A Thousand Body Parts

Reading Challenge 2017: Book by an author who uses a pseudonym. The Thousand-Headed Man by Lester Denton, otherwise known as Kenneth Robeson, kept me going through the entire short novel. Thousand-headed men of the title, turned out to be costume-wearing natives with venom-throwing cobras and the main antagonist of Doc Savage and his five friends. It had hints of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, only to discover that the mysterious hidden city was full of snake-carrying cowards. Treasure found was shared equality with the survivors of the adventure and the rest donated to needy people. That is Doc Savage's maxim after all. It was a fun romp through Indo-China. I am liking the stories more and will continue with the series. 

Doc Savage and his five friends continue to be heroes, even though they get caught and have to be rescued numerous times.  The technology they use, which is pretty theoretical for the 1930's makes the story more action-packed.  A tri-propeller plane, guns that shoot "mercy" bullets that do not kill, sleep inducing thimbles all make for a spy/action novel.  Of course, Savage's wealth pays for all of their adventures, even though these men were in the army at one point, allowing them to play action hero and not work.

The language we learn as reading is Malay and usually has the definition for such things as specific birds, crocodiles (buaya), turtles, and jungle plants.  Even though Robeson wants the reader to learn words from another language, he still talks down the culture and people.

The natives of Indo-China are treated as savages and sub-par humans.  There is definitely a white, elitest viewpoint as Savage wants to help those who cannot help themselves, yet smashes in the heads of the evil savages who are fighting his band of brave men, who also tend to get captured and need to be rescued at least once or twice throughout the novel series.  There is also quite a bit of outdated slang and colloquialisms such as "phiz" for face, "short" for male pig, and "pippin" for cute woman.  Speaking of women, Savage and his men cannot be distracted by women stating that they would make them weak as the lesser sex could be more threatened.  I wonder if there is a tad bit of bromance, even though they never seem very close, with one exception of Monk and Ham who continually badger each other.  This might have been considered a man's man novel in the 1930's, but these guys need some sort of release or romance as it cannot be all fight and adventure.  I mean, consider Doc Savage...beautiful body, bronzed, blond, and definitely a calendar model, who does not like the company of women.