Book Review: Doc Savage - Fear Cay by Kenneth Robeson

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Since I was a teenager, I've been reading the Doc Savage stories on and off. For those who don't know, Doc Savage was an American pulp magazine that was very popular in the 30s and 40s. The central character - Dr Clark Savage Junior - is an extremely competent surgeon, scientist, detective, explorer and crimefighter. Blessed with good genetics and an intensive education, he dedicates his life to travelling the world, helping those in need and fighting crime. He's assisted in these adventures by a group of five friends who he met while on active service in World War One. This group consists of five very unusual individuals: "Johnny" a geologist and archeologist who also has a good knowledge of botany. "Renny", a structural engineer who likes to relax by punching holes through doors with his massive fists. "Monk", a short, burly man strongly resembling an ape, but who is also a brilliant chemist. "Long Tom", an electrical engineer who appears physically week but can hold his own in a fight. And "Ham" a brilliant lawyer who carries a swordstick and goes around extremely well-dressed at all times. These five are top men in their professions, but they follow Doc on his adventures because of their love of action. Also involved in this story is Doc's Canadian cousin Patricia Savage, a very competent young woman who has the same love of adventure as Doc and his men. Although these stories were originally printed in pulp magazines, Bantam books started reprinting them in paperback form in the 60s, and carried on until 1990, by which time they'd reprinted all 199 of the original novels. Incidentally, around three quarters of these stories were written by a man called Lester Dent, who actually was an explorer and gadgeteer among other things, but the stories went out under the house name Kenneth Robeson. Although I started reading these books when I was a teenager, it recently occurred to me that it's probably been two or three years since I read one, so I decided to give "Fear Cay" a go. The plot starts in Doc's home city of New York with an attempt by gangsters to kidnap Doc. It transpires that these gangsters are working for a man called Santini, who runs a mysterious company called Fountain of Youth Inc. It turns out that the intention of the kidnapping was to prevent Doc from being contacted by the equally mysterious Dan Thunden, who is due to arrive in America shortly. Thunden has something the gangsters want, and to get it they're not only willing to attack Doc and Thunden, but also to kidnap Kel Avery, a film star who is also a descendent of Thunden. Thunden himself, when Doc and his men catch up with him, appears old but is incredibly fast and agile - being able to evade even Doc, who is a superb fighter. With Santini's gang after Thunden and the unspecified treasure that he's in possession of, and Doc and his men following Santini's gang, the trail eventually leads to Fear Cay, an uncharted island in the Carribean. There, Doc must rescue Patricia, who the gangsters think is Kel Avery, and find out what Thunden's secret is - while avoiding a mysterious threat that is capable of reducing a human body to a skeleton in a few hours. This is quite an entertaining read, a real page-turner. Lots of action and twists in the plot. To be honest, I had no trouble working out Thunden's secret in broad terms, as well as the nature of the unknown flesh-eating threat. But that didn't matter because it was still an entertaining read. Doc, as ever in these stories, is extremely competent, but his men also had plenty to do. In particular, Johnny was featured prominently in this story, and it was him who first figured out both the secret behind Fountain of Youth Inc and the flesh-eating threat. This will never appear on anyone's list of classices, but it was a good entertaining read, and that's all I really want from this kind of fiction. I'll try not to leave it too long before I read the next Doc Savage story.