Hergé followed up the two part “sunken treasure” series with another two-parter, the “Incan curse” duo of The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun. The book is a real page-turner, but it’s interesting to me that it is almost exclusively a part of the two-book set; on its own, there’s not a whole lot of conclusive action. It’s exciting, and you want to find out what’s going on, but everything is shrouded in mystery. We don’t know who’s drugging all of the explorers, we don’t know who kidnapped Professor Calculus, and even what Tintin thinks is going on is still conjecture by the end of the book. Only by reading the next book will we get any answers to our questions.

The book opens with a newly-refined Captain Haddock, now a fan of the riding jacket and monocle, going with Tintin to a variety show, where they hear Bianca Castafiore sing. Tintin is surprised: “She turns up in the oddest places: Syldavia, Borduria, and the Red Sea… She seems to follow us around.” That’s certainly what the reader is thinking, and it’s nice to see Hergé poke fun at the recurrence of familiar characters like Castafiore.

Captain Haddock seems to have developed a soft spot for Calculus, even though he gets fed up with his poor hearing. He’s despondent when Calculus is kidnapped, is raring to go to rescue him, and perks up at the slightest break in the case.

The artwork in the book is beautiful, full of detailed backgrounds, intricately rendered artifacts, and terrific action sequences. The occasional half-page panel, like a striking wide shot after a series of close-ups, works really well, and doesn’t seem as jarring as the full-page spreads in The Crab with the Golden Claws .

Here’s the sort of thing you notice only when reading these books back to back to back: the number plate of the car that kidnaps Calculus is 317413; the phone number stitched inside the pickpocket’s coat in The Secret of the Unicorn is 314731. Now, if only I knew the significance of those digits…

We get yet another Sherlock Holmes, reference. I think I failed to mention one in the last book; he’s definitely the most oft-mentioned character from outside of the Tintin universe.

The book ends with a message, not spoken by Tintin as in the last two-parter, but as a sort of post-script: “What will happen in Peru? You will find out in PRISONERS OF THE SUN.” Well ok, let’s go.