"Drums of Fu Manchu" [Hardcover]

Sax Rohmer (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: VCI Enterprises (2003)
• ASIN: B000GLIAKA
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FU FIGHTS FASCISTS, April 17, 2002

By 

s.ferber (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drums of Fu Manchu (Hardcover)

In this volume, #9 of 14 in the Fu Manchu series, we find that Fu has decided that, in the interests of world peace, all warmongering European dictators must be brought to task, and either desist in their belligerent ways, or die a macabre death. Actually, it isn't so much genuine world peace that the good doctor is interested in, but rather a state that is more conducive to the eventual takeover by his Si-Fan organization. While the book does seem to make the case that Nazi and Fascist dictators are preferable to the "yellow menace" as represented by the Manchu man, it still shows those men to be overbearing, arrogant and ripe for being brought down. The book is certainly racist (to a degree, all the other entries in the series are, too), as the reviewers below mention, but at the same time it does make a plea for peace and sanity in the year before WW2 broke out...and that's not too bad a message for any novel.
In this book we have a new narrator, the journalist Bart Kerrigan, who joins Nayland Smith on his seemingly endless quest to foil the Doctor's plans. The action hops around quite a bit in this installment, from Essex and Suffolk to London, from Venice back to London, and finally off to (not so) gay Paree. The action is fairly relentless, the book's real saving grace. What with Green Deaths, a run-in with the Doctor on the Essex marshes, brainwashing via television, a new kind of superrifle, the Ericksen disintegration tube, torture chambers under creepy Venetian palazzos, a yacht trap on the Adriatic, killer pygmies and on and on, this book really keeps the reader glued to the page. One of our old friends from previous volumes makes a return in this book, and it's a real stunner when this character does reappear. So despite the racist elements, the book entertains.
I did, however, have more serious problems with the book than just the racial comments. There are numerous inconsistencies with previous entries that just bug the bejeebers out of me. For example, in one scene of this volume, Fu Manchu refers to "the Seven Gates," a grisly rat torture used on Nayland Smith in book 2, "The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu." But in that earlier volume, it was called "the Six Gates." Grrrrr. In the current book, Smith is referred to as a "deep, silent sleeper," while in the previous book, #8 ("President Fu Manchu"), he is referred to as a light, "hair trigger" sleeper. Huh?!?!? Fey, Smith's manservant, in previous volumes, has had a rather normal pattern of speech. In this volume, his speech is telegraphic and robotlike all of a sudden. What!?!?!? These kinds of inconsistencies can and do drive alert readers bonkers. But the worst thing of all in this book is when Smith tells someone that a description of a Japanese suspect is not necessary, as all descriptions of his "countrymen sound identical." Jeeeeezzzzz!!!!! Get past these groaners, though, and you'll have a fun time. I did.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "He was Satan incarnate...", January 23, 2002

By 

Robert S. Clay Jr. (St. Louis, MO., USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Drums of Fu Manchu (Hardcover)

Europe ~ 1939. As the fragrance of the deadly hawthorn wafts through the night air, sinister drums beat in the distance and herald the dreadful Green Death. The Si Fan and the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu murder military and political leaders who threaten world peace. Although it appears that Fu Manchu has switched to the side of the angels, Nayland Smith doesn't buy it. In his nervous and high strung way, Smith runs around trying to prevent the death of war mongers. In the process, he tries to determine what the heck Fu Manchu is up to now.

This entry in the classic mystery-adventure series is good lightweight reading. We aren't speaking of great literature, but as a pulp novel, it serves the purpose for young adult readers (and those who remain young adult at heart). Typical of Sax Rohmer, there is a lot of running around and narrow escapes. Cryptic characters abound. The evil doctor stays one step ahead of his pursuers. Nayland Smith and Bart Kerrigan do what they can to frustrate Fu Manchu's fiendish purpose. Back and forth it goes. There are less of the typical "yellow peril" overtones of the earlier books in the series to trouble modern readers. To borrow a phrase from Sherlock Holmes, "The game's afoot!" Enjoy the fun. ;-)

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Sax Rohmer, August 30, 2001

By 

William Patrick Maynard (Parma, Ohio) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Drums of Fu Manchu (Hardcover)

THE DRUMS OF FU MANCHU sees Sax Rohmer bringing Fu Manchu into play in the months leading up to World War II. Originally published in 1939, the book returns to the classic FU MANCHU format with narrator/hero Bart Kerrigan (a worthy successor to Dr. Petrie, Shan Greville, and Alan Sterling) teaming with Nayland Smith to prevent Fu Manchu from assassinating fascist dictators from Germany and Italy (the names have been changed to protect the guilty). A marked change from the paranoiac American presidential campaign documented in PRESIDENT FU MANCHU (which inspired THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE). Long-time fans will thrill to Rohmer's patented breakneck pace, sharp characterizations, and brisk dialogue. Highly recommended to mystery fans and adventure-lovers alike. A word of warning--the book ends abruptly paving the way for 1941's THE ISLAND OF FU MANCHU.