”Indiana Jones and the White Witch,” by Martin CaidinBantam Books (paperback, 1994, 329 pages).Those of you who saw my review (which you can see HERE) of a previous installment in this series of adventures based on the George Lucas-Steven Spielberg movies may remember that my standards aren’t very high.

I don’t ask for much.

Just don’t bore me.

This one failed on that score.

Btw, these paperbacks were reissued this spring to capitalize on the latest movie.

It starts out exciting enough, with Indy learning how to fly from a female friend, Gale Parker, when they view an ongoing battle in the English countryside below.

By the time they land the plane and arrive at the scene of an idyllic English village, the malefactors have left behind dozens of dead and injured — and mortally wounded the mother of Gale’s best friend. It’s this friend, Caitlin, who is the White Witch of the title.

The author’s comment, in the afterward, explains much of the emphasis placed on the phenomenon of witchcraft and Wicca, the religion.

“One of my closest friends for many years was Dame Sybil Leek, the renowned ‘white witch’ of Wicca and its adherents,” he writes.

Caidin expends a great deal of ink and paper and stilted sentences (” ‘He speaks well and true,’ ” Caitlin said.” P.64) in an attempt to prove the validity of Wiccan magic.

Methinks Caidin doth protest too much.

In fact, I think Caidin spent so many pages explaining the various aspects of Wicca and Wiccan magic to cover for the fact that the story is woefully simple.

Bad guys hurt good guys to get map to treasure. Good guys chase down bad guys.

No twists or turns in this one, folks.

If magic and sorcery and people who talk like the comic book hero Thor are your thing, go for it.

If not, try a different book.