Doc Savage: The Ice Genius -- Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray & Lester Dent)

It's only a few days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, and intrepid archaeologist Johnny Littlejohn, one of Doc Savage's merry band, is in Mongolia on a dig.  What he uncovers there is amazing enough: a man frozen in ice.  What's even more amazing is that the man is Tamerlane.  And what's even more amazing than that is that in a series of unfortunate events Tamerlane is thawed out, is alive, and is ready to conquer the world.  There are plenty of people who'd love to help him do that, too, and it will happen unless Doc Savage and his crew can stop him.

Once again, Will Murray expertly channels the style and headlong pace of Lester Dent to present another fine Doc Savage adventure.  Doc and his men are all present, as is Habeas Corpus, Monk's faithful porcine companion.  So is Cadwiller Olden, aka Monzingo Baldwin, a villain who might be familiar to longtime readers of Doc's adventures, who meets a strange fate. 

The story is high adventure in the pulp tradition.  There are mongol hordes.  Battles in the air and on the land.  Wild plane rides and narrow escapes.  Captures and more escapes.  Trains and planes crash.  Heads roll!   

The only thing missing here is some explanation of what Dent's part in the writing of the book might have been.  An outline?  A fragment?  A jotted-down idea?  Inquiring minds want to know.  But don't let that little quibble stop you from reading the book.  It's great fun all the way.