New York's news hawks work overtime in a flurry of flashbulb explosions as they clamor for the scoop on the insidious wave of bodies turning up around the city, all struck dead, eyes turned an unseeing white -- the Blind Death! As police riot guns and gangland tommy guns turn the winter snows of Manhattan scarlet, Doc Savage, man of mystery, giant of bronze, discovers that the mysterious plague is the result of an audacious scheme to unite all of New York's criminal elements against him. Their evil goal -- to seize the fabled Mayan wealth of the Man of Bronze.

In my opinion this is THE best of the "Will Murrays" and is in fact so dang good that I include it in my "Top 20" Doc stories (heck, maybe even "Top TEN"). Wonderful "gangster" tale that includes (and pays homage to) so many of Dent's story-telling attributes.

White eyes was one of the very best of the non-Dent Docs. I did figure out what the secret of the gadget was early on (a disadvantage of a well-rounded science education) but it was still a fun read as far as Doc material goes. And, let's face it, how often has a villain managed to drive Doc out of his own 86th floor aerie?

And, writing about this latter, I was watching one of the 'bonus' items in the PBS "NEW YORK" documentary DVD set. It dealt with the making of the Empire State Building. It was fun looking at the construction as it progressed and wondering ... behind that tarp - there - maybe that's where they were building the 'flea run' in secret?

where can I buy any of these novels? I've been a Doc fan for over 40 years!

Compared to the 80 pages that it usually took Lester Dent to tell a Doc story, this 304-page, 1992 novel by Will Murray seems like "War and Peace."
If only it were that good. Murray doesn't seem to know what to do with all the extra space. The story doesn't really get rolling until chapter 19, and even then, the whole book turns out to be just a jazzed-up retread of "The Annihilist."

I give it an "A" for effort, but a "C" for story.