Robin Marx's Writing Repository

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on August 9, 2017.

The Red Skull (Doc Savage #6)

By Kenneth Robeson (House Name)/Lester Dent – Street & Smith – 1933

Review by Robin Marx

Doc Savage is hired to investigate a criminal conspiracy and incidents of 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.

★★☆☆☆

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