I DIED YESTERDAY by Kenneth Robeson (Bantam 1988)
• Originally published in Doc Savage Magazine, January 1948
• Bantam reprint in DS Omnibus 5
• Lester Dent writing as Kenneth Robeson
As the demise of Doc Savage Magazine drew nigh in the late 1940s, Street & Street editors allowed Lester Dent a bit of leeway to experiment with the formula. Five consecutive issues were published written in the first person, told from the viewpoint of 'civilians' caught up in a Doc Savage adventure. Of these, only one — I Died Yesterday — is particularly notable. That’s because its narrator isn’t just any ordinary observer, but Patricia Savage, the bronze man’s glamorous, thrill-junkie cousin. (She first appeared in the 11th Doc Savage novel, 1934’s Brand of the Werewolf, and remained a fan fave for the remainder of the series.)
A strange young man walks into Manhattan’s most exclusive beauty/health salon — owned and managed by Pat Savage — with an icepick blade broken off in his spine. Cousin Doc is called in to perform lifesaving surgery, after which he’s jumped in the street outside the hospital and kidnapped by a gang of armed men. It’s up to Pat, assisted by Monk Mayfair (the only member of Doc’s crew on the scene) and her own unflappably efficient secretary, Miss Colfax, to solve the riddle of the attempted icepick murder — and rescue the Man of Bronze!
Unique to the series, Doc himself appears only briefly. Pat takes the lead; the story is told from her first-person POV. She operates somewhat like the Doc of old, with the salon functioning as her HQ and Monk and Colfax her assistants. She even kits herself out with an arsenal of Doc’s gadgets (such as a shirt button grenade), swiped from Doc’s lab over the years. You go, girl!
I Died Yesterday was written during the series’ post-war “Noir” period, when Doc’s superhero aspects were toned down and the stories driven by more realistic plots. Dent’s prose has a hard-boiled, cynical edge to it entirely absent from the ripping sci-fi/action yarns of the ‘30s. This edge is enhanced when he’s writing in the first person.
Essential reading for the Doc Savage fan, even if the central mystery turns out to be disappointingly mundane. (Note: For their reprint series, Bantam wisely bundled the five “First Person Docs” in a single omnibus volume.)
Grade: B-
• Bantam reprint in DS Omnibus 5
• Lester Dent writing as Kenneth Robeson
As the demise of Doc Savage Magazine drew nigh in the late 1940s, Street & Street editors allowed Lester Dent a bit of leeway to experiment with the formula. Five consecutive issues were published written in the first person, told from the viewpoint of 'civilians' caught up in a Doc Savage adventure. Of these, only one — I Died Yesterday — is particularly notable. That’s because its narrator isn’t just any ordinary observer, but Patricia Savage, the bronze man’s glamorous, thrill-junkie cousin. (She first appeared in the 11th Doc Savage novel, 1934’s Brand of the Werewolf, and remained a fan fave for the remainder of the series.)
A strange young man walks into Manhattan’s most exclusive beauty/health salon — owned and managed by Pat Savage — with an icepick blade broken off in his spine. Cousin Doc is called in to perform lifesaving surgery, after which he’s jumped in the street outside the hospital and kidnapped by a gang of armed men. It’s up to Pat, assisted by Monk Mayfair (the only member of Doc’s crew on the scene) and her own unflappably efficient secretary, Miss Colfax, to solve the riddle of the attempted icepick murder — and rescue the Man of Bronze!
Unique to the series, Doc himself appears only briefly. Pat takes the lead; the story is told from her first-person POV. She operates somewhat like the Doc of old, with the salon functioning as her HQ and Monk and Colfax her assistants. She even kits herself out with an arsenal of Doc’s gadgets (such as a shirt button grenade), swiped from Doc’s lab over the years. You go, girl!
I Died Yesterday was written during the series’ post-war “Noir” period, when Doc’s superhero aspects were toned down and the stories driven by more realistic plots. Dent’s prose has a hard-boiled, cynical edge to it entirely absent from the ripping sci-fi/action yarns of the ‘30s. This edge is enhanced when he’s writing in the first person.
Essential reading for the Doc Savage fan, even if the central mystery turns out to be disappointingly mundane. (Note: For their reprint series, Bantam wisely bundled the five “First Person Docs” in a single omnibus volume.)
Grade: B-
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