One of the reasons the great pulp writers like H.P. Lovecraft, Walter B. Gibson, Lester Dent and L. Ron Hubbard were so popular lie in their ability to create great characters and believable situations. Their storytelling talents are evident in the stories themselves and their popularity has never waned. I have to give Hubbard credit for his 1937 tale, The Bold Dare All, which takes off quickly and never relents. Lee Briscoe is a typical pulp hero thrust into a dangerous situation immediately only to find this quagmire complicated by the appearance of a woman. Now he’s forced to consider other options, which elevates the suspense. Brisco is undercover investigating a slave labor camp in southeast Asia when things heat up between him and Schwenk, the bad-guy in the story. When the lovely Diana Martin gets tangled in Schwenk’s deceitful web, Briscoe is forced to re-think his options. The romance is never a major part of Hubbard’s adventure stories, but it serves its purpose in The Bold Dare All, perhaps perfunctorily. The Bold Dare All is a fun and swift men’s adventure story. ( )