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The Sinister Shadow

Kenneth Robeson

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Jan 16, 2017 Roger rated it it was amazing

The Shadow and Doc Savage are both pulp heroes whose exploits began being published in the nineteen thirties. Any fan of the old pulps has wanted to see a meeting of these two titans, so in a real sense The Sinister Shadow is a novel that has been anticipated for over three quarters of a century.

True, The Man of Bronze and the Master of Darkness have run across each other in the four color world-but comics have rarely done justice to either character. So the question is...does The Sinister Shado The Shadow and Doc Savage are both pulp heroes whose exploits began being published in the nineteen thirties. Any fan of the old pulps has wanted to see a meeting of these two titans, so in a real sense The Sinister Shadow is a novel that has been anticipated for over three quarters of a century.

True, The Man of Bronze and the Master of Darkness have run across each other in the four color world-but comics have rarely done justice to either character. So the question is...does The Sinister Shadow hold up?

Oh my yes it does. The characterization afforded Doc, The Shadow, and their various associates is spot on. This book clocks in at 400+ pages and like the saying goes it starts with a bang and ends with a climax. Producing cover to cover action in a book this large is no small feat. I'd say the book is about 55% Shadow and 45% Doc but this mix really works quite well. (I assume this may lead to all new Shadow novels being written-I would welcome those.)

I am not as well versed in the chronology of The Shadow's adventures as I am in Doc Savage's, but from clues dropped in the book we know the action takes place after the Stock Market crash of 1929. The action is described as taking place in the Fall or autumn. These events have to take place after the events in The Land of Terror and before the events of The Phantom City. Therefore The Sinister Shadow is sandwiched in October or November of 1931, somewhere between The Czar of Fear and The Mystery on the Snow, as near as I can tell.

To borrow a phrase from Philip Jose Farmer I don't know what the weather was like on the day I saw my first Doc Savage adventure, but that day will always be bursting with a golden light. I think I was around nine or ten years old (this would be in 1974 or 1975.) It is so odd to be grateful to a fictional character, but there it is. Doc gave me hope in a hopeless time in my life. Reading a Doc Savage adventure (even a bad one, and let's be honest some of these are really bad) transports me to a very happy place, one I find harder and harder to get to as I get older.

So thanks Doc. For everything.
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