Doc Wilde and the Frogs of Doom -- Tim Byrd

Looking for a Doc Savage pastiche and a Lovecraftian adventure all in one?  Look no further.  Tim Byrd has it for you right here.  Doctor Spartacus Wilde and his two kids, Brian and Wren, are plunged into action almost from page one when they learn of the disappearance of Grandpa Wilde.  They go from the top of what's obviously the Empire State Building to the South American jungle, tangling with all kinds of weird frogs, not to mention frog-men, along the way.

Wilde is so much like Savage that I expected to him to start trilling on any page.  He never did, but his shirt is always ripped.  So is Grandpa Wilde's, for that matter.  Like their dad, the kids are fluent in many languages, know more science than a college prof, know more literature than your average English teacher, and are as agile as monkeys.  Doc's other companions are the ape-like Declan mac Coul and the cultivated Phineas Bartlett (he's "good with quotations").  The whole crew speeds from one cliffhanger to the next so fast that you'll hardly be able to keep up.

Byrd is clearly out to hook both the youngsters and the older folks who've read Doc Savage.  Who else would he expect to get this joke: "The impact rattled the man of brawn's skeleton, . . ."  I'll bet Byrd's been waiting years to get the one into print.

It's all in good fun, and you should know by now if this is your kind of thing.  If it is, you're probably already waiting for the sequels, which should come along very soon.