picturing Indy's dialogue, or the facial expressions described, with Harrison Ford. Plus, I was trying to decide whether his actions were what I'd expect of Indiana Jones.

The good news is, I think Caidin did a good job with Indy. I wound up attributing anything that didn't seem quite right to the fact this Indy is five years younger than the Indiana Jones of any of the movies*. So I figured he might be more impatient with people, less experienced, and less concerned with conserving his energy. For example, he and Gale end up on the Graf Zeppelin as it crosses the Atlantic, and Caidin describes Indy as being somewhat awed by the experience, which struck me as strange, but I remembered this Indy hadn't ridden in one before, so it probably is a strange experience. I've never ridden in a zeppelin, so I can't say.

Also, this Indy likes to cut people's faces with his whip. In his defense, the second time he was fighting on the Zeppelin, which means, hydrogen, which means he couldn't use a gun, and the first time it was a guy who had socked him around pretty good. However, it's made clear in the first case that he views it as payback for the beating he took, which seems like an exertion an older Indy wouldn't bother with. He'd just tie the guy up (or kill him) as quickly as he could, to be done with it. In a way, it reminds me of Bond in Casino Royale, where I watched and was surprised how quickly he resorted to shooting people. That was a younger, less experienced James Bond, and this is a younger Indiana Jones, so if nothing else, I was able to make it work in my mind.

Another interesting bit was the opportunity to see Indy have time to come up with a real plan for dealing with the enemy. In the movies, he usually has to come up with something on the fly, because the Ark's speeding away on a truck, or his father's trapped inside a tank. Here, he's able to use the resources he has to stall the villains until he can put a specific plan into action. A plan which relies on Indy's knowledge of history and local customs, rather than his whip or fists. It's a nice change of pace.

One issue I have with the book comes from it being part of a series, and this being only one book in said series. Gale Parker, Cordas, Indy's friend in MI5, and Sir William Pencroft are all recurring characters. In most cases, Caidin takes a little time to outline their relationship to Indy, even if it's simply "Friend", and their basic personality (for Pencroft that would be "crotchety and mischievous"). Gale has the most fleshing out, probably because she's actively in the story the most. I have an idea of how she starts her day, what riles her or makes her happy, what interests her, so that's good. The exception is Cordas. Reading the story, I'm fairly sure he and Indy had clashed before, but the details aren't there. Cordas only speaks to them at the very end, and not very much then. I know he was presumed dead, but isn't, he's rebuilding his organization, he wants the gold, and he'll kill to get it, but not much besides that. What's he want it for specifically? What's his organization about? What's his personality? He works as a shadowy presence, one the heroes either can't see, or can't touch if they can, but when it comes to the final confrontation, his lack of dimensions takes some of the wind out of it. There are also a couple of characters who serve little purpose in the story (Vatican agent Matteo Di Palma) that I think Caidin was introducing in preparation for later stories. It's not too distracting, though I kept waiting for Di Palma to do something, because the story still works perfectly well on its own. It would probably work better if read in order with the others.

Ending on a positive note, the story was educational. I think that aspect was part of what Caidin enjoyed most about writing the story, as there's an afterword where he discusses some of the topics brought up in the story. These include Arthurian legends, about both Avalon and Excalibur, about Stonehenge and phenomena Caidin's observed there. He talks about the actual Graf Zeppelin, about the British offering gold and convoy protection to the Confederacy for cotton, and finally about the Moebius strip, which Indy uses to explain an odd situation he and some of the other characters are experiencing. Per Caidin's instructions, I tried, and it's awesome how a piece of paper can be made to only have one side.

* Excluding the 1912 sequence with Young Indy at the start of The Last Crusade, Temple of Doom is set the earliest, 1935 according to Wikipedia. For some reason, I thought it was 1933.