Doc Savage - The Infernal Buddha by Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray)

Will Murray does it again with this installment of Doc Savage’s continuing adventures. This time Doc’s team only includes Monk, Ham, and Renny along with Doc himself as they find themselves drawn into an adventure in the South Seas. Seems there is a Buddah-shaped artifact of some kind, possibly delivered to Earth in a meteor, that has the horrific effect of sucking the moisture out of everything nearby.  Living beings are reduced to dried husks in seconds. It is not known if there are any limits so, theoretically, if this thing were to be unleashed ala Pandora’s Box, it might well suck up all water on the planet.

Definitely a job for Doc Savage!

This was another wonderful adventure from the pen of Will Murray. Probably my favorite of his that I’ve read so far even though he is content to let the science behind the artifact remain vague. The adventure takes them among 1940’s era Malay pirates and we even get to see Doc going undercover as a swashbuckling scourge of the South Seas pirate captain himself. Awesome! But at the same time, the terrible nature of the artifact leads Doc to one of his most challenging adventures ever. Rarely have I seen Doc so vulnerable and even unsure of himself as he confesses to have been in the final pages. This brings an extra edge to the story; it’s just not good to have a completely invulnerable hero.

Good setting, good characters for Doc and team to work with (or against), a good peril to be dealt with, and a good plot with plenty of action that keeps the pages turning. Everything I want in a Doc Savage yarn.

Doc Savage - Death's Dark Domain by Will Murray

Another fine Doc Savage adventure written by the inestimable Will Murray. This one features Long Tom more than most Doc adventures and it’s nice to see him get a major role for a change. This book is best read after reading The Fortress of Solitude from the original series run. The fate of John Sunlight from that novel looms over this one, mostly in regards to his having stolen a number of diabolical weapons and devices from Doc’s arctic workshop. Now it seems possible that one or more of them have found their way into the hands of two opposing countries in the Balkans, each of whom are intent on claiming a strip of land between the two and are not hesitant to use these unusual weapons.

Neither Renny nor Johnny make appearances in this one, both being off on projects of their own. Doc’s cousin, Pat Savage, only barely makes an appearance, just long enough to be exposed to anthrax and be thrust into quarantine and miss all the fun. So, it’s just Doc, Monk, Ham, and Long Tom who find themselves facing a variety of weird menaces including a bunch of invisible hairy cyclopes, vampires, unexplained patches of extreme blindness-rendering darkness, and hordes of aggressive giant leathery-winged bats. A nice assortment of other characters round out the cast and we are kept guessing as to who is really who they say they are and which are trying to get away with something. All the gadgets and seat-of-your-pants escapes that you hope for in a Doc novel are here. Perilous adventure abounds.

One of my least favorite parts of the original Doc Savage books are the endless squabbles between Monk and Ham. It just gets so repetitive and annoying. I think Will Murray feels the same. Of course, he must leave in the banter between the two and indeed, channeling Lester Dent seems to come second nature to him. But he really ratchets up the imagination when it comes to their insults and actually makes them fun to read. 

Looking forward to more of these Wild Adventures.

King Kong vs. Tarzan by Will Murray

I always love diving into a Will Murray novel. He seems to love all the pulp characters that I also love, and he is somehow able to channel the authors’ voices as he writes new adventures.

This story takes place between the capture of King Kong on Skull Island and his eventual arrival in New York City. The logistics of that transport are always glossed over in all the movies, but here we see just how much of a struggle it can be to keep such a behemoth alive and unhurt throughout that voyage. What we now know, though, thanks to this story, is that the ship stopped off for supplies near Tarzan’s home in Africa and Kong had a side adventure with the Lord of the Jungle.

I really enjoyed the overall story and as much as I like Kong, I felt the first section was a little too long. Tarzan isn’t even mentioned until after the first 100 pages and doesn’t make an appearance until after the 250-page mark. It's all Kong up to that point, which is why, I suppose, he gets top billing in the title. The details of the ship's journey with Kong on board is filled with so many feeding-time-at-the-zoo sorts of scenes that I started to worry they’d never make it to Africa.

But that criticism aside, I loved the story, especially how Tarzan first reacted to such a creature invading his protected lands. Their battles are truly of epic proportion. The resolution and how Tarzan ultimately deals with the threat and humanely treats Kong is excellent storytelling. Murray really captures ERB’s style here and also manages to drop in a few Easter eggs from prior Tarzan adventure novels.

A worthwhile read for Kong lovers or Tarzan enthusiasts alike.