It turns out to all boil down to the importance of reading the instructions (even the ones in very small print in another document), and following them. Which, it seems, both Nick and I had failed to do :(
The Drivetthru site makes it quite clear (if you read the very tiny print) that to read their PDFs, you must be running the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader for your platform. It means exactly that. Current versions of Windows Mobile come with a PDF reader called Clearvue built in. This does not work for the HQ PDFs (though it does for anything else I've ever met). What you need is to go to the Acrobat site and download the latest version for "Pocket PC". This is version 2, and is now many years old: but it *is* the latest for this platform.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readerforppc.html
While you're there, grab the user manual and the FAQ.
When you install, it will warn you that this is intended for a much older version of your operating system, and ask if you mean it. Yes, you do. Don't worry, Clearvue stays as your default viewer for PDFs.
The next bit of "read the instructions" is in how Acrobat finds files. You've got your HQ PDFs on a storage card, haven't you? The manual tells you that for it to find them, they need to be in a folder called "My Documents" on that storage card. (It claims they can be in a directory below that, but in fact this doesn't seem to work). Again, it'll find any other PDF I've ever met just fine no matter what folder they're in, but for the HQ ones, you have to get it right.
Once that's sorted, open up Acrobat, and the list of files you can open should include your HQ books. Enjoy. It will show them, smoothly and beautifully in most cases. Even the enormous "Blood over Gold" runs, if rather slowly, though it did warn me that due to an unknown filter type, some content may not display.
There. You now have enough books to fill a rucksack, in your pocket. You can fly hand-luggage-only, and take them with you. Life is good.
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