Cirrus@Austlit

Guy Boothby's fourth novel of five about the notorious Doctor Nikola, an occultist anti-hero seeking immortality and world domination.

'This is the last of Boothby's Dr. Nikola novels, set in Venice, Italy. Nikola tells the story of his sad life, demonstrates his mystic ability to enable people to experience themselves in another place and time, transforms a man into being a beast, and departs from his palace in Venice which has a bloody history, but he remains in the minds of those who met him.'

Source: feedbooks.com

'With money in his pocket after making his fortune in the South Seas, Richard Hatteras has London at his feet. Running afoul of the deadly Dr Nikola, however, was the worst thing he could do. Soon, young Dick is swept up into a maelstrom of blackmail, hypnotism, deceit and murder, where his betrothed is in danger, his potential father-in-law’s reputation is on the brink of ruination, and his very sanity is at stake. What can a two-fisted adventurer do against the vast and cold intellect that is Dr Nikola?'

Source: Publisher's blurb, Chimaera edition.

'In "A Bid for Fortune" Mr. Boothby told us of the superhuman efforts exerted by Dr. Nikola to obtain possession of a certain little Chinese wand, and which was apparently valueless except as a curiosity. The reason for the unscrupulous doctor's pertinacity is not apparent until we read the sequel, to which the name of the hero has been given. In "Dr. Nikola" the doctor and one Wilfred Bruce, a young Australian, go through a series of "hair-raising" adventures in their endeavour to get to a certain Buddhist monastery In the heart of China. There exist in that monastery certain treasures which Dr. Nikola is very anxious to lay his hands upon, and possessed of which he can do more than any other man.'

– The Queenslander 1897