Brett Rants

Doc Savage

An Intellectual Berserker

Doc Savage #56
The Giggling Ghosts
by Kenneth Robeson

Preconceptions

I knew of Doc Savage. And although The Golden Man (or should that be The Bronze Man) never interested me as a lad, I was happy to pick up of copy of one of his capers recently... from the free pile at the library, don't you know.

Prior to reading, I would have thought Doc was a futurist, planet hopping guy, who at least owned a space ship. But no such luck, he's more of an incredibly lucky-gifted detective with a bunch of near-future (but certainly plausible) gadgets.

So, yeah. I wrote these preconceptions after actually reading the book, so they are not as pure as they could be. Maybe next time...


Quotes

"I am not an honest man... when I think I am dealing with a crook."
"Stop that!" Doc Savage said. There was such a quality of power and command in the bronze man's voice that it quieted the young woman although Doc himself was a little surprised that he got results; he could never tell about women.
It had been a quiet day for the newspapers: the international situation was calm, the stock market was stationary, and there had been no interesting murders.
The bronze man seemed in no hurry to leave his car. Instead, he leaned back, and there was a trace of a frown on his metallic features. "I think," he said, "that we're very near the end of this thing."
...
"For the sake of clarity," Doc said, "we might gather factors together and array them. There has been some confusion. It should be straightened out."

Running Thoughts

HILDAGO TRADING COMPANY

Final Discussion

Will I read another Doc Savage novel? Well, maybe in another decade or so. The book was not painful. But nor was it brilliant.

I am happy to know more about Doc after reading the story. He is smart, strong, and backed by unlimited resources, I'll have you know. But at the same time, the premise (a man who is inhumanly smart, inhumanly strong, and among the richest, most well respected men in the world) makes him more of a comic book wet-dream type character. And I cannot help but wonder why he bothers with any exploits, at all. I mean, it's not for the challenge for there weren't no challenge. All the pieces conveniently fell into place. But then, they did fall into place, so I'll give Doc Savage that.

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