Monday 4 March 2013

Book Report #58 - The Spook Legion a Doc Savage Adventure by Kenneth Robeson

Doc Savage.  There is no way I can begin to tell you about this legendary fictional hero.

Start at Wikipedia then follow the links from there for further exploration.  Get there from HERE.

I've read a few Doc Savage stories before and I've always found the narrative a bit stiff but I've always been able to set that aside as it being an example of the style from its time.  First published in April 1935, Doc, Monk and Ham try their best to stop a crime spree committed by invisible groups of men.

This book did not lack for action, but I nevertheless found the first half exceedingly dull.  The trio would chase after the crooks as they moved from bigger to bigger acts of robbery.  Unfortunately Robeson/Dent kept trying to thrill the reader by revealing the acts of invisible (Gasp! Invisible!) men.

The story did not get interesting until Doc and Monk were taken captive and made invisible themselves.  Once the boys were interacting with the "invisi-bad-guys" I was turning pages and looking forward to finding out how it all ended.

Lester Dent wrote most of the 181 Doc Savage stories, some are better than others, this one is only okay - good if you can get to the last half of the book, but you have to read the first half to get there.

The original magazine - April 1935

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