The Frightened Fish

Doc Savage (Bantam) #186

by Kenneth Robeson (House Name)

THE LEGENDARY MAN OF BRONZE--IN A THRILLING NEW ADVENTURE SERIES!

Millions have read the adventures of Doc Savage, originally published from 1933-49, and reprinted by Bantam Books--and now he's back in a new series of adventures. Based on a plot by his creator, the tale begins with a stygian black mystery below the sea....

THE FRIGHTENED FISH

The ravings of a madman and the absence of all sea life at a Massachusetts fishing village lure Doc Savage and his crew to a small New England island bristling with gunmen, on a perilous submarine journey through the Panama Canal, and to the ravaged coasts of Occupied Japan. There they fall into the clutches of an evil genius long believed dead, a shadowy figure who masterminded World War II...and now wants to plunge humanity into a new Armageddon.

Trained by the same teacher, both possessed of the same genius, Doc Savage and this man have fought before. And now, as the world is about to lurch into another global war, Doc Savage must defeat his most loathsome adversary yet....

Genres: Adventure, Pulp

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

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

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will Murray is the ghost writer of this sequel to Lester Dent's The Red Spider (In Hell, Madonna) and The Screaming Man, as the antagonists/protagonists of the first and the villain of the latter come back for a second contest against Doc and his aides Monk, Ham and Johnny as they try to figure out the mystery of The Frightened Fish.

It's appropriate the book is credited to the Street & Smith house name as Murray provides an essay at the end about the various ghost writers who worked with Dent throughout the years putting together Doc's pulp adventures. Murray offers a tale that offers a glimpse of the more human side of Doc in a post-World War II tale that takes the adventurers to Japan during its reconstruction and the unsteady political environment that followed the war's aftermath, which the villain attempts to harness for world domination. A good balance of action and fallible heroes.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Will Murray's third Doc Savage novel is ... not good. Where his first, Python Isle, relied heavily on a Dent outline, here he's just using some Dent ideas and it's a lot less effective. The opening, where a man freaks out at images of fish, is an effective hook, but the confrontation with the villain is long and talky (admittedly Dent did a lot of talky Doc Savage novels in the post-war years). And the villain, Jonas Sown of "The Screaming Man," is one of Dent's most uninteresting and unconvincing evil geniuses.
This book is annoyingly sexist too. Dent had a lot of competent women in this book; here we have one whose role is to die saving Doc, another who's just plain obnoxious. It has more in common with the Destroyer series Murray used to write than Dent.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doc Savage novels are always a bit campy. The world’s most brilliant scientist is also a sort of superhero—a physically superb specimen of manhood who leads a group of lesser geniuses to fight global threats. The dialogue is usually rough but the plot, like any good superhero novel, can be a lot of fun. This novel was campier than most, especially in the first couple of chapters, but the overall threat—a man trying to inspire a communist takeover of Post WWII Japan by driving all the fish away from the islands and causing economic collapse—works well in this genre. If you’re looking for some light reading, this is a fun novel.

[Kendal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on a Lester Dent outline, it's a post WWII tale. A fun adventure, that ties into The Red Spider. It also uses the historically accurate, but now offensive J word.

There are treats at the end: A mini-bio of Lester Dent, and a list of his ghostwriters, plus a list of the original run and order of S&S Doc tales, plus the order of the Bantam reprints, stand-alones, two-fers, and omnibi.

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn’t very impressed with this Doc Savage adventure, not written by the original Kenneth Robeson aka Lester Dent. A little slow at times and I just wasn’t that enthusiastic about the story or plot. I think I will stick with the original Lester Dent books in the future.

[Robin Case · Rating 2 out of 5]

Campy Doc Savage short story set in 1949 after the end of WW2. Audio run time is only 4.25 hours. The audio version is as usual well done. Story line is not the best. Touches on the cold war. Delivers that old time radio feel.

[Jeff Powers · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Frightened Fish is an enjoyable pulp read. It certainly has the pace and feel of classic Doc Savage tales. Though it is far from a favourite it is certainly better than I expected. It had the well aged feel of the pulps of the time it was set in. The characters were not always politically correct, they acted like one would expect in the popular media of post-war America.
And while it wasn't as great as the adventure pulps of the pre-war era Savage, it still felt genuine. If you are a fan of classic adventure pulps, or Doc Savage, it is certainly worth a read. More along the lines of Savage's more cheesy James Bond adventures, than his Haggard inspired globe-trots. I wasn't all that intrigued by the description of the plot when I picked up the volume, but as a long time Savage fan, I gave it a shot and was actually pleasantly surprised.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kenneth Robeson was a publishing house author name, the man never existed. This novel was written by Will Murray, and he did a great job capturing the original voice of a Doc Savage novel. He expands Doc and his world a bit, giving Doc emotions never seen in other novels (like love!) and the timeline has advanced to post WWII.
Highly recommended for all Doc Savage fans, despite some continuity issues (example: Monk is left behind but then is in a scene across town, and then is back at the place he was left behind at....).

[Dominick Cancilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've enjoyed all of Will Murray's Doc Savage novels and thought that this one was a good addition to the canon. My only disappointment -- and I recognize that this is a completely personal item -- is that the adventure takes place after World War II. There's something about Doc Savage sharing the world with jet engines that's a little dissatisfying to me. When I read Doc, I prefer to hear more about dirigibles and autogyros.

[Keith Wahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read. There was an obvious knowledge of the Quincy / Quincy Bay / Wollaston Beach area on the part of the writer (having spent many nights of my college years solving problems as I walked on Wolly Beach). Over and above that, there is more of a rounding and refining of the primary characters, which makes them all the richer.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Doc adventure is set late in his career, after the end of World War Two, and features the return of previous adversaries. (I believe John Sunlight was the only foe who made than one appearance in the original pulps.) It's a fun addition to the series, well told and fast paced.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting entry in the Doc Savage series, set in Japan during the occupation. Featured are characters from two earlier books - The Screaming Man and The Red Spider.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

read some time in 1992