28 JANUARY 1928, Page 28

THE SILENT HOUSE. By John G. Brandon. (Cassell. 7s. 6d.)

-Whether the play of this name is less crude than the novel is not known to the present writer, who comes to the book unprejudiced by the glamour of the theatre. The portrait of the implacable and learned Chinaman of boundless wealth, and the stealing of a great jewel from a temple, cannot be said to be new conceptions. There are exciting moments in the story, but the characters with whom one is supposed to sympathize are so extremely unattractive that one cannot help thinking that it is a pity that the able mandarin, Chan-fu, did not succeed in his repeated efforts 'to compass their sudden decease.