Books like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

The time is 1935. Through a series of misadventures in Shanghai - and a narrow escape from death - Indiana Jones finds himself in a remote village in India. A mysterious shaman says his arrival has been foreseen and that Indy and his companions, Willie Scott and Short Round, are destined to save the villagers.The prequel to Raiders - Jones is a different character here, more inclined towards “fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory” than putting items in a museum - this is fast paced, occasionally broad, amusing and darker than you expect. Well constructed, even if some of the writing is fairly basic, this dwells longer on the mines and Temple of Doom itself (though never calls it that) than the film does but is all the better for it. Clearly written from the shooting script, the novelisation provides back stories for Short Round and Willie, explains how she got captured before her sacrifice scene and shows us how Shorty knew that fire would bring Indy back. An entertaining read (with wonderful last lines - “They did eventually all make it to America. But that is another story”) and the perfect accompaniment to the film, I thoroughly enjoyed this and would highly recommend it to fans of Dr Jones.