This story “deals with a reincarnation of Napoleon, nicknamed ‘The Dumpling,’ who is filled with a noble love of his fellow men, if only they be poor enough, and sees no other way of bettering their condition than by indulging in robbery and murder, plotting in an opium den, and evolving the picturesque combination: ‘God, Napoleon and the Dumpling strike with a granite arm.’” (Acad.)
“Coincidences rage throughout the book, but impossibilities are more rampant still. There is no characterization, but there is a speech eleven pages long about labour, delivered by a murderous madman. The grammar is uncertain, and the style is frequently facetious. It is possible that there is a public which demands such books; it is a thousand pities that Mr. Kernahan should condescend to cater for it.”
| − | Acad. 71: 399. O. 20, ’06. 220w. | |
| N. Y. Times. 12: 567. O. 19, ’07. 30w. |
“The whole novel is quite impossible, the most insatiable lover of sensation could hardly find satisfaction in it, and it is difficult to understand how a writer of Mr. Kernahan’s standing could submit such a work to public criticism.”
| − | Sat. R. 102: 618. N. 17, ’06. 80w. |
“Is an excellent melodrama. The reader of the story is hurled from adventure to adventure in a breathless manner, but it must be confessed that the interest is well kept up and does not flag.”
| + − | Spec. 97: 626. O. 27, ’06. 160w. |
Kerr, Alvah Milton. Diamond key and how the railway heroes won it. il. †$1.50. Lothrop.
7–8218.