The Man of Bronze is pegged for murder in a family feud over a pipeline stretching from Arkansas to the Atlantic. The precious oil it carries is needed by the army for the invasion of Europe that will end the war. Only Doc Savage and his fearless sidekicks can find the real culprit and see that the pipeline gets built -- at the risk of death by dynamite!

After reading a handful of the older Docs I decided to turn my attention to one of the later one. Talk about culture shock! These later books really are MUCH different than "classic Doc" (?). Renny fans take note, he runs the show in this one while Doc spends more of the book in jail and he, Monk and Ham have the task of solving this mystery which is a change from the usual they-get-caught-and-Doc-has-to-rescue-them although that does happen at the end. I like the attempts at character depth. Monk, Ham and Renny express their fear at almost getting shot, Renny wonders why the fabulous five stay with Doc when they have nothing in common, Doc goes for the girl, Doc tries to shoot someone with an actual gun, not a super-firer. These touches help to make up for a "mystery" that isn't all that mysterious or interesting though how it ties into WWII has a nice nostalgic feel to it. Average Doc overall with some flashes of brilliance.