Wallace Boys #19 Missing in the Mekong and #20 The Pagodas of Pahang

In Wallace Boys #19, Missing in the Mekong, Bruce and Nigel begin their return to Singapore after their encounter with pirates.  The boys spot what appears to be an abandoned boat near Vietnam.  After investigating the boat, the boys discover an occupant, Nguyen Mah Vinh.  Mah Vinh is searching for his father, Marvin Wynne, an American who disappeared on the very day that Saigon fell to North Vietnam.  Can the boys help Mah Vinh find his father?

This is a moving story.  Much of the text consists of flashbacks to Vietnam during the war including the events leading up to Marvin Wynne's disappearance.

I have never been very interested in the Vietnam War, since it was still underway at the time I was born.  I have always been much more interested in events that happened well before my lifetime, such as World War II.

I have always been familiar with the names of events like the Tet Offensive, but they never meant anything to me.  I never cared to learn about them.  This book shows what happened in Vietnam to citizens during the Tet Offensive.  The reader also learns about the devastating environmental effects of Agent Orange and how it caused health problems and birth defects.

This might not sound interesting by how I describe it, but I found the presentation to be excellent and extremely interesting.  I now know more about the Vietnam War than I did before.

This is an outstanding book.

In Wallace Boys #20, The Pagodas of Pahang, Crown Prince Karl-Franz's sister, Flavia, is abducted by Communists while traveling by train in Malaysia.  Bruce and Nigel are camping in Malaysia at the same time with their friends, Kheng Peng and Zainal, and they cross paths with the kidnappers.  The four boys try to rescue Flavia with disastrous consequences.

This book only partially interested me.  I had to skim a lot of it.

I overall enjoyed the Wallace Boys series, but parts of many of the books required a lot of skimming.

Wallace Boys #17 Treasure of the Tiger and #18 Sultan of the Sulu Sea

In Wallace Boys #17, The Treasure of the Tiger, Nigel and Bruce arrive in Singapore, staying with Zainal and Kheng Peng.  Kheng Peng shares a copy of a radio mayday message from World War II which has been handed down in his family.  The message holds a clue to a sunken Japanese ship that supposedly carried a great treasure.  The boys search for information, then they depart on a journey to try to find the sunken ship.

This book is highly suspenseful.  The boys encounter some extremely dangerous situations in which the reader expects the boys to face certain death.  The book is excellent all the way through.

In Wallace Boys #18, The Sultan of the Sulu Sea, the boys finish their hunt for treasure on the sunken Japanese ship.  They begin their return journey to Singapore.  Shortly into the trip, the boys discover a ship trailing them.  It soon becomes apparent that the ship is a pirate ship, which intends to take over the Silver Spray.

The boys use every evasive tactic at their disposal, but they are unable to get away from the pirates.  The Silver Spray is taken over, and the boys are forced to go to the pirates' headquarters.

This is an excellent and highly suspenseful book.

Wallace Boys #15 Monks of Montafon and #16 South from the Seychelles

In Wallace Boys #15, The Monks of Montafon, Bruce and Nigel learn that Archduke Prince Karl-Franz of Ruritania is missing!  Karl-Franz has been writing a biography of his grandfather, and Karl-Franz's research led him to the Montafon Monastery.  Bruce and Nigel learn that the monks are hiding a terrible secret and that Karl-Franz is in danger.

Bruce's prize possession is a Casio Moon Graph watch, which figures out latitude and longitude as well as when the moon and sun rise and fall.  I had never heard of this watch, so I had to check into it.  I am pleased to report that Casio does still sell a similar watch, so at least Bruce isn't using archaic technology.

I enjoyed this book.

In Wallace Boys #16, South from the Seychelles, Barry Jones gets in touch with Bruce and Nigel.  Barry wants the boys to help him with a trip to the South Indian Ocean.  Some Germans wish to visit a remote island in a dangerous part of the ocean, just because the trip sounds like something they want to do.

Not surprisingly, the Germans have a sinister motive, since they would be daft to visit a remote island for no apparent reason.  Bruce and Nigel are shocked to discover that the Germans are some of their enemies.

Interestingly, most of Bruce and Nigel's friends from past adventures appear in this book.  The same scenario occurs in one Biff Brewster book, Mystery of the Ambush in India.

The first part of this book is boring.  Once the boys set sail, the book is very good.

Wallace Boys #13 Nemesis of the Nefud and #14 Terrorists of Tibesti

In Wallace Boys #13, Nemesis of the Nefud, Nigel, Bruce, and Hanafi stay in the Saudi Arabian desert to learn more about the terrorists.  The terrorists are holed up in a narrow canyon.  Nigel infiltrates the camp while Bruce and Hanafi wait above the canyon for word from Nigel.  Bruce grows impatient and jumps into action prematurely, endangering all three boys.

The terrorists use sheets of camouflage secured by tent pegs to cover their railway tracks so that satellites and aircraft will not spot the railway.  In modern times where everything can be seen from above via satellite, the criminals have to think creatively to cover their tracks.

It was as I read this book that I suddenly realized that to this point in the series, females play no role in the books.  Some females have been mentioned, but they do speak or do anything important.  These are boys' books through and through.  A few females do have minor roles in later books.

I enjoyed this book, but I had to skim many of the lengthy descriptions.

In Wallace Boys #14, The Terrorists of Tibesti, Nigel spots one of the men responsible for the temple massacre while dining in a restaurant in Egypt.  The boys follow the man and later turn him over to the police.  Prior to that, the boys take a shoebox from the man's room.  The shoebox contains a map of the Tibesti Mountains in Chad, so the boys plan a trip to that location via lightweight aircraft.  The trip ends disastrously with the boys once again imprisoned by terrorists.

In this book, the wife of the cab driver, Mahmoot, helps the boys with the stakeout.  She never speaks, which is typical of how this series keeps women in the background until the last few titles in the set.

I also had to skim a lot of this book due to lengthy descriptions that were not interesting to me.  Aside from that, I enjoyed the book.

Wallace Boys #11 Traitors in the Tyrol and #12 Rebels across the Red Sea

In Wallace Boys #11, Traitors in the Tyrol, after resolving the problems of the Ruritanian monarchy, Nigel, Bruce, and Karl-Franz head into the mountains on a hiking trip.  The boys witness a  helicopter make an emergency landing, but when they reach the helicopter to render aid, the occupants have vanished!

Searching the helicopter, the boys discover a ring that belongs to Rupert, who was the leader of the failed coup.  Somehow, Rupert has broken out of jail, so the boys head into the mountains to find him.

This book also bored me.  I don't find the affairs of Ruritania to be remotely interesting.  I skimmed much of this story.

In Wallace Boys #12, Rebels across the Red Sea, Bruce and Nigel are present during a terrorist massacre at Queen Hatshepsut's Temple.  Bruce is on a hillside behind the temple during the massacre and watches it unfold in horror.  Nigel is inside the temple, and Bruce believes that Nigel has been killed.

Later, Bruce learns that the terrorists abducted Nigel by mistake, believing him to be a Saudi prince, Hanafi.  Bruce joins forces with Hanafi in a desperate search for Nigel.

Bruce has sage words of wisdom.

Bruce had learned long ago in his travels that when dealing with petty officialdom—customs officers, the police and the like—you treat them with more respect than perhaps they deserve.  Time and again, he had seen individuals being held up needlessly by a bloody-minded customs official, whereas he and Nigel, with a friendly smile and a polite greeting, would sail through.  Bruce found that the more backward a country, the more the officials had to be shown respect.

Bruce's observation is likely true.

This is a pretty exciting book, and I enjoyed it.  As with the other books, there are some slow parts that require some skimming.

Wallace Boys #9 Hostage in the Highlands and #10 Assignment in the Alps

In Wallace Boys #9, Hostage in the Highlands, Nigel and Bruce arrive in Scotland to pick up the Silver Spray, the boat that they are to refurbish and deliver to their uncle.  Richard Hannay helps the boys work on the boat.

Richard tells Bruce and Nigel about the nearby island castle on Eilean Donan. Anthrax was dropped on the island during World War II in order to test the effects of anthrax, and the island has been quarantined since that time.  Bruce accidentally lands on Eilean Donan while lost in fog, and he discovers suspicious activity on the island.

The first part of this story is quite slow and boring, but the later part of the book is overall good.  Even the later part of the story drags at times.

In Wallace Boys #10, Assignment in the Alps, Nigel and Bruce have been asked by the British to help the faltering monarchy of Ruritania. Upon meeting the Archduke Karl-Franz, the boys learn that a hidden treasure, if found, will save the kingdom.  Nigel, Bruce, and Karl-Franz head into the mountains in search of the treasure.

The entire book bored me.  I had no reason to care.  I have always had a low tolerance for stories that feature fictitious monarchies.

I did not like this book.

Wallace Boys #7 Crash in the Caprivi and #8 Mischief in 'The Mousetrap'

In Wallace Boys #7, Crash in the Caprivi, Bruce, Nigel, and Muyunda are on a plane that is hijacked.  The hijacker forces the plane to land in a remote area where the hijacker meets up with Isaacs and Lambert, who are in the midst of their latest plot.  The plane takes off again with Isaacs and Lambert on board, and Isaacs forces the pilot to fly straight into a storm, with disastrous consequences.

I found it fascinating to learn about the Kalahari Bushmen and how their way of life has been threatened during the last 50 years.

This book is excellent.

In Wallace Boys #8, Mischief in 'The Mousetrap', Nigel and Bruce are on their way to Scotland to pick up a yacht that they will refurbish for their uncle.  The boys stop in London for some sightseeing and attend a performance of The Mousetrap.  The boys stumble upon Timothy, who is in trouble on the streets of London as he searches for his missing brother.  Nigel and Bruce vow to help Timothy, and their search leads them into grave danger.

This book includes descriptions of a bookstore, Bygone Books, which is organized well, and another bookstore, Bunting's, which sounds like a nightmare.

Excited and hopeful that his quest to find his brother might be over, Timothy entered Bunting's which was a very differently run establishment compared with Bygone Books.  It didn't take Timothy long to see that no attempt had been made to arrange the books on the shelves; fiction was mixed with reference and hopelessly out of any sort of order.  There was also a horrible smell and Timothy wrinkled his nose in distaste. It was the smell of cigarette smoke, but not what he'd ever smelled before, and he didn't think it was a very good idea to smoke in a place like this in the first place.

We learn that the clerk was high from the cigarette, so we can conclude that he was smoking marijuana, even though marijuana is not mentioned by name.

The boys discover that the bookstore is part of a crime ring, and the criminals use hollowed-out books to carry contraband from place to place.

This book has an excellent mystery.  Even though the reader can pretty much guess the villain from the beginning, the crime is not immediately obvious, so the mystery is quite interesting.

This is an outstanding book.

Wallace Boys #5 Killers against Kariba and #6 Kidnapped in the Kafue

In Wallace Boys #5, Killers against Kariba, Bruce, Nigel, and Muyunda depart on a camping trip on Lake Kariba, which is between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  The boys unwittingly stumble open Isaacs' latest plot, which is to to blow up the Kariba dam. Blowing up the dam will throw the region into chaos, so that the leadership of Zimbabwe can be overthrown.  The boys hope to thwart Isaacs' plan, but first, they must escape from their captors.

The first part of this story is much slower than I would have liked.  The story is overall good, but the historical content was a bit tedious for me and not very interesting.

In Wallace Boys #6, Kidnapped in the Kafue, Bruce and Nigel travel with Muyunda to visit his uncle, Kamwi, who is a game warden in the Kafue National Park.  Kamwi is angry when the boys arrive, even though he invited Muyunda.  Kamwi is not himself and seems not to care about the constant poaching. Muyunda does not understand what has happened to his uncle.

The boys investigate the poachers on their own and discover that the poachers are funding a rebel army.  Even more interesting, the boys' foes Isaacs and Lambert are involved in the plot!

Nigel makes the following observation.

Nigel leant back in his seat relieving tense muscles. "Do you know," he announced, "we've been instrumental in destroying three helicopters in the last couple of years?  I wonder who can claim that distinction."

This book starts out quite well and is interesting from the very beginning.  The story is excellent from beginning to end and is quite engaging.

Wallace Boys #3 Trouble in Tristan and #4 Legacy of Lobengula

In Wallace Boys #3, Trouble in Tristan, Bruce, Nigel, and Jimmy help Barry prepare the St Valery for its journey to Cape Town.  A man named Gustav asks to hitch a ride with them, and Barry agrees.  After the voyage is underway, Gustav hijacks the ship and forces Barry and the boys to sail the ship to a remote island in the South Atlantic, right into the eye of a terrible storm!

This book is very exciting and is excellent all the way through.

In Wallace Boys #4, The Legacy of Lobengula, Bruce and Nigel have returned to their parents' farm in Zimbabwe with their friend Muyunda from the university.  Muyunda has worn a pendant around his neck ever since he was a boy.

When Muyunda discovers that someone has tampered with his pendant, he tells Bruce and Nigel about how he came into possession of the pendant and how it is supposed to lead to the treasure of Lobengula.  The boys set out in search of the treasure, but they find that their old foes Isaacs and Lambert are also after the treasure.

This book is slow to get started.  The background information takes up the first one-third of the book, and then a large portion of text is devoted to the preparation for the trip up until about halfway through the story.  The second half is better but not as interesting as previous books

Wallace Boys #1 Skulduggery in the South Atlantic and #2 Sands of the Skeleton Coast

In Wallace Boys #1, Skulduggery in the South Atlantic, Bruce and Nigel Wallace voyage to St. Helena Island to visit their uncle, William Wallace, who is the governor.  Late at night, Bruce spots Stedson Benjamin skulking about near a lifeboat.  Bruce listens and realizes that Benjamin is taking supplies to two stowaways.

Bruce and Nigel learn that the captain is aware of the stowaways, and that officials are hoping to discover what their business is. Upon their arrival on St. Helena Island, the boys keep track of Benjamin and his accomplices.  Later, the boys learn of a plot to take over control of the island, and they hope to thwart it.

This book starts off a bit slow for my taste, but I still found it interesting.  The book becomes more interesting during the later part of the story.

I enjoyed this book.

In Wallace Boys #2, The Sands of the Skeleton Coast, Bruce, Nigel, and their friend, Jimmy, agree to join Barry Jones on a voyage to the Skeleton Coast of Africa.  Barry wants to get a glimpse of the shipwreck of the Dundee Star, a ship that wrecked during World War II with his father on board.

The boys like Barry and agree to join him. During the voyage, the boys begin to suspect that Barry has not told them the real reason for their destination.  Soon, the boys are dismayed to discover that Barry is involved in a scheme with their old enemies, Vronski, Isaacs, and Lambert.

I like that during the voyages in this series, the characters tend not to use electronic devices for navigation.  In the following passage, Barry explains his preference for navigating by using charts and a chronometer.

"Surely you can do all this by computer these days?" asked Nigel.

“Yes, you can.  And I could.  It’s a lot easier but I prefer to find my own way.  In fact, I could use radio direction finding equipment, and by taking readings from various geo-stationary satellites in space I could pin-point my position to within half a hair!  But I feel that these modern ways are all very well and good, but computers and electrical equipment can break down.  And I’ve got no one to mend the stuff out in the middle of the ocean.  So I don’t have any fancy equipment, except for radio, radar and echo sounder; I want to feel that I have done the job; not a lot of electronics!”

This is a very good book.

The Wallace Boys Series

The Wallace Boys series was written by Duncan Watt.  This is a series that is practically unknown in the United States, and it's not surprising why.  Only some books in this series have been published in print editions, and the rest of the books are only available in electronic editions.  The few print editions are quite scarce, and it's highly unlikely that anyone in the United States would ever run across one of these books.

This series was recommended by another collector as a series that is similar to Rick Brant.  Since I enjoyed the Rick Brant books, I decided to give these books a try.

 1.  Skulduggery in the South Atlantic, 1995
 2.  The Sands of the Skeleton Coast, 1993
 3.  Trouble in Tristan, 1991
 4.  The Legacy of Lobengula, 1996
 5.  Killers against Kariba, 1992
 6.  Kidnapped in the Kafue, 1991
 7.  Crash in the Caprivi, 1993
 8.  Mischief in 'The Mousetrap', 2010
 9.  Hostage in the Highlands, 1995
10.  Assignment in the Alps, 2010
11.  Traitors in the Tyrol, 2010
12.  The Monks of Montafon, 2010
13.  Rebels across the Red Sea, 2000
14.  Rebels across the Red Sea II: Nemesis of the Nefud, 2000
15.  Rebels across the Red Sea II: The Terrorists of Tibesti, 2001
16.  South from the Seychelles, 2010
17.  The Treasure of the Tiger, 1994
18.  The Sultan of the Sulu Sea, 1997
19.  Missing in the Mekong, 2000
20.  The Pagodas of Pahang, 1996

The copyrights are all over the place because the author wrote books later that fit into the original chronology.  This list is the correct order in which to read the books.

All 20 books can be found in inexpensive electronic editions on various sites.  I was able to purchase 19 of the 20 books in the Kindle format on Amazon.  I had to go to another site to purchase the remaining book.

The books contain a large amount of historical information about the areas in which the books are set.  This information is sometimes very interesting, and at other times, it is way too lengthy.

This series is very similar to the Biff Brewster, Sandy Steele, and Brad Forrest series. If you are a fan of any of those series or are a fan of Rick Brant, then you need to give this series a try.

Since I found it hard at first to find information about this series when I began reading the books, I decided to create a page on the Wallace Boys series for my website.  I created the page since most people in the United States have never heard of it. Even though some of the books drag at times, the series is overall too good to be ignored.

The Wallace Boys Series