What do you think?
Rate this book
The Shadow Pulp #5
Gangdom's Doom
Chicago was paralyzed with gang wars. A major crime syndicate controlled the town. In this bloody scene where death was big business, The Shadow, in one of his most brilliant disguises, grappled with an underworld emperor who practiced the Domino Theory - with corpses!
166 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1931
1 person is currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Maxwell Grant
652 books32 followersMaxwell Grant was a pseudonym often used by Walter B. Gibson to write stories of "The Shadow".
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 30, 2021
So you have a bunch of mobsters opposing one another, bad guys against more bad guys, not a single principled individual among them. They shoot and they kill according to cold logic and bury their feelings, if they ever had any in the first place. And then one of them, almost off-handedly, kills someone with an actual genuine friend - a very powerful friend. Having thus provoked a new power to enter the conflict, one with a genuine and heartfelt motive and all the sympathy of the audience, everything soon comes crashing down.
I always loved plots like these, and so I greatly enjoyed this story.
Also helping its case are the fairly realistic and down-to-earth villains - no outrageous small-scale heists here, nor for that matter any kind of villainous gloating or stupid deathtraps. The prose is still pretty dry, though; and it could have given Harry Vincent some more to do, because as it stands, one wonders why he was brought in at all.
I always loved plots like these, and so I greatly enjoyed this story.
Also helping its case are the fairly realistic and down-to-earth villains - no outrageous small-scale heists here, nor for that matter any kind of villainous gloating or stupid deathtraps. The prose is still pretty dry, though; and it could have given Harry Vincent some more to do, because as it stands, one wonders why he was brought in at all.
January 8, 2018
The Shadow takes on prohibition-era Chicago!
The fifth book in the original The Shadow series starts off very much in the usual format, a man on the run from a criminal conspiracy meeting with a confidant... and then almost immediately deviates when a regular character is killed off! The book is not exactly revolutionary, nor does it really differ significantly from books 2-4, but it is distinct in some ways.
A lot of time is given over to the activity of the gangs, Italian and Irish hoodlums kill each other while going about the bootleg liquor business. Some characters from the previous books return, so there are a lot of New Yorkers kicking around Chicago. A reporter, a district attorney, and one of The Shadow's agents are also in the mix.
Grant delivers up mob executions, plenty of disguises, a secret passage, a torture scene, gangster vendettas and one mysterious personage.
On the whole it's pretty light pulp stuff like I've come to expect from the series. The book does drone a little in the flow of gangster handshakes, but the book waves up often enough to still work and deliver the goods.
I'm gonna hafta get serious and read more of these if I ever want to make it through all 300+ entries.
The fifth book in the original The Shadow series starts off very much in the usual format, a man on the run from a criminal conspiracy meeting with a confidant... and then almost immediately deviates when a regular character is killed off! The book is not exactly revolutionary, nor does it really differ significantly from books 2-4, but it is distinct in some ways.
A lot of time is given over to the activity of the gangs, Italian and Irish hoodlums kill each other while going about the bootleg liquor business. Some characters from the previous books return, so there are a lot of New Yorkers kicking around Chicago. A reporter, a district attorney, and one of The Shadow's agents are also in the mix.
Grant delivers up mob executions, plenty of disguises, a secret passage, a torture scene, gangster vendettas and one mysterious personage.
On the whole it's pretty light pulp stuff like I've come to expect from the series. The book does drone a little in the flow of gangster handshakes, but the book waves up often enough to still work and deliver the goods.
I'm gonna hafta get serious and read more of these if I ever want to make it through all 300+ entries.
May 19, 2023
The Shadow: Gangdom’s Doom is authentic pulp fiction. Originally published by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. [Though I read the Bantam reprint given to me by my middle brother] in 1931, The Shadow was part of a stable of pulp adventure magazines including: The Avenger, Detective Story, Doc Savage, Nick Carter, and The Whisperer, among others. As a result, this short novel is full of gunplay, secret passages, improbable disguises, disappearing ink, inept minions, and arrogant villains. The simple good guy vs. bad guy conflict is only a level above allegory or myth, but it makes the story straightforward and enjoyable.
As opposed to the eponymous hero’s usual haunts in New York City, the action has moved to a Prohibition Era Chicago. Though it has another name in the novel, the Loop area restaurant described seems modeled on the Palmer House. And, though it is described as a roadhouse outside of town in the novel, “The Gray Mill” seems like it might be related to the jazz club and reputed haunt of Al Capone on Chicago’s north side, The Green Mill. Since Walter B. Gibson (aka Maxwell Grant) grew up in Philadelphia and eventually moved to New York City to edit and work, I don’t know of any direct connection with Chicago other than its reputation for gang wars during Prohibition. So, similarities with two landmarks of the city may be coincidental (but added to my enjoyment). I could easily be wrong because I thought I had spotted a sly internal reference to the radio show (my first experience with the character via recordings) on p. 115. However, the radio show mentioned in the novel was a Thursday night broadcast where The Shadow radio program was broadcast on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays during the course of its run.
The Shadow: Gangdom’s Doom begins with a gangland hit in Chicago. It appears that the Shadow has been concerned about the gang wars going on and had started gathering information.
After not one, but two brutal hits, the Shadow sends another agent into the midst of the gangsters and suddenly, appears incognito, himself. The Shadow’s agent, Harry Vincent, is embedded at an illegal casino, but there is a long portion of the novel where he is not privy to The Shadow’s actions. Worse, a former NYC gangster may recognize him and, of course, that could be fatal.
As usual, the Shadow attempts to work both ends against the middle in order to help the “weed of crime” to bear its “bitter fruit.” He could almost be a role model for Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, Leone’s “Man with No Name” in A Fistful of Dollars, or Hill’s “John Smith” in Last Man Standing. Hopefully, that description isn’t too much of a spoiler (but I doubt it since the Shadow infiltrates the world of his targets in many ways).
Fans of the underrated Alec Baldwin film will find this novel to be much more straightforward. There are no diabolical inventions and the mysticism that Gibson loves to evoke (in real life, he was intrigued by the possibilities of telepathy and psychic phenomena, writing several books on them) is limited to those elusive appearances and disappearances of the protagonist. And as any stage magician like Gibson could tell you, that is usually handled via misdirection.
Told from a third-person omniscient perspective, the reader knows what protagonists, antagonists, and even bit players are thinking. I particularly liked one section where a victim is anticipating rescue from the one that “put him on the spot” (aka set him up for a hit) as we move from one man’s thoughts to another’s. The Shadow: Gangdom’s Doom is engaging entertainment, surprisingly well-crafted considering the prolific pace at which Walter B. Gibson wrote. Yet, it is fiction. Chicago is allegedly “cleaned up” by the efforts of the Shadow. Yet, in real-life, the corruption continued for decades with much of the city and county governments controlled by “The Outfit.”
As opposed to the eponymous hero’s usual haunts in New York City, the action has moved to a Prohibition Era Chicago. Though it has another name in the novel, the Loop area restaurant described seems modeled on the Palmer House. And, though it is described as a roadhouse outside of town in the novel, “The Gray Mill” seems like it might be related to the jazz club and reputed haunt of Al Capone on Chicago’s north side, The Green Mill. Since Walter B. Gibson (aka Maxwell Grant) grew up in Philadelphia and eventually moved to New York City to edit and work, I don’t know of any direct connection with Chicago other than its reputation for gang wars during Prohibition. So, similarities with two landmarks of the city may be coincidental (but added to my enjoyment). I could easily be wrong because I thought I had spotted a sly internal reference to the radio show (my first experience with the character via recordings) on p. 115. However, the radio show mentioned in the novel was a Thursday night broadcast where The Shadow radio program was broadcast on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays during the course of its run.
The Shadow: Gangdom’s Doom begins with a gangland hit in Chicago. It appears that the Shadow has been concerned about the gang wars going on and had started gathering information.
After not one, but two brutal hits, the Shadow sends another agent into the midst of the gangsters and suddenly, appears incognito, himself. The Shadow’s agent, Harry Vincent, is embedded at an illegal casino, but there is a long portion of the novel where he is not privy to The Shadow’s actions. Worse, a former NYC gangster may recognize him and, of course, that could be fatal.
As usual, the Shadow attempts to work both ends against the middle in order to help the “weed of crime” to bear its “bitter fruit.” He could almost be a role model for Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, Leone’s “Man with No Name” in A Fistful of Dollars, or Hill’s “John Smith” in Last Man Standing. Hopefully, that description isn’t too much of a spoiler (but I doubt it since the Shadow infiltrates the world of his targets in many ways).
Fans of the underrated Alec Baldwin film will find this novel to be much more straightforward. There are no diabolical inventions and the mysticism that Gibson loves to evoke (in real life, he was intrigued by the possibilities of telepathy and psychic phenomena, writing several books on them) is limited to those elusive appearances and disappearances of the protagonist. And as any stage magician like Gibson could tell you, that is usually handled via misdirection.
Told from a third-person omniscient perspective, the reader knows what protagonists, antagonists, and even bit players are thinking. I particularly liked one section where a victim is anticipating rescue from the one that “put him on the spot” (aka set him up for a hit) as we move from one man’s thoughts to another’s. The Shadow: Gangdom’s Doom is engaging entertainment, surprisingly well-crafted considering the prolific pace at which Walter B. Gibson wrote. Yet, it is fiction. Chicago is allegedly “cleaned up” by the efforts of the Shadow. Yet, in real-life, the corruption continued for decades with much of the city and county governments controlled by “The Outfit.”
July 5, 2022
This was the most... strictly average of the series so far. It took me a lot longer to get through because instead of being a fun page-turner, it mostly just felt like hanging out with gangsters in 1930s Chicago, listening to them have endless conversations about putting mugs "on the spot." I don't know how fascinating all of that might have been in 1931, but from a 2022 perspective I think it's pretty dull stuff.
That said, it wasn't a bad story, and I think it was more enjoyable than the rather tedious Shadow Laughs, but it feels like a huge drop-off in quality and effort after Red Menace, where it really felt like the series hit its stride and was getting the formula worked out.
I noted in some previous reviews that these early stories felt like Harry Vincent Adventures, with The Shadow turning up only when necessary, which can still be fun, but it leads to a more Hardy Boys vibe than what I would expect from a pulp about a mysterious vigilante. This one wasn't that at all: instead, I'm left wondering why Harry was brought to Chicago at all, and I suspect he might have been wondering the same thing after reflecting on how much assistance he was able to provide weighed against how much work he had to put in and danger he was exposed to. But The Shadow isn't seen much in this either, at least in his full on hat and cloak identity. He works this case more directly than some of the previous, but this time it's almost always through other identities he assumes. The end result is that you could just forget it's The Shadow playing those parts and it becomes nothing more than a sleepy gangster-political drama.
I feel like this is one of the more recognizable early titles in the series, but it's only because of the event that famously takes place at the beginning, bringing some lasting change to the workings of the organization going forward. But if you know that happens in this story, you know everything you need to know and might be better off skipping this one. The only other detail I can think of that readers of previous stories might want to know is that
Reading a little about this story, I see that Gibson was instructed to include that most significant plot point (and protested it) as a motivation for him to go to Chicago for a then de rigueur Al Capone-esque tale. I get the feeling Gibson was going through the motions to put together a story he was told to write, not writing a story he wanted to tell. It comes off as rushed in its writing, slow in its plot, and minimal in the details that make these interesting. It's likely also just a reflection of his circumstances while writing this: he was in Bermuda and busy with promoting the magician Harry Blackstone, so understandably he had other things occupying his attention.
One of the more interesting things about this was hearing New Yorkers explaining The Shadow to the unfamiliar Chicago mobsters. I'd noted that The Shadow seemed surprisingly unwilling to kill his enemies in these early stories, though they often did end up dead in some way. This story actually mentions that his methods tend to involve arranging it so his enemies get themselves killed, rather than doing it directly, which seems a very comics code era sort of methodology for a pre-code pulp. It's suggested that this was due to the publisher not wanting to anger the actual mob by allowing a portrayal of a Shadow willing to go in and mow them down, but I think the tendency had been established in previous non-mob stories.
My head-canonical Shadow is the portrayal in The Shadow Strikes comics series from the late 80s, so I'm always expecting a Shadow who's not psychotic like some later portrayals, but certainly cold blooded in how he deals with his foes. So this version feels a little more kid friendly than I find appealing, but it's interesting to note that there was essentially no difference between the methods of this gentler Shadow and the more potentially lethal Batman of early appearances. No surprise since the early Batman stories were a direct ripoff of Shadow stories, but interesting to note the extensive overlap with a Shadow who was still trying to only wound opponents, Lone Ranger and Hoppy style.
That said, it wasn't a bad story, and I think it was more enjoyable than the rather tedious Shadow Laughs, but it feels like a huge drop-off in quality and effort after Red Menace, where it really felt like the series hit its stride and was getting the formula worked out.
I noted in some previous reviews that these early stories felt like Harry Vincent Adventures, with The Shadow turning up only when necessary, which can still be fun, but it leads to a more Hardy Boys vibe than what I would expect from a pulp about a mysterious vigilante. This one wasn't that at all: instead, I'm left wondering why Harry was brought to Chicago at all, and I suspect he might have been wondering the same thing after reflecting on how much assistance he was able to provide weighed against how much work he had to put in and danger he was exposed to. But The Shadow isn't seen much in this either, at least in his full on hat and cloak identity. He works this case more directly than some of the previous, but this time it's almost always through other identities he assumes. The end result is that you could just forget it's The Shadow playing those parts and it becomes nothing more than a sleepy gangster-political drama.
I feel like this is one of the more recognizable early titles in the series, but it's only because of the event that famously takes place at the beginning, bringing some lasting change to the workings of the organization going forward. But if you know that happens in this story, you know everything you need to know and might be better off skipping this one. The only other detail I can think of that readers of previous stories might want to know is that
Reading a little about this story, I see that Gibson was instructed to include that most significant plot point (and protested it) as a motivation for him to go to Chicago for a then de rigueur Al Capone-esque tale. I get the feeling Gibson was going through the motions to put together a story he was told to write, not writing a story he wanted to tell. It comes off as rushed in its writing, slow in its plot, and minimal in the details that make these interesting. It's likely also just a reflection of his circumstances while writing this: he was in Bermuda and busy with promoting the magician Harry Blackstone, so understandably he had other things occupying his attention.
One of the more interesting things about this was hearing New Yorkers explaining The Shadow to the unfamiliar Chicago mobsters. I'd noted that The Shadow seemed surprisingly unwilling to kill his enemies in these early stories, though they often did end up dead in some way. This story actually mentions that his methods tend to involve arranging it so his enemies get themselves killed, rather than doing it directly, which seems a very comics code era sort of methodology for a pre-code pulp. It's suggested that this was due to the publisher not wanting to anger the actual mob by allowing a portrayal of a Shadow willing to go in and mow them down, but I think the tendency had been established in previous non-mob stories.
My head-canonical Shadow is the portrayal in The Shadow Strikes comics series from the late 80s, so I'm always expecting a Shadow who's not psychotic like some later portrayals, but certainly cold blooded in how he deals with his foes. So this version feels a little more kid friendly than I find appealing, but it's interesting to note that there was essentially no difference between the methods of this gentler Shadow and the more potentially lethal Batman of early appearances. No surprise since the early Batman stories were a direct ripoff of Shadow stories, but interesting to note the extensive overlap with a Shadow who was still trying to only wound opponents, Lone Ranger and Hoppy style.
December 14, 2020
This probably packed a bigger punch when modern organized crime was front page news.
It starts off with a punch as one of the Shadow's established agents is gunned down in Chicago while helping a guy get out of the mob. The Shadow intervenes. What follows is a solid story, but you could almost plug in an FBI undercover man and get the same results.
This shows the continuity Walter Gibson (the man behind Maxwell Grant's name) used in the early stories, with a couple of crooks returning from earlier tales. Given the Shadow's well known for gunning down his foes, it's surprising to hear one crook say he never kills his enemies, only turns the over to the cops, or tricks them into killing each others. I guess that shows Gibson was still working things out.
It starts off with a punch as one of the Shadow's established agents is gunned down in Chicago while helping a guy get out of the mob. The Shadow intervenes. What follows is a solid story, but you could almost plug in an FBI undercover man and get the same results.
This shows the continuity Walter Gibson (the man behind Maxwell Grant's name) used in the early stories, with a couple of crooks returning from earlier tales. Given the Shadow's well known for gunning down his foes, it's surprising to hear one crook say he never kills his enemies, only turns the over to the cops, or tricks them into killing each others. I guess that shows Gibson was still working things out.
August 20, 2023
The Shadow and one of his agents (Harry Vincent) are in Chicago to break up the criminal syndicate in that city. Decent entry in the series, very fast-paced. And here is a plot twist regarding one of the characters that I guessed early on, so I am patting myself on the back for that one!
January 25, 2018
straightforward telling of crime syndicates in Capone era Chicago
August 19, 2019
Not as good as the very first Shadow novel, but definitely entertaining. Enough twists and turms to keep you going
September 1, 2023
Historical Fiction that aged well.
January 13, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed the story when The Shadow was absent. I enjoyed it less when he appeared. Everyone must have seen the big revelation at the end coming from that character's first appearance.
April 6, 2024
Very predictable perhaps, but The Shadow manages somehow to take down the biggest crime mobs in Chicago, something the police had been trying to do for years and which he managed in just a week!
January 25, 2025
So far the best paced books in the shadow series, I seriously enjoyed the Shadow having more on page time going up against the Chicago mob.
April 9, 2025
Gangsters cold as ice and hot as fire. Murder of a friend. Shadow cleans up the Chicago mob.
April 5, 2023
This particular volume in The Shadow pulp series is highly regarded. However, as I was reading, the middle of the book seemed oddly removed from the Shadow himself, and I wondered where it was all going. The author pulls out all the stops and draws everything together in a brilliant aha moment that (for me) validated the high regard o this book enjoys in the genre. If you like pulpy crime/mystery stories with dated dialogue but a wonderful plot, you can’t go wrong, reading Gangdom’s Doom.
January 19, 2016
Do not kill off one of the Shadow's agents. Not a healthy thing to do. Claude Fellows, one of the Shadow's agents, is killed in this book and the Shadow is out for revenge, big-time. Fellows is told the secrets of various rackets in Chicago and is killed for his knowledge. The Shadow comes to Chicago along with agent Harry Vincent who works on infiltrating the rackets.
The Shadow has an interesting approach in that, instead of taking the gangs out one at a time, he pits them against each other and let's them do the dirty work. Remember, this is the time of the big gangs like Al Capone, The St. Valentine's Massacre and so forth. Mention is also made of the Shadow's radio broadcasts which were, of course, a tie-in between the book and the radio broadcast series.
The radio shows almost always, if not always, had Lamont and Margo together. Something goes wrong and the Shadow uses his ability to 'cloud men's minds' to solve the problem. They are definitely worth listening to, although many of them seem to have been lost forever.
The Shadow has an interesting approach in that, instead of taking the gangs out one at a time, he pits them against each other and let's them do the dirty work. Remember, this is the time of the big gangs like Al Capone, The St. Valentine's Massacre and so forth. Mention is also made of the Shadow's radio broadcasts which were, of course, a tie-in between the book and the radio broadcast series.
The radio shows almost always, if not always, had Lamont and Margo together. Something goes wrong and the Shadow uses his ability to 'cloud men's minds' to solve the problem. They are definitely worth listening to, although many of them seem to have been lost forever.
January 27, 2014
I'm a huge fan of pulp heroes and the Shadow is front and center. That said, I found this plot to be a bit bland. It's interesting he leaves New York and is away from his support base, but that never really plays into the plot at all. I've read more inspiring stories of the Shadow, and hope to do so again. Still and all, an entertaining read.
October 26, 2010
I actually enjoyed this one more than some of the earlier books. It took place in Chicago rather than New York and there was better plotting, although many of the twists were easy to see from a modern perspective.
This is another one that I listened to on my Kindle during my commute.
This is another one that I listened to on my Kindle during my commute.
February 2, 2016
When it comes to pulp heroes there are 2 or 3 great standouts and the Shadow is one of those. The stories are fast paced and action filled. The mystery just adds to the excitement. With his army of agents to help the Shadow never lets you down for a great read. Highly recommended
September 10, 2016
Another fun romp with The Shadow!
May 23, 2016
When you want that plot driven, no holds barred, never lets up energy, the Shadow is a good bet.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews