Doc Savage 5 - Pirate of the Pacific

Pirate of the Pacific, published in 1933, is the fifth of the Doc Savage novels. It was written by Lester Dent.

Doc Savage is a superhero of a kind but he has no superhuman powers. He has simply developed his own physical, psychological and intellectual powers to an extraordinary degree. He is a scientist and inventor and is fabulously wealthy. He uses his wealth and his physical and intellectual capabilities to fight crime and injustice everywhere.

The major flaw of the Doc Savage stories is that Doc is much too perfect. He never makes mistakes. He never fails to foresee danger. He does not even have a few minor weaknesses that might make him seem human.

His five assistants are not quite as perfect, but almost.

The previous book in the series, The Polar Treasure, had taken Doc Savage and his friends to the Arctic in a super-advanced submarine. On their arrival home they are bombed from the air. And they discover that they now have pirates to deal with.

Piracy was rife in the South China Sea at that time but Tom Too is more than just an ordinary pirate. He has much grander ambitions. He wants his own country. He is plotting to take over the Luzon Union (we’re clearly talking about the Philippines here). Tom Too controls a huge pirate fleet ad a vast army of cutthroats. He is very much a megalomaniac and an evil genius and a Super Villain.

Juan Mindoro has asked Doc for help. Mindoro runs a secret society in the Luzon Union but his secret society is not sinister. He’s one of the good guys.

Tom Too’s influence even extends to New York where his henchmen murder one of Mindoro’s old friends and associates.

Tom Too’s organisation is gunning for Doc Savage as well.

Doc and his buddies head for the Luzon Union upon aboard the passenger liner Malay Queen. It’s a voyage marked by non-stop mayhem.

Tom Too’s tentacles are everywhere. Almost anyone could be one of Tom Too’s agents.

Doc’s buddies keep getting captured by the bad guy but Doc is never dismayed.

Doc has a number of non-lethal weapons at his disposal. He prefers to capture bad guys alive. They are sent to an institute that Doc funds where they are reprogrammed to be useful law-abiding citizens. Yes, perhaps a bit Clockwork Orange-y. It is an early example of the interest in brainwashing and mind control that became more and more of a feature of pop culture and reached a fairly spectacular lowering in the 60s. It’s intriguing to see these elements, which would increasingly be the province of fictional bad guys, being used here by the good guy.

It should be assumed that Doc’s methods are entirely non-lethal. He isn’t one of those moralistic superheroes who won’t kill. He doesn’t in the least mind killing bad guys if he has to and he and his crew never go anywhere without a supply of machineguns and grenades.

Interestingly I don’t recall a single female character in this book. Not even a very minor female character.

Pirate of the Pacific is breathtakingly politically incorrect and those who enjoy being offended will have a field day.

One thing you have to say about Lester Dent - he understood that pulp action adventure is all about action. And the pacing doesn’t flag for a moment.

Pirate of the Pacific has zero subtlety and complexity but it’s excellent pulp fun and it’s highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed two of the earlier Doc Savage books, The Polar Treasure and Land of Terror.

Peter Cheyney's Poison Ivy

Between 1936 and 1951 Englishman Peter Cheyney enjoyed great success with his pulp thrillers in the American style. He had never been to America but that didn’t worry him. He knew the America that mattered to his readers - the America of the movies and the pulps. Some of Cheyney’s books are set in the United States but some are not. They do however all have an American-style hardboiled pulp flavour.

His best-known series characters were private detective Slim Callaghan and FBI agent Lemmy Caution. Lemmy Caution was immortalised in a wonderful series of French movies in the 1950s and early 60s with the great Eddie Constantine in the title role.

Poison Ivy, published in 1937, was the second Lemmy Caution novel.

Lemmy is investigating a plot involving gold. The FBI have very little hard information but it appears that there may be an attempt to steal a shipment of gold bullion. What’s worrying is that three FBI agents assigned to the case have already been murdered. And while Lemmy is waiting to make a contact in a night-club a fourth G-Man is slain. Lemmy is going to be up against some very dangerous opponents.

At the night club he sees Carlotta for the first time. She’s the singer. She’s a whole lot of woman. Lemmy has encountered some swell-looking dames in his time but Carlotta is in a league of her own. And swell-looking dames just happen to be one of Lemmy’s hobbies. He later finds out that her nickname is Poison Ivy.

Of more immediate concern is the presence of two corpses in the night club. One is a G-Man. The other is Willie the Goop. Carlotta was Willie’s girl, or at least that’s what Willie thought. Rudy Saltieri had other ideas. Rudy is a mobster and a particularly dangerous and ruthless example of the breed.

Lemmy has some ideas about the identity of Willie’s slayer. His favoured suspect has an alibi but Lemmy figures the alibi is not going to stand up. He has an instinct for such things.

Lemmy has a rough time on this case. He gets beaten up several times and he gets kidnapped. In fairness to Lemmy he hands out quite a bit of punishment to the bad guys along the way. There’s always plenty of action in a Lemmy Caution story. Lemmy is handy with a gun but he’s even handier with his fists. And Lemmy figures that while it’s a good thing to persuade a suspect to co-operate it’s a lot easier to do so if you knock seven daylights out of the guy first.

This is of course a heist story and it’s a pretty clever heist. The rather neat plot involves yachts, trains and a séance. And plenty of twists and double-crosses.

And dames. Two very seductive dames. They’re probably not nice girls but bad girls tend to make a case a lot more interesting.

Lemmy finds plenty of opportunities to trade wisecracks with the villains and to engage in some erotically-tinged verbal sparring with both the dames. Lemmy is as quick with a wisecrack as he is with his Luger automatic.

Lemmy is a bit of a rogue and he’s more than a little rough around the edges but he’s a likeable hero.

I have serious doubts as to whether Cheyney got all the American slang right but I am sure that he didn’t care. If your book has plenty of action and the right overall flavour there’s no need to stress about minor points of accuracy.

Poison Ivy is energetic fast-paced fun and it’s highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed the excellent French film adaptation, Poison Ivy (1953). I’ve reviewed several of Cheyney’s other Lemmy Caution thrillers - Dames Don’t Care, I’ll Say She Does! and Never a Dull Moment.