The Adventures of Tintin: The Seven Crystal Balls

Members of an expedition to Peru and Bolivia are falling ill from a mysterious malady. One by one, the men have contracted a sleeping sickness. Even more odd is that every day at the same time, those slumbering patients cry out in agony and then resume their sleeps.

Meanwhile, Captain Haddock is having trouble adjusting to his new found wealth and fame. The absent minded Professor Calculus has settled in at Haddock's lonesome estate, conducting experiments. But otherwise, the two gentlemen keep to themselves.

As more members of the South American expedition succumb to the sleeping sickness, Detectives Thompson and Thomson recruit Tintin to help investigate the mystery. There's a lone clue found at each of the victims' places of residence: broken glass. As Calculus knows the last remaining member of the team to stay clear of this sickness, the professor is tasked with introducing everyone and establishing a guard around the final survivor. Haddock comes along to provide added protection.

One night, the mystery deepens when an intruder dressed as a Peruvian native holding a glass orb, terrorizes the house. A series of hi-jinks ensues and the final explorer succumbs to the sleeping sickness when the invader smashes the crystal ball releasing a strange knockout gas. Meanwhile, a member of the team has gone missing and their disappearance will see Tintin and crew heading to Peru!

The Seven Crystal Balls was another Herge triumph. However, I felt like instead of this book ending with a cliffhanger, Herge could have cut a couple of superfluous scenes and completed everything in one nice package. Take out the scene at the opera. Eliminate all the slapstick at the mansion with the intruder. Just have him knock-out the last member of the expedition and let that be that. Plus, when the teammate of Tintin gets kidnapped, instead of throwing some red herrings at us, just have Tintin and company head over to Peru and go from there. 

So this is a good story. It's just excessive. 

Herge wrote 24 total Tintin adventures. And thanks to this one and Red Rackham's Treasure, the previous tale, I do very much want to read them. I just hope that there's not too much of a  formulaic plot to the point that each book is a direct copy of the ones before. That kind of thing could get boring real quick. 

I guess I'll just have to keep reading to find out. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.