A bizarre dictator unleashes a deadly force against the United States Navy: the mightiest vessels in the U.S. armada are sunk; warplanes are pulled from the clouds; end Doc Savage’s impenetrable sky fortress is ripped from the stratosphere! And the brash, strutting BRAUN demands one hundred million dollars in ransom from a nation in chaos. Only the Man of Bronze dares challenge the crushing power of this phantom force!
Somebody help me out with this one… the bad guys had a submarine that they somehow sank a bunch of ships with, but how did they force whole squadrons of airplanes to crash at the same time?
I’m WITH Mr. Kimball on this one. This story is one of my “bottom-ten” Docs. More implausible than usual plot elements and it reads like a
“deadline beater”. I read recently somewhere (on the Flearun?) that this well may have been an editorial or Dent attempt at being “topical” (ala ‘The World’s Fair Goblin’, later on) as some sort of Naval disaster in the “real” world occurred shortly before publication of this story.
I have to echo Scott and Barry here. Not a good Doc at all. In fact, it’s all rather implausible because it turns out there’s nothing too mysterious about what’s causing all the mayhem. Not a good story at all.
I, too, agree with the group on this one
The world-threatening gadget was a huge disappointment and far-fetched. However, there’s some interesting interaction between Doc and temptress “India” Allison. Also some good Pat Savage scenes – she’s really a 6th “aid” in this one. And Long Tom has a lot of dialogue, which was cool.
I agree it’s ridiculous, but I liked this one. I’ve always been partial to the Doc stories where the superscience turns out to be a scam and while this isn’t my favorite, I did enjoy it.
Heck of a Bama cover too.
There was a lot to like in this one – a mysterious force destroying vessels of the USN, ruthless gangsters shadowing doc, and some great descriptive writing (like Doc’s assault on the Power Plant hideout, or the parachute escape), and of course, an appearance from Pat! But the negatives were also there: apparent similarities to motives shown in Red Snow, Captain Toy actually risking his life in an “afflicted” aircraft, using x-rays disastrously after showing caution previously in The South Pole Terror, etc. And although all five aides are aboard for this case, every time two are rescued, another two get captured. But the twist with the nature of the Force, and the device being sold to counteract it, was well done, and put a fun spin on the novel. So overall, there is enough fun and action to keep interested until the final payoff.