The War Makers (Doc Savage)
By Kenneth Robeson (Will
Murray & Ryerson Johnson)
ISBN #978-1618271495
$21.89
322 Pages
Rating 5-Stars
“The Action Never Slows
Down.”
The story starts out with Webster Neff test-driving a
shiny green roadster from Huron Motor Company out of Detroit. He almost ran
over a small child who had followed a bouncing ball into the street. However,
his car stopped of its own accord, as if hitting an invisible wall. Webster learns that this is happening all
over the US, and most accidents involve Huron vehicles. He is heading back to
Detroit when again encounters the invisible wall; he is heading for a head-on
collision with another vehicle when both cars slam into an unseen structure.
The driver and passenger of the second automobile just happen to be Ham Brooks
and Monk Mayfair; they, too, are headed for Detroit.
The story flies at break-neck speed, as Doc, Monk,
Ham, Long Tom, and Pat race off to Florida, then D.C., and finally to the
Canadian Arctic. Doc also visits his Fortress of Solitude. The episodic
adventures never lack for action, as something is going on from beginning to
end.
For Doc Savage fans, this is a sequel of sorts to
several prior stories; one in particular is THE MOTION MENACE, from May 1938. I
won’t divulge the others, as it might reveal some of the mystery. THE WAR MAKERS
is based on an outline by Doc Savage ghostwriter, Ryerson “Johnny” Johnson. In
fact, the use of cellophane cigar wrapping as one of the escape scenes in this
adventure was also used in Johnny’s Phantom Detective yarn, THE SILENT DEATH,
December 1936. THE WAR MAKERS thus contains writing by Lester Dent, Ryerson
Johnson, and Will Murray.
The series has yet to falter under the hands of Will
Murray and Altus Press, and I know readers and fans of Doc Savage can look
forward to many more years of The All New Wild Adventures of Doc Savage, The
Man of Bronze! Highly Recommended.
Tom Johnson
Echoes Magazine
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