The Mystic Mullah

It was an ageless thing that had existed since the beginning of time — a monstrous green face that spoke sudden death. With its legions of ghostly, nebulous soul slaves, it had begun to terrorize the world. Even Doc Savage and his fantastic five were helpless against its awesome power, until….
Editor’s Note: Pulp writer Richard Sale started ghosting this novel, but removed himself from the project after recieving criticism from Lester Dent.

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10 thoughts on “The Mystic Mullah

  1. Ah! Doc in Asia! Always makes for a good story! I now look at this tale as the precursor to Murray’s excellent ‘The Jade Ogre’.

  2. Doc in Asia is always a treat! This is one of my favourite Docs and it is a fan fav as well. That doesn’t happen to often with my tastes. The monstrous green face appearing when you least expected is wonderfully creepy. A great Doc all around.

  3. This book is terrific, even if the explanation of the Mullah’s apparition is a bit hokey (though the flying snakes actually works for me). This also has one of Bama’s best covers. Dent must have been flying when he wrote this; it’s truly inspired. Highly recommended.

  4. This is a pretty good Doc Savage novel. There are better. It has a good story and a good villain. The explanation does not quite fit the cover, but it still works well. Overall, a good one to read.

  5. After the debacle with ghostwriter Richard Sale, you can tell Dent took the time to get “The Mystic Mullah” right. It’s wonderfully written and packed full of rich detail and just plain fun stuff: transparent green snakes, a Soviet agent, Doc’s skin-bleaching trick and lots of palace intrigue. And best of all, it’s topped off with what is arguably Bama’s coolest cover

  6. One of the best. This would be a great book for introducing someone to Doc adventures. It has nearly everything you could want in a Doc story, and it is well written from beginning to end.

  7. My first Bantam Doc novel and one of my favorites. A quick and fun read, the action is so fast and furious that this one seems to fly by. However, the ending with the explanation of the Mystic Mullah’s ghostly head does seem sort of forced. But overall a great tale.

  8. A top-notch supersaga, even if the climax is a bit rushed. Exotic locations, (Siberia, Outer Mongolia), colorful characters, a weird villain — what’s not to like?
    The American-born Soviet secret service agent makes for an unusual ally; Monk gets some choice one-liners along the way (“You are doing well, O Man Without Hair On His Head”). Fun from start to finish.

  9. This one was not as good as I remembered it (from when I read it in 1967).
    But it was pretty good – top 20 stuff,not top 10.
    As previously noted on this page, Dent’s explanation of the Mystic Mullah’s ghostly face was kind of lame, and not believeable. Can’t imagine that anyone missed the balloon with a bullet or a spear during the Mullah’s many appearances.
    A scene of notice has Monk and Ham conversing with a native in Tibetan!

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