In one sense, 'Men of Fear' continues a natural progression that reflected the world events of the day. It was published in February 1942, but would have been written during early 1941. Certainly it was submitted on 2nd June. At that point, the Second World War was in its third year, but the U.S. remained neutral until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941. That had happened before this issue hit the streets but not when it was written, so the series was playing catch up to current affairs. In the early years of the war, Street & Smith's policy was to avoid mentioning it or at least to keep a distance from it. Even before Pearl Harbor, that seems to have been changing.

Alan Hathway used the word "Nazi" in 'The Mindless Monsters' in September 1941. Foreign agents, increasingly the villains, have overtly German names in 'The Rustling Death' in January 1942, like Krag and Strang. Here, it's even more obvious that the villainous foreign agents are German, but Lester Dent stubbornly keeps them nameless. One major character is Austrian and he mentions a censorship that's been imposed on his country by its conquerors. Nazi Germany annexed Austria in March 1938, before the war started, let alone before this novel was written. More tellingly, one of his close relatives died in a concentration camp, the first time that term has been mentioned in a 'Doc Savage' novel. We don't get details, but it's certainly a start.

 I'm fascinated to see how this trend continues over the next few books. 'The Speaking Stone', four books away, was the first to be submitted after the United States joined the war effort. The first to be written after it will presumably be one of the next few. For now, the war is apparent and being acknowledged by the authors of the series and incorporated into its plots. There are many foreign agents, more and more clearly German, and they do their business on American soil. Doc, who had toppled so many monstrous villains, can't avoid acknowledging a real life one forever.

In another sense, this is a complete change from all the 'Doc Savage' novels previously published, because half of Doc's crew is taken out of the equation at the very beginning of the book and in a particularly brutal way that betrays a real sense of humour on Dent's part. On the very first page, Monk tells Renny that he doesn't want to explore the South American jungle with them, because it's too dangerous. On the second page, he suggests that Doc takes too many chances so ought to stop. He thinks so. Henry thinks so, whoever Henry might be. Soon, we learn that Ham and Johnny also think so.

And, while Monk is initially calm and composed, it soon becomes obvious that these three men are scared. They're the men of fear of the title, at least from one perspective. And it boggles Renny's mind. He actually looks outside to see if the Hudson river is running uphill. In a hundred and seven adventures, Monk and the others have been dynamos of daring, eager to hurl themselves into the most dangerous situations possible because they love the thrill of the fight. It's what makes them feel alive. Suddenly, they're cowards. Long Tom calls them "trembling tulips". However, they soon kidnap Doc to keep him out of danger. That's priceless.

Henry turns out to be Henry Brooks, no relation to Ham, and Henry Brooks turns out to be Henry Wallengite, and we're still no wiser. There are levels of intrigue here and it takes a while to figure out what's going on. Eventually we learn some of it after Long Tom puts on blackface and goes to town slapping Henry until he talks. It's apparently all about Prof. Matthew Jellant, who's arriving on the 'Lisbon Girl' under the name of Hermann Nalle. Doc has collaborated with him, but Jellant did all his work in Vienna so they haven't actually met. Anyway, he's slated to be killed, but finds himself taken instead, to his laboratory on Skull Cay, the traditional exotic location to which we're transported for the second half.

And it's exotic indeed, with birds like noddies and banana bird, and algae like sea grapes. Dent is clearly having fun with his travel guides. Of course, we eventually learn what's going on, within a relatively insular location. It's an island, for one, and presumably not a particularly big one, but a string of landmines planted in the beach take out Doc's plane when he lands, so there's no trivial way to leave. Everything has to be tackled right there on Skull Cay, which naturally includes action, revelations and plenty of table-turning. All in all, it's a decent enough novel.

The best part of it was always going to be the way that Monk, Ham and Johnny have been turned into abject cowards. We don't know how and we don't know why, beyond it surely tying to the big picture that will eventually unfold, but they aren't miraculously cured in chapter two, remaining abject cowards for the vast majority of the book. At one point on Skull Cay, when the bullets start to fly, all three of them scramble for cover, barging past female characters in fear. '"Crowding in ahead of women," Renny muttered. "I sure don't understand this."'

There are other strong angles too. One of those female characters is Pat Savage, who's along for a good part of this book, and she acquits herself pretty well. After she takes one bad guy down with a spear to the eyes and a punch to the throat, she explains to Doc, "Jujitsu. I've been practicing." The other goes by Turkis and she's no shrinking violet either. For a series that's centred around a bunch of male adventurers, with Doc continually minimising Pat's role in them, it's glorious to see her kicking ass while Monk, Ham and Renny effectively hide under her metaphorical skirts.

The gimmick at the heart of the novel turns out to be a little weak, but it's handled well-enough, revelations coming appropriately late and in a fashion that allows for an interesting ending. The many unnamed bad guys all die, like that's a spoiler, but two named characters who turn out to be enemy agents, live and Monk cleverly lets them loose at the end so that they can unwittingly take the gimmick back to "that dictator leader of theirs". No, Doc isn't at the point where he can visit Berlin and punch Hitler in the face, but there are ways to be part of the effort. After all, can you imagine how the world might have reacted in 1942 if all the "warmongers" in "war-mad Europe" acted like Monk, Ham and Johnny? That's a fantastic image with which to wrap up a book! ~~ Hal C F Astell

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