Book Review: Doc Savage: Python Isle

Doc Savage: Python Isle by Will Murray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Python Isle is one of Will Murray’s earliest Doc Savage novels. In it, a wild red-haired man encounters pirates, escapes and goes seeking Doc Savage. The pirate Captain is determined stop a message getting to Doc so he contracts with a baseball-bat carrying cat-loving, bird-loving thug to stop Doc from joining the chase.

Python Isle has a lot of familiar Doc Savage elements: a mysterious lost island, a lost people, and a great treasure, and of course the python make for great natural menaces. The villains are appropriately evil with Bull Pizano being extra-menacing and memorable with his baseball bat, his malice which contrasted with his love of cats and birds. The story also includes a trip on a Zeppelin and the hijacking of the same.

On the negative side, there are the typical issues with Doc Savage books such as lengthy descriptions of everything plus the repetive use of nickname likes “dapper lawyer” and “apish chemist” which comes with the territory. However, this book isn’t as good as other Savage books. It takes a long time to get started and even for Monk and Ham to show up in the story (let alone Doc himself.) Plus, this is a story where the villains seem to run circles around Doc in his men. The Apish chemist even commented he was getting tired of being captured. Given the accolades of Doc Savage in this book as well as the many other adventures Doc has had, it's a bit disconcerting to see him and his men held at bay by a two bit pirate and an eccentric hood with a baseball bat.

Still, the book isn't bad. It has a solid dose of high adventure and mystery. The audiobook is beautifully performed and directed and it even includes two brief interviews with Will Murray as special features. Overall, this story is fair, and offers several hours of adventures with Doc Savage which makes it a worthwhile listen.



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