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Doc Savage (Bantam) #187
Doc Savage: The Jade Ogre
A desperate plea for help plunges Doc Savage into a maelstrom of horror aboard the Hong Kong-bound liner Mandarin, where the depraved minions of the phantom predator, Quon, hold sway. As innocent passengers succumb to the insidious Jade Fever, and ghostly talons pursue Doc’s beautiful cousin, Patricia, the mighty Man of Bronze races to solve a riddle that defies reason. For deep in the spider-haunted ruins of faraway Cambodia broods a twisted, armless gargoyle with a cold face of jade––The Jade Ogre––whose power to project his deadly, disembodied arms to any place on earth makes him the most dangerous foe Doc Savage has ever confronted!
413 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 6, 2015
11 people are currently reading
79 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 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 27, 2011
An average Doc Savage thriller. I enjoyed the inclusion of Pat (who appeared in too few of the originals for my taste). As is all too frequently the case Long Tom, Johnny and Renny are absent. Oddly Monk was also absent for much of the story. One thing that really struck me as odd is that Ham is described as having white hair, which I don't remember at all. Ham's characterization also seemed a bit off. Monk's on the other hand seemed right on.
The story is the standard setup: Mystifying occurrences, Doc in disguise, misdirection on who the bad guy is, and explanations of the mysteries at the end that are clever but not very plausible.
I think Will Murray's Doc Savage novels from the 90s suffer from their length; they're a bit over long. Doc Savage may work better in a shorter format. The originals packed a lot of action into a shorter format and they moved so fast the reader never had time to think about what was happening.
The story is the standard setup: Mystifying occurrences, Doc in disguise, misdirection on who the bad guy is, and explanations of the mysteries at the end that are clever but not very plausible.
I think Will Murray's Doc Savage novels from the 90s suffer from their length; they're a bit over long. Doc Savage may work better in a shorter format. The originals packed a lot of action into a shorter format and they moved so fast the reader never had time to think about what was happening.
June 24, 2014
In this book, Doc Savage faces a deadly challenge when he battles the Jade Ogre, a strange being whose decapitated arms fly on their own and deal a horrible green death to the Ogre's enemies.
This book is unusual in that Will Murray adapted the idea from a story original Doc Savage writer Lester Dent had written about a private detective, so this story has a bit of a mystery element in it and some detective tropes that play a role such as Doc explaining the solution to his aides at the end. However, the mystery is much more a matter of how rather than who as Murray provides more than enough clues to figure out who is behind the Jade Ogre. Also this makes more sense understanding it was based on a serialized story as it does have a very strong serialized feel.
In addition to the mystery, the book delivered the usual things we expect from Doc Savage with plenty of action, adventure, gadgets, and some great interaction between Doc's assistants. Here, as in the other more recent books, the number of supporting players is kept down to a minimum with Ham, Monk, and Pat Savage appearing. Murray is even more careful about overusing assistants as for most of the book, only two are "on stage" at once with Pat and Ham together early and Monk and Ham late. This allows enough interaction between the Bornze Man's two most beloved assistants (Monk and Ham) without their carping on each other becoming monotonous.
As always, Murray achieves a great period feel and this book succeeds in transporting readers back to the 1930s.
The story has one major plot hole and that comes from the whodunit plot. We learn that when Doc gives the solution that several others had figured out who the guilty party was. This leads the question of why everyone followed a crazed murder blindly into a trap.
Beyond that, there are more things that could be nitpicked, but at the end of the day, this isn't great literature, it's Doc Savage. And this book lives up to the high standards set by other installments in this series. So if you have a love of 1930s Pulp fiction in your soul, this book is for you.
This book is unusual in that Will Murray adapted the idea from a story original Doc Savage writer Lester Dent had written about a private detective, so this story has a bit of a mystery element in it and some detective tropes that play a role such as Doc explaining the solution to his aides at the end. However, the mystery is much more a matter of how rather than who as Murray provides more than enough clues to figure out who is behind the Jade Ogre. Also this makes more sense understanding it was based on a serialized story as it does have a very strong serialized feel.
In addition to the mystery, the book delivered the usual things we expect from Doc Savage with plenty of action, adventure, gadgets, and some great interaction between Doc's assistants. Here, as in the other more recent books, the number of supporting players is kept down to a minimum with Ham, Monk, and Pat Savage appearing. Murray is even more careful about overusing assistants as for most of the book, only two are "on stage" at once with Pat and Ham together early and Monk and Ham late. This allows enough interaction between the Bornze Man's two most beloved assistants (Monk and Ham) without their carping on each other becoming monotonous.
As always, Murray achieves a great period feel and this book succeeds in transporting readers back to the 1930s.
The story has one major plot hole and that comes from the whodunit plot. We learn that when Doc gives the solution that several others had figured out who the guilty party was. This leads the question of why everyone followed a crazed murder blindly into a trap.
Beyond that, there are more things that could be nitpicked, but at the end of the day, this isn't great literature, it's Doc Savage. And this book lives up to the high standards set by other installments in this series. So if you have a love of 1930s Pulp fiction in your soul, this book is for you.
November 23, 2016
This is a longer-than-usual Doc adventure featuring Monk, Ham, and Pat. It's based on a fragment of a pulp detective story Dent left and has plenty of exotic locales, scientific gadgetry, and a good mystery. It's a fun story in the best pulp tradition.
May 16, 2025
I inherited my dad's collection of books, which included a few Doc Savage books, so I thought I would give one a try. Unfortunately, I did not really enjoy the book. I guess this one was written in the 90s to mimic the ones from the 30s. Sadly, the author chose to make some of the people racist stereotypes, and the rest were caricatures rather than characters. I do like action-adventure books, but the action, which wasn't bad, was buried beneath a lot of poor writing.
May 25, 2025
This was a longer, exciting Doc Savage adventure. It does feel like it is a combination of stories with four unique locales and mysteries tied together
The Doc Savage tropes are present with standard characters, gadgets, and timeline setting.
The mystery is not very mysterious. I actually thought the identity of the big bad would be revealed as someone else, but the obvious person was the reveal. It was a little disappointing that there was no real twist.
The Doc Savage tropes are present with standard characters, gadgets, and timeline setting.
The mystery is not very mysterious. I actually thought the identity of the big bad would be revealed as someone else, but the obvious person was the reveal. It was a little disappointing that there was no real twist.
January 13, 2024
Decades after the initial Doc Savage run of stories, it is great to see the series and character picked up again. This is harkening back to an infallible Doc based on story outlines by Lester Dent (I think) and it has that old school Doc feel to it. This story removes Doc from most of his aids and most of his gadgets, though he still has his vest of tricks. The plot is highly convoluted and the main villain is telegraphed a mile away, but the story is action packed and moves fast. My biggest complaint is the author, Will Murray, in an attempt to capture a 1930's feel felt it necessary to call Asians "Orientals" throughout the book, when, by the 1990s, we all knew that to be wrong and outdated. He could have easily stuck to the other monikers he also used that were less racist.
March 7, 2016
I feel this is quite possibly the best of the new Doc Savage stories. It is longer than usual but it means the plot has time to develop. The villain's motives, when eventually revealed, do make sense - using a biological weapon to blackmail the USA. Some of the Oriental (Chinese and Cambodian) villains are perhaps a bit stereotypical and politically incorrect, but remember, this is based on a Lester Dent storyline from years ago! Yes, there is a need to suspend disbelief, but as others have noted, this is Doc Savage, and not meant to be great literature.
May 7, 2016
read some time in 1992
February 26, 2017
A new adventure of pulp hero Doc Savage, using an outline left behind be series author Lester Dent. A bit disorienting to read, many elements of the outline were scavenged by Dent for other novels.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews