The Mark of Zorro

The Mark of Zorro (1919) Johnston McCulley

I had a Zorro book as a kid. I have no idea where it came from–I’m sure my mom didn’t buy it for me. It may have been left at the house by the previous occupants, like the James Bond books I eventually read and loved. It was an older book, and I don’t even remember the cover, but I do remember some details quite clearly, such as Zorro’s servant being dumb–but not deaf–servant. Someone snuck up behind him to “test” to see if he really was deaf, and fired a gun directly behind him. Luckily the servant saw the person, and steeled himself not to flinch. I always wondered whether I–even knowing that a shot was going to be fired directly behind me–could keep from flinching.

So when I saw that there was a Zorro movie coming out–and it looked awful–I had a sudden yearning to read the story of my childhood. Of course the book is either completely lost, or in my parent’s attic and unavailable until temperatures drop. So I searched to see if I could find the book, but discovered that I knew neither the author nor title. All I know was that it was a Zorro book.

What I ended up with was The Mark of Zorro (The Original Zorro) by Johnston McCulley with Zorro: The Masters Edition Vol. One on back order.

The Mark of Zorro is not what I read as a child. In The Mark of Zorro Zorro’s identity is secret, which it wasn’t in the book I read, so although that was a perfectly reasonable plot device, it obviously didn’t work for me, since I already knew who Zorro was. And I knew that it wasn’t going to be great literature or historically accurate.

But it was fun!

I love swashbuckling adventures. I can forgive a lot given a good fencing duel or sword fight.

However now I really want to read Zorro: The Masters Edition Vol. One, which is a collection of the Zorro short stories, to see if the story I remember is there. And because one of the things I liked about the Zorro was how hard he had to work to keep his secret identity. I found it fascinating, and assuming that the story I read was in fact a McCulley story, more thought was put into timing and how Zorro had to work to keep his identity secret.

So this wasn’t a great book, but it was fun, and I’m looking forward to Zorro: The Masters Edition Vol. One.
Rating: 7/10

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