The Mental Monster

Doc Savage (publication order; no omnibus) #126

by Kenneth Robeson

Unknown Binding

About the author

Kenneth 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.

Reviews

[Fraser Sherman]

A mediocre one. Like the previous story, Mystery on Happy Bones, Doc's written as capable but only capable-human rather than his usual peak of perfection. That works in some Doc Savage stories but here it just doesn't feel like Doc. The plot involves a villain who can maybe read minds (not the first time Doc's faced one) and mysterious white birds that terrify everyone. Mostly it's just a minor pulp thriller pretty much any two-fisted hero could have handled.

[Tomrory]

Weak entry in the war years era of Doc Savage. A recycled take on an earlier adventure called "the midas man" This plot moves along in a convoluted and implausible manner .

[Dennis]

The appearance of a white bird is driving some men crazy with fear, fleeing for their lives as quickly as they can. This mystery begins in New York City. The story moves along at a pretty good pace, and even fairly interesting. It is only at the end of the story that, for me, the wheels fall off of the bus. This is the reason for my book rating. Also, I’m not sure if it was my Bantam Book edition or it was in the original but there were one too many spelling and grammatical errors. The story resolves in the Tennessee hills and lake. Renny is away on business otherwise, all of Doc’s men are along. The pets are mentioned and even come along but then are forgotten about.

Lester Dent was the author of this saga which was published August, 1943.

[Ronald]

read SOMETIME in 2000