Sax Rohmer in his book, “The Drums of Fu-Manchu” Book Nine in the Dr. Fu-Manchu series published by Titan Books brings us new adventures of Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Dr. Petrie and, of course, the evil Dr. Fu-Manchu.From the Back Cover: “Imagine a person, tall, lean, and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan…”Europe, 1939—the year before World War II and global chaos. A time of shadows, secret societies, and international conflict. Into this world on the brink comes the most fantastic emissary of evil society has ever known… Fu-Manchu.In order to control the Si-Fan, and then the world, Fu-Manchu must assassinate the dictators who have brought Europe to the brink of war. The places Sir Denis Nayland Smith in the impossible position of defending warmongers who may be as evil as the Devil Doctor himselfBONUS FEATURE: The Blue Monkey”, the second of three “lost adventures of Nayland Smith.Afterword by Leslie S. Kilngerthere is a saying,”The enemy of my enemy is my friend” but what if the enemy of my enemy are the dictators that want to plunge the world into World War II? That is the dilemma that faces Sir Denis Nayland Smith in this ninth Fu-Manchu book. Even though Fu-Manchu wants this dictators eliminated, which would prevent the global war, is it wise to allow him to gain control because of it? “The Drums of Fu-Manchu” is a thriller, no doubt about it. Smith faces all kinds of perils as he races to stop this evil man. I think Mr. Rohmer was at the top of his craft when he wrote this adventure. And the action leaps from Essex and Suffolk to London, from Venice back to London, and finally off to Paris. Mr. Rohmer writes in a breathless style that will keep you on the edge of your seat, flipping pages as fast as you can read them just trying to keep up with a runaway roller coaster ride story. “The Drums of Fu-Manchu” is the perfect read to get your adrenalin going and root for the good guys to conquer a menace that is almost supremely evil. This is a wild ride read and I recommend it highly. This is a high-octane series and I am so glad that Titan Books is bringing the whole series back. I am really looking forward to reading the next book in this series.Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Titan Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
This book in the Fu Manchu series pretty much follows the same story line as all the others....Fu's attempt at world domination .....with one twist. Written in 1939, it is a thinly disguised story of the rise of dictators (read Hitler and Mussolini) and Fu's plan to assassinate them before they can take control of the world. But of course Fu only wants to rid the world of these men so that his organization, the Si Fan, can take over. The interesting thing about the book is reading between the lines with the hindsight of the events of WWII. It is extremely racist as are all of Rohmer's books and sometimes that is not easy to ignore. But it is a window on another time when popular, not very well written fiction sold millions of copies and often had hidden political content. I read it for the historical aspect rather than the story as I was interested in a popular writer's take on the rise of the evil of Hitler. Rohmer was pretty much of a hack writer and one of the other reviewers said, "There is trash and then there is trash"....this book fits into the latter category only for the historical perspective. If not for that, it fits into the first "trash" category!
