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All-New Wild Adventures of Doc Savage #3
The Infernal Buddha
Men call it the Buddha's Toe - a relic so terrible it was kept sealed in a strongbox few dared open. Those who did dare, perished - shriveled up like fruit in the tropical sun, all vitality and life-force sucked out of them by a thing whose thirst for human souks was insatiable.
What kind of treasure would motivate plutocrats and pirates alike to vie for the power invested in this unholy thing? What could be gained by unleashing it upon the world? Only superman-scientist Doc Savage understood the real threat, but to stop it he would have to become the Buccaneer of Bronze!
From cosmopolitan Singapore to the barbaric waters of the Yellow Sea, Doc Savage plunges into a desperate struggle for control of The Infernal Buddha - before it consumes the planet!
What kind of treasure would motivate plutocrats and pirates alike to vie for the power invested in this unholy thing? What could be gained by unleashing it upon the world? Only superman-scientist Doc Savage understood the real threat, but to stop it he would have to become the Buccaneer of Bronze!
From cosmopolitan Singapore to the barbaric waters of the Yellow Sea, Doc Savage plunges into a desperate struggle for control of The Infernal Buddha - before it consumes the planet!
322 pages, Paperback
Published May 2, 2012
24 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth Robeson
916 books134 followersKenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular character Doc Savage and later The Avenger. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including:
William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson
Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.
All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.
William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson
Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.
All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 31, 2021
Will Murray does it again with this installment of Doc Savage’s continuing adventures. This time Doc’s team only includes Monk, Ham, and Renny along with Doc himself as they find themselves drawn into an adventure in the South Seas. Seems there is a Buddah-shaped artifact of some kind, possibly delivered to Earth in a meteor, that has the horrific effect of sucking the moisture out of everything nearby. Living beings are reduced to dried husks in seconds. It is not known if there are any limits so, theoretically, if this thing were to be unleashed ala Pandora’s Box, it might well suck up all water on the planet.
Definitely a job for Doc Savage!
This was another wonderful adventure from the pen of Will Murray. Probably my favorite of his that I’ve read so far even though he is content to let the science behind the artifact remain vague. The adventure takes them among 1940’s era Malay pirates and we even get to see Doc going undercover as a swashbuckling scourge of the South Seas pirate captain himself. Awesome! But at the same time, the terrible nature of the artifact leads Doc to one of his most challenging adventures ever. Rarely have I seen Doc so vulnerable and even unsure of himself as he confesses to have been in the final pages. This brings an extra edge to the story; it’s just not good to have a completely invulnerable hero.
Good setting, good characters for Doc and team to work with (or against), a good peril to be dealt with, and a good plot with plenty of action that keeps the pages turning. Everything I want in a Doc Savage yarn.
Definitely a job for Doc Savage!
This was another wonderful adventure from the pen of Will Murray. Probably my favorite of his that I’ve read so far even though he is content to let the science behind the artifact remain vague. The adventure takes them among 1940’s era Malay pirates and we even get to see Doc going undercover as a swashbuckling scourge of the South Seas pirate captain himself. Awesome! But at the same time, the terrible nature of the artifact leads Doc to one of his most challenging adventures ever. Rarely have I seen Doc so vulnerable and even unsure of himself as he confesses to have been in the final pages. This brings an extra edge to the story; it’s just not good to have a completely invulnerable hero.
Good setting, good characters for Doc and team to work with (or against), a good peril to be dealt with, and a good plot with plenty of action that keeps the pages turning. Everything I want in a Doc Savage yarn.
March 11, 2016
Cue: Raiders March by John Williams! Oh wait, I just realized I might need to explain that. I started reading Doc Savage when I was about 11 and when the movie opened (yes, there was a Doc Savage movie), I was right there in the theater to see it. I was disappointed. It was silly and pretty awful, but as silly and awful as it was, Ron Ely did do a fine job as the Man of Bronze even with all the film's faults. Still it was enormously disappointing. But I kept reading the books. In 1981, I reluctantly was talked into going to a see film that was set in the early days of WWII, I say reluctantly because I'm not a fan of war films and the ones that glorify war and turn into a propaganda for nationalism are particularly offensive. But I got talked into it and I found myself astonished through that opening sequence that ended with a daring escape aboard a biplane filled with a giant snake. In just those few opening scenes I realized that this was what the Doc Savage film had been missing. Steven Spielberg had delivered almost everything that a Doc Savage film should deliver with Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sure, there's no Ham, Johnny, Long Tom, Monk, Renny or Pat - and Indiana Jones is no Doc Savage by any stretch of the imagination. But the film embodied the thrills, excitement, humor, danger, energy and non-stop, roller-coaster escapades that fill every chapter of Lester Dent's classic Doc Savage adventures. So after 1981, whenever I sit down to read another thrilling adventure of Doc Savage I put on one of the soundtracks from one of the Indiana Jones films. The result is that now when I hear the Raiders March by John Williams, it calls to mind Doc Savage as much as Indiana Jones.
So what does all that have to do with The Infernal Buddha? I'm glad you asked. While this particular Doc Savage epic started out a little slow and took a good 50-60 pages to get moving, but once it did - to took off like a rocket. Will Murray, working off notes and story ideas from Lester Dent and writing as Kenneth Robeson, has crafted a real tribute to both Doc Savage and Indiana Jones.
So what does all that have to do with The Infernal Buddha? I'm glad you asked. While this particular Doc Savage epic started out a little slow and took a good 50-60 pages to get moving, but once it did - to took off like a rocket. Will Murray, working off notes and story ideas from Lester Dent and writing as Kenneth Robeson, has crafted a real tribute to both Doc Savage and Indiana Jones.
November 29, 2013
Hokey? Yes. Dated writing? Yes. Impossible to believe story lines? Check that too. But this is DOC SAVAGE!! DOC SAVAGE!! New stories just as far-fetched as the old ones. But, forgive me if I re-live my youth and thoroughly love these stories. Doc Savage will always have a place in my Kindle. Thank you Lester Dent for creating Doc. And thank you Will Murray for continuing the saga.
May 25, 2017
This is another fun entry in Will Murray's new and wild adventures of Doc Savage. Doc is joined only by Monk, Ham, and Renny (the core four) this time around, in a pirate adventure filled with questionable science but lots of buckled swashes. The cover is rather silly, but Doc's faithful followers will enjoy the book.
December 10, 2020
Another cracker read. I'm finding myself drawn to reading pulp era novels more and more these days. Yes the story (or stories) are formulaic, but they have a timelessness to them that make for a wonderful way to find escapism in this world today.
August 30, 2023
What can I say? Typical Doc Savage story....exactly what I was in the mood for!
November 25, 2024
2.5 Cheesy, even for a pulp. The story was all over the place and didn't feel true to the underlying purpose of the series. It's was a comedy of sorts.
August 28, 2012
It's been many years since I read a Doc Savage book. I had read all the original series by the legendary Lester Dent back in my teens. Now there are new additions to the series by Will Murray. I just finished reading WIll's newest Doc Savage tale, "The Infernal Buddha" I found it to be great. It fell right in line with my recollections of Doc. The book was written as if it was Kenneth Robeson(Dent's pen name) himself writing it from the 1930's. The Infernal Buddha itself was an imaginative adversarial device. The setting of the book (Somewhere between China/Japan) led to the tension of the story, but I much prefer Doc's Adventures in America or Europe myself. The one point about the book that bothered me was Doc losing his temper at the end and kicking the Buddha. I don't remember Doc ever losing his temper, no matter how frustrated he was. That aside, I liked this book a lot. It was a great read that brought me back to my youthful enjoyment of the greatest pulp hero there has ever been, The Legendary Doc Savage!
March 23, 2013
I'm old school enough to still remember the dark ages of pulp fandom when the thought of having new adventures for Doc Savage available in stores seemed even less likely than to own all of the original pulp magazines themselves. Now there have probably close to a dozen 1930s heroes getting their own modern era pastiches but Doc Savage surpasses them all both in quantity and quality. How lucky we are to have a new 'Kenneth Robeson' as knowledgeable and as respectful of Lester Dent's beloved characters as Will Murray.
In this story everybody is in character and the prose pays proper homage to Dent's unique writing style but at the same time Murray subtly yet logically advances the series, or at least Doc himself, toward a more contemporary sensibility. Old timers may or may not accept Doc's expressed thoughts and actions at this stories' conclusion but it certainly worked for me within the context of the novel.
Here's hoping we get 181 new Doc Savage adventures to match the run of the classic magazine.
In this story everybody is in character and the prose pays proper homage to Dent's unique writing style but at the same time Murray subtly yet logically advances the series, or at least Doc himself, toward a more contemporary sensibility. Old timers may or may not accept Doc's expressed thoughts and actions at this stories' conclusion but it certainly worked for me within the context of the novel.
Here's hoping we get 181 new Doc Savage adventures to match the run of the classic magazine.
March 6, 2014
Doc and his men get drawn into the affair when a young woman gets to Renny In Shanghai asking for Doc's help. Just then three men break into Renny's hotel and take the woman, leaving Renny for dead. Luckily he's wearing one of Doc's bullet proof vest.
The thing eveyone wants may have come from space, a piece of a comet carved into a buddha. When it first tastes water, it bwegins sucking moisture from anything that has it, reducing hiumans to a mummified corpse in a couple of minutes. One man has most of it, using it against the hated Japanese who'd invaded northern China. The otther piece, the toe of the Buddha of Ice, is controlled by his twin children.
They want it stopped, realizing what it can do to the Earth, sucking in moisture, growing as it does, and ecoming even more powerful.
Another winning adventure from Wil Murray.
The thing eveyone wants may have come from space, a piece of a comet carved into a buddha. When it first tastes water, it bwegins sucking moisture from anything that has it, reducing hiumans to a mummified corpse in a couple of minutes. One man has most of it, using it against the hated Japanese who'd invaded northern China. The otther piece, the toe of the Buddha of Ice, is controlled by his twin children.
They want it stopped, realizing what it can do to the Earth, sucking in moisture, growing as it does, and ecoming even more powerful.
Another winning adventure from Wil Murray.
May 20, 2015
Will does an amazing job.
January 6, 2017
I wanted to read a Doc Savage novel. This is a newer adventure set in 1930s China. Fun pulp romp.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews