What do you think?
Rate this book
Doc Savage (Bantam) #21
Cold Death
Doc Savage meets his most merciless adversary — VAR, the faceless fiend whose strange voice announces a terrible mandate of destruction! VAR, who wields the deadly Cold Light, and dares hurl the ultimate challenge at Doc and his mighty crew — A fight to the death with the world at stake!
121 pages, Peperback
First published January 1, 1936
5 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth Robeson
918 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.
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
September 16, 2020
Not one of the better Doc Savage stories I have read, but it was ok. Doc and his crew go against a mysterious villain called Var, who has invented a cold light that kills
August 23, 2020
Of the many Doc Savage adventures I have read I don't recall one where so many airplanes were damaged or destroyed during the story. Typical Doc Savage though. Villain threatens and ultimately captures several members of the team, they escape and fight with the bad guys. By the second year of the series most of the team excepting Doc himself would have had so many concussions they would probably be unable to even stand upright. Invariably all others people in the story are caught up in the mystery of who is the villain, that is just a rule of the Doc Savage world. And I don't recall Doc ever deciding that the henchmen would be unsuitable to send to the crime college for brain surgery. In this one they are deemed to be too smart and thus when the villain dies they will just return to their old lives as doctors or whatever they might have been. This seems to indicate that most henchmen were stupid men who would be helped by a brain surgery that would turn them away from a life of crime. Interesting twist. Another thing I don't recall in this one is a reference to a prior adventure as though there truly is a chronological run to the stories. As I have said before I have a weakness for Doc Savage and have had one since I was a kid and first came across the Bantam paperbacks. I truly enjoy reading his adventures even though they are filled with vagueness about how things actually occur, or plot holes or things that just are too ridiculous to be real and of course the repetitive nature of the stories themselves with so many things occurring in every story, much less multiple times in every story. Oh well, they were written a long time ago for an audience that looked forward to new adventures every month or so. I get it.
February 28, 2025
Somewhat average Doc fare. Lots of action, populated with some bizarre, outlandish things that gave me trouble suspending my disbelief. Why do these 'thugs' have such strange prisoner devices, like the sound-activate robot iron maiden or the room with floor-triggered electrocution? Colorful and imaginative, I agree. Monk's over-the-top plane crash entry into a building was also a head scratcher. Fun, mysterious premise, but bogs down a bit in the middle...Doc's aids have a strange tendency to get kidnapped a lot (for no explicable purpose) which seemed to hinder the story more than help it. I know, it's just pulp, and I don't expect an air-tight plot, but sometimes I felt even Doc Savage was a bit lost in it.
March 18, 2024
Solid entry in the series.
A cool sci-fi menace, some great action set pieces and 4 of the famous 5 get something to do and solid characterization.
There was some nice attempts to hint that this story was connected to a past adventure.
The involvement of two women was underused, but interesting and I liked that the story, while very big, takes place all in New York.
Only stumble, is the writer tries so hard to remind you there are three suspects for our mystery villain, and boy are they all acting sketchy.
It was so forced and overdone, that it became annoying, rather than intriguing.
A cool sci-fi menace, some great action set pieces and 4 of the famous 5 get something to do and solid characterization.
There was some nice attempts to hint that this story was connected to a past adventure.
The involvement of two women was underused, but interesting and I liked that the story, while very big, takes place all in New York.
Only stumble, is the writer tries so hard to remind you there are three suspects for our mystery villain, and boy are they all acting sketchy.
It was so forced and overdone, that it became annoying, rather than intriguing.
September 24, 2020
The plot hung together well and all the running around by Doc and his crew seemed to actually have purpose that propelled the solving of the mystery and the prevention of further death and destruction. One clever death-trap for Monk is used early on, too. There was a nice touch of reference to a previous adventure that helped explain how Doc would be somewhat familiar with the Cold Light weapon and how to block it's effects.
November 28, 2024
This Doc Savage adventure from September of 1936 started in the middle of the action as did Haunted Ocean and The Boss Of Terror. Doc was walking along Wall Street in Lower Manhattan when a decrepit character slipped a business card containing a strange message in his pocket; thus, Cold Death began.
As the story progresses, Doc and the crew have their hands full battling the mysterious villain, Var in this thrilling adventure, as the action is almost non stop; Cold Death is a continuation of a previous “cold related” story titled, Land Of Always Night. It is another New York caper involving Doc and his resident experts with a side trip to Washington DC for the crew, minus Johnny … he’s busy at Doc's fabulous headquarters fabricating a secret weapon for use against the evil forces of Var.
Cold Death is the most destructive Doc Savage saga that I’ve read; several airplanes are destroyed, and multiple deaths occur from either gunshots, explosions, or the mysterious “cold death” with Doc and the guys having several brushes with the grim reaper. Lester, or whoever wrote Cold Death, continues with the science fiction theme as the storyline includes a “mad man” who naturally desires to do what most mad men desire to do … rule the world.
The villain, the evil minded Var, who’s identity is revealed by the process of elimination, has his appointment with destiny at the hands of the man of the hour, Doc Savage and his five faithful companions. Cold Death is a little hard to follow as the story is somewhat confusing at times, but Doc clears everything up in the final chapter.
As the story progresses, Doc and the crew have their hands full battling the mysterious villain, Var in this thrilling adventure, as the action is almost non stop; Cold Death is a continuation of a previous “cold related” story titled, Land Of Always Night. It is another New York caper involving Doc and his resident experts with a side trip to Washington DC for the crew, minus Johnny … he’s busy at Doc's fabulous headquarters fabricating a secret weapon for use against the evil forces of Var.
Cold Death is the most destructive Doc Savage saga that I’ve read; several airplanes are destroyed, and multiple deaths occur from either gunshots, explosions, or the mysterious “cold death” with Doc and the guys having several brushes with the grim reaper. Lester, or whoever wrote Cold Death, continues with the science fiction theme as the storyline includes a “mad man” who naturally desires to do what most mad men desire to do … rule the world.
The villain, the evil minded Var, who’s identity is revealed by the process of elimination, has his appointment with destiny at the hands of the man of the hour, Doc Savage and his five faithful companions. Cold Death is a little hard to follow as the story is somewhat confusing at times, but Doc clears everything up in the final chapter.
July 27, 2025
The bad guy invents a cold ray that blows things up. As with bad guys, he starts blackmailing people, lest they get blown up. Meanwhile the bad guy's gang doesn't think he is moving fast enough and decide to revolt and take things for themselves. Thus Doc has to discover who all the different actors are and deal with them accordingly.
August 1, 2019
A typical Doc Savage adventure with villains and non-stop action. Read it after having read two of ‘The Spider’ pulp novels for comparison. Both are of that era and good writing for the time. Had read Doc Savage as a kid and this was a repeat, but with no memory of the plot in my head.
May 11, 2019
I love the Doc Savage series! This was pretty much a slam-bang, nonstop action-packed adventure.
April 28, 2023
This adventure was so so. It just seemed like every time someone would get out of an air plane they would go to a dirrefnt place to get on a diffrent airplance tha took them to a diffrent place so they could get on another airplane. That and the 'cold ray', at first its used to terrorize people into doing the bad guys bidding, then before you know it everyone is getting the 'cold ray', in the streets, in a plane, on a train, in a car...everywhere and everyone.
But even with that, this adventure did give us a few good lines, like:
'DOC SAVAGE knew a hand had touched his pocket.' (is that a hand touching your pocket or are you just... Oh, it IS a hand? Sorry, my bad.)
'His lips slavered and his eyes burned.' (tell your doctor if these symptoms worsen because it may mean you're allergic to Doc Savage)
'Doc worked him back to consciousness again.' (Honey, wake up, put your shoes on, we're at grandmas house)
'The name would be Death!' (or Ronald Patton Edgar Roosevelt Perpendicular Death the 3rd for short)
"It's a ticklish spot for riding, but we'll want every possible inch of the train covered by the ex-neutralizers." (And we all know how ticklish trains can be, don't forget the tickle me Elmo train incident of 43)
'It was plain enough some acrobatic individual had swung along from tree to tree.' (i was gonna say that, isn't it obvious? Duh, am I right Doc?)
As well as the (insert you own joke here) line of the story - "It's all right, Gobo!" ejaculated one of the men, quickly.'
For those still keeping score (don't you have anything else better to do?) we had nothing for our superamalgamated count this time around, but we did have the 'Holy Cow' meter hit the scale with 15.
So, this outing was just OK, but oh well...on to the next one..
But even with that, this adventure did give us a few good lines, like:
'DOC SAVAGE knew a hand had touched his pocket.' (is that a hand touching your pocket or are you just... Oh, it IS a hand? Sorry, my bad.)
'His lips slavered and his eyes burned.' (tell your doctor if these symptoms worsen because it may mean you're allergic to Doc Savage)
'Doc worked him back to consciousness again.' (Honey, wake up, put your shoes on, we're at grandmas house)
'The name would be Death!' (or Ronald Patton Edgar Roosevelt Perpendicular Death the 3rd for short)
"It's a ticklish spot for riding, but we'll want every possible inch of the train covered by the ex-neutralizers." (And we all know how ticklish trains can be, don't forget the tickle me Elmo train incident of 43)
'It was plain enough some acrobatic individual had swung along from tree to tree.' (i was gonna say that, isn't it obvious? Duh, am I right Doc?)
As well as the (insert you own joke here) line of the story - "It's all right, Gobo!" ejaculated one of the men, quickly.'
For those still keeping score (don't you have anything else better to do?) we had nothing for our superamalgamated count this time around, but we did have the 'Holy Cow' meter hit the scale with 15.
So, this outing was just OK, but oh well...on to the next one..
September 25, 2016
The first Doc Savage story appeared in 1933 and the series ran in pulp and later digest format into 1949. Bantam reprinted the entire series in paperback with wonderful, iconic covers starting in the 1960's. Doc was arguably the first great modern superhero with a rich background, continuity, and mythos. The characterizations were far richer than was common for the pulps; his five associates and their sometimes-auxiliary, Doc's cousin Pat, and the pets Chemistry and Habeas Corpus, all had very distinctive characteristics and their byplay was frequently more entertaining that the current adventure-of-the-month. The settings were also fascinating: Doc's Fortress of Solitude, the Hidalgo Trading Company (which served as a front for his armada of vehicles), and especially the mysterious 86th floor headquarters all became familiar haunts to the reader, and the far-flung adventures took the intrepid band to exotic and richly-described locations all over the world. The adventures were always fast-paced and exciting, from the early apocalyptic world-saving extravaganzas of the early days to the latter scientific-detective style shorter works of the post-World War Two years. There were always a few points that it was difficult to believe along the way, but there were always more ups than downs, and there was never, ever a dull moment. The Doc Savage books have always been my favorite entertainments... I was always, as Johnny would say, superamalgamated!
July 4, 2021
The plot of the book has a mysterious villain using what is presumably some sort of destruction ray called the cold death. Var, the villain, constantly taunts Doc Savage with messages of impending destruction. Doc and his men are constantly pitted with obstacles in their attempts to discover the cold death.
Often times the story feels forced. It is more of the author telling you this or that happens rather than leading you to it and describing the action. The author of this particular story goes against the formula of most Doc Savage novels. While various of his men are captured in a twist they often are able to free themselves. Another item that goes against Doc Savage lore is that everyone seems to know about Doc's 'secret' warehouse on the Hudson where his planes and boats are stored.
Often times the story feels forced. It is more of the author telling you this or that happens rather than leading you to it and describing the action. The author of this particular story goes against the formula of most Doc Savage novels. While various of his men are captured in a twist they often are able to free themselves. Another item that goes against Doc Savage lore is that everyone seems to know about Doc's 'secret' warehouse on the Hudson where his planes and boats are stored.
May 1, 2020
This is unquestionably the best Doc Savage tale ghosted by Laurence Donovan. The mysterious and ominously named Var unleases his deadly Cold Light ray that causes all sorts of havoc that our hero has to sort out. I think main series writer Lester Dent might have had a hand in the conception or plotting of this one; I can't remember. In any event, the writing is less howlingly stilted than usual for Donovan, the story nowhere near as ridiculous as he usually produced.
February 10, 2016
Of all the pulp era heroes few stand out above the crowd, Doc Savage is one of these. With his 5 aides and cousin he adventures across the world. Fighting weird menaces, master criminals and evil scientists Doc and the Fab 5 never let you down for a great read. These stories have all you need; fast paced action, weird mystery, and some humor as the aides spat with each other. My highest recommendation.
October 20, 2022
A bit uneven at times. This saga seemed a bit stretched thin over the framework the story. Doc and his crew, sans Johnny, try to figure out the cause of the lethal blue light from the sky. The story takes place in NYC and in the woodlands of northern New Jersey. This one was a bit of a disappointment.
Lawrence Donavan was the author of this book which was published September 1936.
Except for Johnny, all of the rest of Doc’s gang are in this one.
Lawrence Donavan was the author of this book which was published September 1936.
Except for Johnny, all of the rest of Doc’s gang are in this one.
January 4, 2015
The plot in this Doc Savage adventure (written by Laurence Donovan) doesn't make a lot of sense—I don't think we ever learn the villain's agenda beyond "making demands" in Washington. However it is an entertaining roller-coaster as a mysterious blue light blows things up real good, Monk escapes a robot death trap and we get a couple of spectacular fights and aerial death-defying escapes.
October 26, 2024
This one was really hard to follow, so there's not a lot of joy to report in this re-reading. I probably read it first as a teenager. I wonder what I thought of it then.
November 16, 2016
house writer was Laurence Donovan;reread some time in 1991
July 7, 2016
Doc story with some hard Sci-Fi elements. As much as the story does of a great engineering concept, it shows it's age in it's treatment of the theory of gravity and travel.
November 16, 2016
author was Danberg; possibly read in winter 1968
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews