The Red Skull (Doc Savage, #17) by Kenneth Robeson

The Red Skull (Doc Savage, #17) Reviews

• 
  Craig

  The first Doc Savage story appeared in 1933 and the series ran in pulp and later digest format into 1949. Bantam reprinted the entire series in paperback with wonderful, iconic covers starting in the 1960's. Doc was arguably the first great modern superhero with a rich background, continuity, and mythos. The characterizations were far richer than was common for the pulps; his five associates and their sometimes-auxiliary, Doc's cousin Pat, and the pets Chemistry and Habeas Corpus, all had very distinctive characteristics and their byplay was frequently more entertaining that the current adventure-of-the-month. The settings were also fascinating: Doc's Fortress of Solitude, the Hidalgo Trading Company (which served as a front for his armada of vehicles), and especially the mysterious 86th floor headquarters all became familiar haunts to the reader, and the far-flung adventures took the intrepid band to exotic and richly-described locations all over the world. The adventures were always fast-paced and exciting, from the early apocalyptic world-saving extravaganzas of the early days to the latter scientific-detective style shorter works of the post-World War Two years. There were always a few points that it was difficult to believe along the way, but there were always more ups than downs, and there was never, ever a dull moment. The Doc Savage books have always been my favorite entertainments... I was always, as Johnny would say, superamalgamated!
• 
  Timothy Boyd

  Of all the pulp era heroes few stand out above the crowd, Doc Savage is one of these. With his 5 aides and cousin he adventures across the world. Fighting weird menaces, master criminals and evil scientists Doc and the Fab 5 never let you down for a great read. These stories have all you need; fast paced action, weird mystery, and some humor as the aides spat with each other. My highest recommendation.
• 
  Ruz El

  I liked this one. It's not as fantastic as some of the other Doc novels, but the plot moves quick and the mystery mostly works. Good enough for me!
• 
  Forrest

  A straightforward but entertaining Doc story, sixth in the original series (August 1933). Less fantastical than many, it's more of a mystery with only a few speculative-fiction elements. There are several good characters here, especially Monk's secretary, Lea Aster—a fun, feisty female who I wish had become a regular in the series.
• 
  Douglas

  Doc and his pals accept a mission to foil a plan to undermine a dam construction in Arizona. And that is pretty much it. Nothing special about this tale, that is unusually mundane in comparision with other Doc exploits.
  
  The aforementioned "Red Skull" is just a rocky formation, not a villain. Perhaps naming the story "Nick Clipton" would not be so spetacular and ominous.
• 
  Arlomisty

  The writing is not the best in the world (it was only written for the old pulp magazines in the 1930's)but a lot of fun. really entertaining... similar to Indiana Jones except that Doc Savage is a genius....
• 
  Jeff

  This book doesn't have as many fantastic elements as other Doc Savage novels, but it is fun and fast-paced.
• 
  Duane Olds

  Another great adventure. This one saw Monks secretary kidnapped and the team trying to rescue her...well...during the first few and the last two chapters they do, but the middle part is about a damned dam. For someone they knew and thought so highly of being taken hostage, they sure didn't seem too worried about her welfare or about finding her.
  
  I was impressed by the way the author describes thunder, i seriously have never read it describe in such a way as: 'Thunder gave a sudden thump in the distance, then rolled across the heavens like the insane laughter of a man half choked.' and 'It was as if some ethereal colossus had been tickled.' - I will never hear thunder the same way again.
  
  But this adventure did bring some Noteworth notations, such as:"Jumpin' steers!" said one uneasily. "The gent ain't a piker!" (yea, whatever that is he sure ain't one!) and "Don't let a jasper's rep get your nannies!" (Hey! Hands off my nannies Jasper! You have to buy e a drink first!) as well as "About the boner you pulled down on the street a while ago--you sap!" (I hate when I pull a boner on the street, and so do the cops) and 'An explosive ejaculation came over the wire.' (I'm sure there's a joke here somewhere, just let me think...) as well as this deep thought: 'But it was impossible to tell whether he was really affronted, or wearing his cloak of wrath to cover more sinister feelings.' (Just let your sinister feelings out, we're all friends here, this is a safe place) add to that 'A moist, jingly plop sounded near the shack.' (So come on down to 'The Shack' for all the jiggly plopin food you can eat!)
  
  And this issue gave us 2 (insert your own joke here) lines:"Oh, well--what the heck! He ain't the first gent I've salivated." (...go on..) and 'Doc, instead of answering, exposed himself at the door for a flash moment.' (You too?) - sometimes the jokes write themselves.
  
  Also, for those who care (its probably just me) this adventures superamalgamated count: was a big fat goose egg. Zero.
  
  But again, not a bad read. Extremely enjoyable, like some ethereal colossus being tickled., or something to that effect. Oh well, on to the next one....
• 
  Greg Pettit

  My first experience with a Doc Savage tale. It was a typical pulp action-adventure, not particularly well-written, but with fun characters and set pieces, and of course Savage as the prototypical superhero.
  
  It's not hard to see why Savage has recently gained the nickname of "the first superhero." Later comic writers clearly borrowed a lot from him. A nearly perfect physical form, enhanced hearing and sight, even a Fortress of Solitude located at the North Pole, all point to Superman. A hugely wealthy orphan, supreme powers of observation and deduction, and unique vehicles, gadgets, even a utility belt, all point to Batman.
  
  This particular story was more pedestrian than others, from what I understand. Doc Savage crosses paths with some unscrupulous businessmen who will stop at nothing to gain control of a dam construction project. Kidnapping, chases, gunfights, and intrigue ensues. Nothing too speculative or fantastical involved.
  
  I enjoyed it enough, I suppose, but the writing lacked the dynamism of the works of
  Robert E. Howard. It was filled with plenty of 1930's gangster slang, which was both amusing and educational. I was also fascinated to see umlauts placed over the second vowel whenever two were consecutive, e.g. reënter or coöperate. That's a typesetting trick I'm a little sorry we've lost.
  
  Overall, not a bad little read. I'm glad I picked it up for a quarter, and I'd be happy to try another some time.
• 
  Dan Mushalko

  This is it!
  
  In the sixth Doc novel, author Dent/Robeson and the editors have clearly found their groove. This is the Doc Savage we'll see in the next 170+ adventures. And, for the modern reader, the overt racism is all but gone (just one sentence in the first chapter).
  
  So, at last, this is the Doc Savage adventure I can whole-heartedly recommend to the person who is not already a Doc fan.
  
  The writing is tight. Dent's natural ability for description is well on display, which is wonderful in the story's Arizona desert setting. The mystery is solid: someone is trying to sabotage the construction of a great hydroelectric dam being built in Arizona, a project keeping laborers from being laid off in the deepest depths of the Great Depression. And that someone has no qualms about murdering anyone who gets in his way!
  
  In addition to the mystery-adventure, this is also a 1930s style western. There's a lot of cowboy talk and slang, although it's fairly authentic, as Dent grew up west of the Mississippi, and had visited the area as an adult (including the Native American pueblos, which play a pivotal role in the novel).
  
  This tale is a must-read for introducing someone to the pinnacle of pulp heroes. Although golf fans may want to stay away; as one of the Arizonans quips while flying over a New York golf course, "Why any grown man would fiddle away his time on this cow pasture pool is more'n I can savvy."
• 
  Robin

  Doc Savage is hired to investigate a criminal conspiracy and incidents sabotage involving a dam being built by the Desert Mining Construction Company.
  
  While not without merit, this is probably the blandest entry in the Doc Savage series so far. There are some nice action scenes and Monk's secretary Lea Aster, the sole female character, shows a great deal of ingenuity in getting word out to Doc Savage after she is kidnapped by hoods. This volume was also completely absent of dated racist stereotyping, but this is probably because the book takes place entirely within America's borders. Exotic locations are a big draw for me when it comes to pulp fiction, so their absence in this story was a definite negative. While physically present for most of the story, another weakness is the fact that Savage's five companions also do not have much dialogue.
  
  The criminal conspiracy at the heart of the story is interesting, as is the fact that Doc Savage spends a great deal of time surrounded by people who may or be secret saboteurs. However, once again the masked mastermind is dramatically revealed to be...a minor, unobtrusive supporting character who we are given no prior reason to suspect. This seems to happen frequently in the Doc Savage stories. A little foreshadowing would go a long way when it comes to adding some impact to the final reveal. All in all a C effort.
• 
  Steve

  One of the early adventures, and a pretty straightforward story from Lester Dent. Sabotage at a dam project draws Doc and his aides from New York to Arizona.
  
  One of the main features is the introduction of Monk Mayfair's secretary, Lea Aster. I can't clearly recall whether she made appearances after The Red Skull, and it's possible that the arrival of Doc's cousin, Patricia Savage, five stories later in Brand of the Werewolf completely supplanted any thoughts Dent had about using another recurring female character. I can understand why she didn't come up often or at all, even without Pat's introduction, because Dent was juggling Doc and the five aides, and giving each of the five something to do in the narrative wasn't simple. It's only in the coming years that some of the aides are off doing their "real" jobs, letting Doc and a smaller cast (primarily Monk and Ham Brooks) take the stage. While Dent does a decent job involving everyone in The Red Skull, it's likely Lea made the storytelling a little too difficult. Even when Pat arrives, she's only used intermittently, and any femme fatales are present as distractions for Doc and the others.
• 
  Frank

  Another good Doc adventure that I read back in the 70s.
• 
  Michael Sigler

  Marty Stu/Mary Sue unlikable Doc Savage strikes again!
• 
  Kara Jorges

  A man falls dead on Doc’s doorstep after surviving several attempts on his life. Then the killers go after Monk in his laboratory, kidnapping his pretty blonde secretary, Lea Aster. Doc and the boys follow the kidnappers to a doomed dam-building project in the desert wilds of Arizona, where sabotage has bedeviled the project at every turn. Someone is trying to bankrupt the Mountain Desert Construction Company, and it’s up to Doc to find out why—and save pretty blonde Lea from her captors!
  
  Even though the Doc Savage novels were obviously written well before modern attitudes had taken hold, I am continually impressed by the way women are handled in these books. They’re no shrinking violets, and Lea Aster is particularly feisty and unflappable. Never once do her captors so much as throw a mild scare into her, and she outwits them often, aiding Doc and his men in rescuing her.
  
  As usual, I highly recommend another classic Doc Savage tale.
• 
  David

  In August, 1933 Street & Smith released The Red Skull and it was a doozy! One of the best Doc Savage novels to date, Doc and the Fabulous Five face off against a Western villain in Arizona whose identity is revealed only at the very end. His chief henchman, the evil Buttons Zortell, is one of Dent's best characters to date. It was also nice to see Renny actually do some engineering, ably assisted by Monk, Johnny and Long Tom. Doc's escapes, while hair-raising, at least make sense and don't leave you saying "Oh come on! He could never have predicted that!"
• 
  Tim

  Most of the early Doc Savages are great, but occasionally Lester Dent produced a decent but rather uninspired one, understandable considering the rigors of monthly releases. "The Red Skull" pales mostly in comparison to the gold that surrounds it. But it was early enough (1933) that the extreme pulpiness of the first few Docs isn't in this case offset by a great and colorful story. Not bad, though.
• 
  Steve Smoot

  pulpy pulp pulp. Not as well held together as some other DS.
• 
  Dale Rosso

  liked the book.
• 
  Mark Palmer

  Not as good as some of the other stories, but still classic Doc.
• 
  Ed Wyrd

  Another fun Doc Savage read. The gang become embroiled in an adventure that takes them out to Arizona to rescue Monk's secretary and try to save a dam project from sabotage.