THE DESERT DEMONS by Kenneth Robeson (Altus Press 2011)

The first new Doc Savage adventure in 20 years!

After wrapping up Bantam’s long-running Doc series (1964-91) with his own turn as “Kenneth Robeson”, author Will Murray is back with more novels based on notes, outlines and synopses left behind by the late pulp master Lester Dent. The Desert Demons is the purportedly the first of seven Doc books from niche publisher Altus Press, billed as The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage — the “wild” denoting a willingness to fully embrace sci-fi/fantasy elements. Some of the best, most memorable of the original Doc stories from the 1930s certainly qualify on that score (The Land of Terror, The Monsters, and Land of Always-Night are prime examples), but ‘gangster with a super-weapon’ plots — or worse, Scooby Doo-style phonies — were too often the rule rather than the exception. Because of this, while reading The Desert Demons I was expecting the titular creatures to be ultimately revealed as some clever fake engineered by the villain. Well, it turns out they aren’t demons in any supernatural sense… but they are most definitely NOT a hoax.

Strange, howling, copper-colored clouds — seemingly alive and sentient — are descending on California, attacking people and vehicles with astonishing results. With the notable exception of glass, every substance they touch is almost instantly reduced to piles of salt-like elements. The helplessness of the authorities has citizens of the Golden State on the verge of mass panic, as rumors fly of everything from an old Native American curse to an attack by Martians. It’s up to the mighty Man of Bronze, joined by his five assistants and glamorous cousin Patricia “Pat” Savage, to discover the nature of these deadly phenomena and devise a countermeasure. Doc races from the movie backlots of Hollywood to the very edge of the stratosphere in his battle against the unearthly cyclonic monsters.

This is the Doc Savage that his fans love to see in action: the ass-kicking daredevil super-scientist, the ultimate combination of Hercules, Mr. Spock, and James Bond. Perhaps the grooviest aspect of the book is the fact that Murray has utterly nailed Lester Dent’s voice — the plot, prose and dialog are completely indistinguishable from the “Golden Age” Doc Savage stories of the ‘30s. I’ve never before read a continuation novel — by a writer to whom the torch has been passed by another — that achieves this feat so seamlessly. (Authorship is officially credited to "Will Murray and Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson".) Instead of a shiny new trade paperback I felt I should’ve been holding a battered and moldy Bantam edition procured via eBay.

Grade: B+