The Treasure of Monte Cristo by Jules Lermina (1885)

Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo (French)

Jules Lermina

Jules Lermina must've really needed the money. Four years after the previous "conclusion" that the Lermina-verse had brought us- the pitiful death of Edmond Dantes huddled over the coffin of his boy Spero, Lermina cranked out ANOTHER Monte Cristo sequel. But the pickings had become quite slim indeed... who's going to be the hero of the new story? Lermina had wiped out everybody besides Eugenie! No chance for the Count to have had another child. Albert never reproduced. Max and Val killed off... what to do? What to do??? 

Lermina creates "The NewFoundland Club", a multi-national group fighting the tyranny and oppression of victimized/conquered peoples as the next generation of good guys. And Valentin Morrel makes his first appearance on page 439! But who can be the villain this time? Lermina desperately grasps at straws and taps one of the worst "Resurrect the Big Baddie" tropes...

BTW, this book is only available in French, so what I'm reading is a scanned version converted to .docx and fed into Google Translate. Turns out that it wasn't difficult to locate different versions of the book, with some being named Le Fils de Monte-Cristo, including a jumbo 1,223 pager that contains all 3 Lermina books in one! That one, published in 1903, had some retrofitting and added additional new chapters to make Book II and Book III fit together, and is not representative of the books as originally pubished!

For people looking for Part 1 and Part II of my Jules Lermina book reviews, read them here!

BOOK III:

Part 5/6/7/8: Prologue, The Treasure, The Risen One, the Mysterious Testament

The current year is approx 1881. Technology has advanced and the telegraph and train travel across Europe is now possible. Count Serge Soiloff is one of our new heroes. He was betrayed by his "best friend" Dr. Houdas, arrested by the Russian authorities for his anti-Tsar revolutionary activities and sent to the Surgut mining labor camp in Siberia. NewFLC bluff their way in, claiming to be on a Tsar-approved "scientific expedition", but their real purpose is to free Soiloff. The rescue is aborted by a mine cave-in and Soiloff is given up for dead. But he survives and heads for the Gulf of Ob. While floating on a piece of ice, he reaches into the waters and pulls up a crystal vial (floating around for 10 years) containing the Will of Edmond Dantes, the Count of Monte Cristo!

1883: Soiloff finds his way to Paris, and after several trials and tribulations, unites with NewFLC and decodes the paper that leads to the treasure. It says to go to Marseilles, to the house of Old Dantes and a man (Ali) will be waiting for them (⮜disappointing, not very clever, and far too obvious). Only Soiloff and team-member Sir Gordon go on the treasure hunt. But Benedetto, now 60-something, is somehow alive, dressed as a ragged beggar, and has been spying on that same house for TEN YEARS! 🤣 Dr. Houdas visits Benedetto unexpectedly, confirms that the Treasure of Monte Cristo exists and proposes a partnership. But Benedetto lunges at him, strangles him to death and lifts his wallet.

Ali escorts NewFLC on the yacht, the Alcyon, to the Count's second villa and treasure storeroom on the island of Ischia. Benedetto, now flush with Dr. Houdas' money, hires a steamer ship to follow. He's teamed up with young Giacomo Cavalcanti (⮜Major Bartolomeo's real son*). At dusk, Ali leads his guests to a massive vault cut into the rocks. It contains an immense store of diamonds, precious stones and gold ingots. But the two rogues had also landed and snuck through the open vault door. They charge in and kill Ali, but the cavern collapses on top of everyone in an earthquake. Cliffhanger!

Part 9: The Resurrection of Monte Cristo

The rest of NewFLC receive a letter from the (still living?) Count, with a mission to find their missing friends, and to accept Valentin Morrel into their fellowship. And Valentin himself opens the door of the parlor. Then we get HIS backstory... Max and Val settled in India where Val's royal roots are acknowledged by her blood family. Max dies heroically in the Sepoy Rebellion, fighting for the oppressed Hindus against their cruel English occupiers. Val, after delivering their only child* to her father, dies of a broken heart. Valentin grows up and inherits the titles of Prince of Tonk and Raja of Indore. He's sent to Paris to find the Count of Monte Cristo. NewFLC welcomes Valentin.

Back at Ischia, Cavalcanti barely escapes with his life and a handful of gems. He goes back and pulls Benedetto from the rubble and they've been thick as thieves ever since. Team Benedetto comes up with an odd scheme to buy the villa and land rights to Ischia, because they know the treasure is there (⮜why is this necessary? Shouldn't they just sail there at night with tools?). Cavalcanti finds out the Count filed a Will in Naples in 1854* that grants Ischia to Valentin Morrel.

Soiloff, Gordon and the Alcyon have been MIA for quite some time, bookwise. Cavalcanti goes to Naples and learns that the Alcyon returned, buried Ali and sailed off on an unknown course for "tourism". In a complicated plan, he impersonates Valentin using forged and stolen papers and presents himself to the notary to usurp the inheritance. He's sent to Ischia itself with a notarized letter to claim the deeds. But when Cavalcanti tries to double-cross Benedetto, he's murdered for it (⮜of course!). Now Benedetto (age 60+) needs to disguise as Valentin (age 25)! 🤣

On Ischia, Benedetto (as Valentin) is shown the rebuilt villa and he's given the plans which mark a secret underground passage. He enters and the door to the treasure room magically opens for him. The floor is covered in gold and jewels. As he basks in triumph over the hated Count, the walls lower and a new light floods the room. The NewFLC surrounds him. Valentin steps forward and tosses a sword at Benedetto's feet. It's a duel! Benedetto fights furiously, and just as he's about to stab Valentin in the heart, a wall panel opens, and a man with a long white beard emerges (maybe a vision? or a hallucination? Or real?). "Monte Cristo!", cries Benedetto, and the distraction provides Valentin the opening he needs to deliver the fatal stroke. Benedetto falls, dead (and hopefully, permanently!)

FFWD to a meeting of NewFLC. Soiloff addresses the group, saying that the "Great Count", lying in his own grave had "regained the courage to live" and "still had a job to do- ensuring that his fortune went into worthy hands" (⮜yeah right. RETCON!). The Club swears to obey the will of Monte Cristo, and will fight for justice and freedom for all!

The Verdict: This book really isn't that bad. It might even be the strongest of Lermina's Monte Cristo offerings. In his previous 2 books, the first 4 Parts were disconnected, self-contained sections and did not feed a larger narrative. Lermina had fixed the problem here, in Parts 5-9, and the subplots and even minor characters each have a role to play in the main plot. As long as we accept that the book isn't really about Edmond Dantes, or any of the legacy characters we loved, and it's all about the Treasure, what it should be used for and how to get it into the right hands, then the book can be a satisfying and somewhat exciting read. It could use a proper English translation.

I'm not very fond of the cheap resurrection trick that brought back senior-citizen Benedetto as the Main Baddie, or ghostly cameo appearances from the "dead" Count, who expresses his wishes (and helping hand) through letters, various lackeys, pre-paid assistance and sometimes "in person" visits where his beneficiaries never see where he came from or where he went.

* Lermina is BAD at dates. Young Cavalcanti is 25 years old, current date (1883) but we know his father was killed in 1848! Valentin is ret-conned with an 1857 birthdate as the ONE AND ONLY child of Max and Val, ignoring the previous mention (in Book I) of Morrel children (plural) in India in 1845. The Count left a Will with a Naples notary, dated 1854, which names Valentin Morrel (⮜not born yet!) and gives him an assignment to avenge the death of Dantes' son (⮜not dead yet!)

There's a whole lot of sizzle and not enough steak in this book. Lermina HAD some truly good ideas and this could have been an excellent suspense thriller with some great plot twists, but these went nowhere. The secret coded message ended up being sooooo obvious that anyone with even a smidgen of biographical knowledge of the Count should have guessed it and tricked Ali into handing over the treasure. There should have been an exciting rescue mission for Soiloff and Gordon, and race against time pitting NewFLC against Team Benedetto to get to the treasure first, but that was a fizz-out. A simple offhand remark from a shipping agency ruined all the suspense in telling us that Soiloff, Gordon and the Alcyon were safe and outran Benedetto by WEEKS!

If Max and Val had been gifted the palace and treasures on Monte Cristo island, then why didn't Valentin inherit those riches? Where did it all go and how was it all spent? Why would the Count have yet another Will to pile more money on Valentin? What about the potential conflict between the 1854 Naples Will and the message-in-a-bottle 1865 Will? Who is the rightful owner of the Ischia treasure? Valentin Morrel or the finder of the bottle? What if they didn't join ranks? What if one party laid claim, took and spent it all before the other even arrives?

What about the womenfolk? Lermina sets up the ladies with some compelling stories that play a part in the big picture. But they're just ignored later with fates unknown. Honorary NewFLC member Vera Kleonoff? The Potoleff daughters Maxima and Velika? Valentin's fiancee, Maia? Crazy lady Giulietta who provides critical intel for NewFLC, and grieves over her long-missing daughter, Agostina? Agostina, who escapes from creepy pedo-ish kidnapper? Does she reunite with her boyfriend Miron and her mother?

Lastly, Lermina seems to have a bit of a blind spot re: imperialism and colonialism. NewFLC's goal is: "Deliver Ireland, deliver Poland, deliver Canada 🤣, deliver India, free Alsace and Lorraine!" because Canada was soooo oppressed by England and 150 years later, they'd ditch the Commonwealth immediately... right? NewFLC doesn't have any members from the French Caribbean, French Indochina or French colonial Africa because, TBH, the French were NO BETTER as colonialists and occupiers! Lermina had never suggested that France should cancel the Haitian debt or GTFO of Asia and Africa! Pot, kettle...