The Black, Black Witch & Other World War II Thrillers

Doc Savage Sanctum Editions #24

by Kenneth Robeson

ANOTHER ISSUE IN THE AMAZING REPRINT SERIES

Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

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 2 out of 5]

Hell Below is the second tale in this trilogy of World War II adventures reprinted by Sanctum Books, and it doesn't fare as well as the first installment. Dent sidelines Doc Savage for much of the story, and the lack of the MacGuffin that propelled the first story, The Black, Black Witch, it is as slow and unsatisfying as I recall from the first time I read it as a Bantam double.

World War II apparently created paper shortages that caused pulp publishers to tighten their belts, and this story feels it, as the villains are nearly anonymous, and Dent isn't able to have Doc measure out any justice "on screen" because he's writing about the real world. What this brief offering needed was more flamboyant bad guys, and action worthy of the title it sports.

[Kevin Dumcum · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Black, Black Witch” was interesting, tying in the history of Nostradamus. 4 stars.

“Hell Below” had the interesting in Washington with Doc pleading his case to be allowed to fight in WWII, but the scene of Doc shouting at someone in anger was out of character. The rest of the story was typical silliness. 3 stars.

“The Shape of Terror” was fantastic - Doc is conscripted by the Allies’ top intelligence officers to infiltrate a Nazi concentration camp to rescue a Czech scientist who has information that will ensure victory for whichever side has it. It seems that all of Nazi Germany knows that Doc is on his way. How will he prevail? 5 stars.

Average 4 stars.