Doc Savage Returns! The Infernal Buddha by Will Murray

Every new Doc Savage adventure is a kick in the butt, and I got an extra kick out of this one, because the weird menace is so dang cool. During the first half of the book, all concerned - the good guys, the bad guys and those who could fall either way - are battling for possession of a toe-shaped dingus that could destroy the world.

A toe that could wipe out all life on earth, how dangerous is the rest of the statue? Yikes! Lucky for us Doc and the gang were on the job back in 1930-something, when this story takes place, or we wouldn’t be around to read it today.

Will “Kenneth Robeson” Murray has delivered another crackerjack tale, packed with all the action and humor you expect in a Doc Savage saga. His quirky villains are always good, and here we meet two of the best - a Malay pirate named Dang Mi (inspired by the Roger Miller song?) and Poetical Perkins, a guy who always speaks in rhyme.

And best of all, we get to see Doc himself masquerading as a pirate captain, complete with eyepatch. Here’s a sample:

     A great figure stood in the bow, like a sea rover of old.
     Tall he was, and broad of shoulder. He might have been a figure plucked from the days of Genghis Khan, the former ruler of half the known world. His clothes, from coat to buskins, were Mongolian. His face had that wind-burned gleam of copper that bespoke of the Gobi Desert. Numerous knife scars crisscrossed a face that was bold and full of unbridled humor. The silver eyepatch detracted not a whit from that impression. His good eye resembled an ebony pearl plucked from a treasure.

The Infernal Buddha is the third in a projected series of at least eight new WILD Adventures of Doc Savage from Altus Press, and is available HERE. The earlier volumes, The Desert Demons and Horror in Gold are still available too.