065 11/38 The Green Death

Posted by on Nov 11, 1998 in 1938, bama, Bantam 061-072, clark, davis, nanovic, novel, pulp | 5 comments

3811.jpg 065.jpg


From Matto Grosso — in the deadly heart of the Green Hell — comes an organic mystery that paralyzes even the Man of Bronze: an oozing horror that wipes out the line between life and death!


  • http://www.kakuta.com/thomas Thomas

    This book is another good example of how Doc Savage transports readers to distant lands in an adventurous, yet educational way. He has an open-eyed view of the world that reveals detailed landscapes and cultures wherever he goes. This book was one of my early favorites, because that dense, unexplored “green hell” scared me to death and started a lifelong fascination with the Amazon region. Whether Doc was cutting his way through a jungle, high flying, lost in the middle of a great desert, sailing a vast ocean, or surviving the arctic, it was rivetting and intelligent explorations. You really felt like you were on location and that Doc was indeed a scientist observing and utilizing his surroundings, not just moving blindly through them.

  • Andrew Salmon

    A superior Doc all around! Great fun! The Green Death coming from a simple form of grass shows how in the Doc universe, adventures can come from anywhere. There’s a bit of hedging at the end as to the effects of the Green Death but Doc’s use of science to penetrate the mystery as well as brawn are what the series is all about. Two thumbs up for this one!

  • http://www.paulcook-sci-fi.com Paul Cook

    I think Lester Dent was on a roll when he wrote Fortress of Solitude, The Green Death, and The Devil Genghis. These are three very good adventure novels that still retain some of the aura of the grand adventures of the first two years of the Doc run. I read The Green Death about 30 years ago and all I remember about it (besides liking it) was that Monk’s pig comports himself rather well in this adventure.

  • Mark Carpenter

    I never EVER thought I’d put a ghostwritten Doc novel in my personal top ten, but “The Green Death” is that good. Davis hits it out of the park here, with a brisk, engrossing story, and a heart-stopping climax on the railing of a dirigible floating 5,000 feet above the Amazon. As fun today as it was when I first read it in 1974.

  • Rjcord

    I can’t agree more with all of the comments on this one – truly brilliant! I’ve never really been a fan of the exotic-location Doc adventure, but this story has changed all that. What held my interest throughout was the way Davis pulled out all the stops with Doc and really put him through his paces. After the first two or three years of Doc Savage, Dent tended to downplay the super-stunts somewhat. This novel provides the perfect antidote to that and has non-stop super-action from the first page to last. 5 stars.