A Review of "Doc Savage: Skull Island"

Doc Savage: Skull Island
By Will Murray


Will Murray’s newest Doc Savage book is a different take on one of the world’s first superheroes. This book is more of an never before seen origin story for Doc, and it includes three generations of his family as well as Doc’s first post WWI adventure where he actually met the Mighty King Kong!
Yes, THAT King Kong. This story takes place mere months after Doc and friends begin to take up residence in the Empire State Building in 1933. Doc’s father has already passed away at this point, so this takes place after ‘The Man of Bronze’. Doc returns to the Empire State Building and finds Kong’s corpse at his door step. Sadly he recounts to Monk and Ham how he knew the creature and then he aids New York in removing the body back to the island it came from for burial.
At this point Doc begins recounting his first adventure with Kong in a flashback sequence that lasts the rest of the book up until the last few pages.
What follows is perhaps Will Murrays BEST Doc Savage novel to date (Though his ‘Forgotten Realm’ MAY still hold that distinction for me) this is a rousing adventure wherein Doc and his father actually have some bloody conflicts with not only headhunters but prehistoric monsters as well. Doc is barely twenty in this tale and freshly back from WWI. We learn a lot about him within these pages, including his rather strange relationship with his father. We even get to meet his grandfather, the towering ‘Stormalong’ Savage, a sort of ancient mariner type who pines for the days of tall ships with a great love of the sea.
Without giving too much more away I can wholeheartedly endorse reading this great adventure novel. It’s a Doc we’ve never really seen before, one who is fresh out of his training and a war and is only now beginning to seek and understand his place in the world. Also we get the unique perspective of Doc having to follow another man’s lead, his fathers. And then there is the mighty King Kong. Will conveys all the sympathy and empathy movie goers have had for the great ape over the years masterfully in this tale. Kong, the lonely creature who despite his great size is less monster than those who hunt him for a trophy. The last of his kind creature who is master of his domain, and all who live on that island know this and bow to his sovereignty.
This Doc Savage story is a welcome addition to the collection of all things ‘Doc’. Will Murray knows the character well, and reading his novels always leaves me with a feeling that I am reading a TRUE Doc Savage story as opposed to one that could be considered simple fanfiction, as most properties that have fallen out of the original creators hands and into another’s have.
I only hope that now that there is talk of a Doc Savage movie again that they consult Will Murray and hopefully have him write the story.
Five stars out of five. I absolutely liked this novel! It was great!