The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu

By Sax Rohmer and Otto Penzler

The second installment in the sinister exploits of Dr. Fu-Manchu 

Two years after the insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu brought Britain to the brink of destruction, the reverend J. D. Eltham anxiously awaits his return. The devil doctor is presumed dead, but Eltham is an old China hand, rumored to have brought about the Boxer uprisings, and he knows that cheating death might just be the least of Fu-Manchu’s accomplishments. When the reverend disappears, Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie know that the evil genius has struck again.

Once again, Smith and Petrie brave death—by torture, quicksand, and poisoned cat—to foil an outrageous plot. The reappearance of the beautiful and mysterious Karamaneh, agent of Fu-Manchu and bewitcher of Petrie’s heart, proves that love might just be the most dangerous poison of all.

This ebook features a new introduction by Otto Penzler and has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MysteriousPress.com Open Road
• Release date: May 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480493872

Sax Rohmer

Sax Rohmer (1883–1959) was a pioneering and prolific author of crime fiction, best known for his series of novels featuring the archetypal evil genius Dr. Fu-Manchu.

Book preview

Introduction

Dr. Fu-Manchu is literature’s ultimate villain: a Chinese master criminal of untold wealth, intellect, and occult powers—a man whose goal is world conquest.

The Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the twentieth century aroused fears of a Yellow Peril, and Rohmer recognized that popular literature was ready for an Oriental archcriminal. His research for an article on Limehouse, the Chinese district of London, uncovered the existence of a Mr.King, an actual figure of immense power in that area, whose enormous wealth derived from gambling, drug smuggling, and the organization of many other criminal activities. The apparent head of powerful tongs and their unsavory members, Mr. King was never charged with a crime, and his very existence was considered questionable. One foggy night, Rohmer saw him—or someone who might have been him—from a distance; his face was the embodiment of Satan. This was Fu-Manchu, the Devil Doctor.

Fu-Manchu is a diabolical fiend who ruthlessly seeks to become emperor of the world. In addition to possessing degrees from three European universities, he has vast knowledge of the occult and of secrets of chemistry, medicine, and physics unknown to Western man. He also commands the gangs of Asia and is master of the secret sects of the East—Dacoits, Hashishin, Phansigars, and Thugs.

Fu-Manchu is a Chinese noble descended from members of the Manchu dynasty. The most sinister villain in history, the Devil Doctor is nevertheless bound by the code of a gentleman: his word is inviolate.

Fu-Manchu’s constant adversary is Sir Denis Nayland Smith, who, with his companion, Dr.Petrie, seems hopelessly overmatched against the formidable doctor. Vaguely connected with Scotland Yard, Smith was knighted for his efforts to thwart Fu-Manchu, although he would admit that he did not earn the honor by superior intellect. He frequently owes his life to sheer luck, and even more often, to the beautiful Karamaneh, once a slave in Fu-Manchu’s power, and later, Petrie’s wife.

Late in his career, Fu-Manchu temporarily abandons his attempt to conquer the world and joins forces with the West to defeat the growing threat of communism.

With infinite attention to detail, Rohmer deliberately gave an impossible name to his villain, Fu and Manchu both being Chinese surnames.

Tall and slender, Fu-Manchu generally wears a yellow robe or a black one with a silver peacock embroidered on the front. He wears a black cap on his smooth skull. Often portrayed with what is now known as a Fu-Manchu moustache, he is in fact clean-shaven so as not to interfere with his disguises—at which he is a master. His eyes are his most notable physical feature: long, magnetic, and truly cat green—so piercing and compelling that one often senses his gaze even in advance of his presence.

Rohmer once wrote that, just after he had created his character, he had an extraordinary experience. Fu-Manchu appeared in his bedroom. He asserted his independence of the author, telling him of his plans for world conquest: I, the Mandarin Fu Manchu, shall go on triumphant. It is your boast that you made me. It is mine that I shall live when you are smoke.

The fact that it is almost impossible to hear mention of a sinister Oriental without instantly thinking of the Devil Doctor demonstrates the vitality of Fu-Manchu.

Films

Rohmer’s insidious doctor made an early screen debut in 1923, in a series of short British films with Harry Agar Lyons as a somewhat rigid Fu-Manchu and Fred Paul as Denis Nayland Smith; the rather close adaptations of episodes from the Rohmer source include fungi cellars and coughing horrors. Nearly all the Fu-Manchu cinematic exploits that followed do not stray far from the source that inspired them.

The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu. Paramount, 1929. Warner Oland, Jean Arthur, Neil Hamilton, O. P. Heggie. Directed by Rowland V. Lee. Based on The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu. During the Boxer Rebellion, foreign devils kill Fu Manchu’s wife, and the doctor vows revenge. Soon he is in England eliminating all the white officers who took part in suppressing the uprising. Ultimately Scotland Yard exposes him and he drinks poisoned tea. (Warner Oland, whose performance has been called bloodcurdling, is the screen’s premier sinister Oriental; later he atones by portraying Charlie Chan.)

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu. Paramount, 1930. Oland, Arthur, Hamilton, Heggie. Directed by Lee. The poisoned tea was merely a potion; the dead Fu-Manchu escapes through a panel in the side of his coffin and continues his revenge. Finally, the Yard reports that one of Fu-Manchu’s own bombs has torn him to pieces in a secret Thames-side den—but one can never be sure.

Daughter of the Dragon. Paramount, 1931. Oland, Anna May Wong, Sessue Hayakawa, Bramwell Fletcher, Frances Dade. Directed by Lloyd Corrigan. Loosely based on Daughter of Fu-Manchu. The Petrie family, Fu-Manchu’s hated enemies, receive word that he has been seen again. The Chinese doctor is shot, but before he dies, he makes his daughter—a dancer—vow to carry out his revenge on the last of the Petries. The two young people, however, begin a tragic love affair.

The Mask of Fu Manchu. MGM, 1932. Boris Karloff, Karen Morley, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt, Charles Starrett. Directed by Charles Brabin. Now sinisterly civilized, Fu-Manchu—doctor of medicine, science, and philosophy—and his evil daughter (Myrna Loy) seek the lost tomb of Genghis Khan. Warns Nayland Smith, Once Fu Manchu puts the mask of Genghis Khan across his yellow face and takes that scimitar into his hands, all Asia rises!

Drums of Fu Manchu. Republic serial, fifteen chapters, 1940. Henry Brandon (Fu-Manchu), William Royle, Robert Kellard. Directed by William Witney and John English. From incidents in several Rohmer novels. Fu-Manchu and his daughter (Gloria Franklin) again seek the Khan’s tomb and scepter, this time directing their activities mainly from California’s Chinatowns.

For many years Fu-Manchu remained silent, the changing attitudes toward the Chinese forcing him from the screen. Then, in 1965, an elaborate new series began, the first in color and of the time period, featuring the towering British horror star Christopher Lee as the evil doctor, with Dublin filling in as London of the 1920s. Later films in the series used locations in Spain, Brazil, and Turkey.

The Face of Fu Manchu. Seven Arts (British/German), 1965. Lee, Nigel Green, Howard Marion-Crawford, Karin Dor, Joachim Fuchsberger. Directed by Don Sharp. An original story. Fu Manchu, aided by his daughter (Tsai Chin) and called by Nayland Smith cruel, callous, brilliant, the most evil and dangerous man in the world, destroys all life in a remote English village by means of poison gas. The doctor is eventually tracked to a monastery in Tibet, where an explosion supposedly kills him, but over the smoke his voice snarls: The world has not heard the last of Fu Manchu!

The Brides of Fu Manchu. Seven Arts (British/American), 1966. Lee, Douglas Wilmer (replacing Green as Nayland Smith), Marion-Crawford, Chin, Heinz Drache. Directed by Sharp. An original story. At his secret headquarters, Fu-Manchu holds captive twelve girls from powerful political and industrial families, forcing them to collaborate with him in his electronic conquest of the world.

The Vengeance of Fu Manchu. Seven Arts (British/American), 1968. Lee, Wilmer, Marion-Crawford, Chin, Tony Ferrer, Wolfgang Kieling, Horst Frank. Directed by Jeremy Summers. An original story. Fu Manchu arranges to have Nayland Smith accused of the murder of his pretty Chinese servant and, at an Interpol convention, plots to have all the police chiefs of the world replaced by doubles under his control.

Kiss and Kill, Commonwealth (British), 1970. Lee, Richard Greene (replacing Wilmer as Smith), Marion-Crawford, Chin, Maria Rohm. Directed by Jess (Jesus) Franco. An original story. The evil doctor sends out infected girls to plant kisses of death on the world’s leaders. Among the first victims is Nayland Smith, who is unaccountably merely blinded, remaining so for most of the film.

The Castle of Fu Manchu. Commonwealth (British), 1972. Lee, Greene, Marion-Crawford, Chin. Directed by Jésus Franco. An original story. Fu Manchu plots to control the world’s waterways—especially such routes as the Suez and Panama Canals—with a device that can create icebergs in the Caribbean; he is finally traced to Istanbul, where he has seized as headquarters a Turkish national monument: the Anatolian Castle.

There were several later films so abysmal that they will not be mentioned here.

Radio and Television

The satanic doctor appeared in several successful radio series in both the United States and England during the 1930s; most memorable were the serial dramatizations presented on The Collier Hour and drawn from Collier’s magazine. NBC once made a pilot telefilm with John Carradine as Fu-Manchu and Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Nayland Smith, but a program never materialized. In the early 1950s Republic released for television a series of thirteen half-hour programs featuring a corpulent, less vigorous Fu-Manchu (Glen Gordon) in the somewhat reduced circumstances of a television budget, leavened in large measure by action stock footage from the studio’s files.

Otto Penzler

CHAPTER I. A MIDNIGHT SUMMONS

WHEN DID YOU last hear from Nayland Smith? asked my visitor.

I paused, my hand on the syphon, reflecting for a moment.

Two months ago, I said; he’s a poor correspondent and rather soured, I fancy.

What—a woman or something?

Some affair of that sort. He’s such a reticent beggar, I really know very little about it.

I placed a whisky and soda before the Rev. J. D. Eltham, also sliding the tobacco jar nearer to his hand. The refined and sensitive face of the clergyman offered no indication of the truculent character of the man. His scanty fair hair, already gray over the temples, was silken and soft-looking; in appearance he was indeed a typical English churchman; but in China he had been known as the fighting missionary, and had fully deserved the title. In fact, this peaceful-looking gentleman had directly brought about the Boxer Risings!

You know, he said, in his clerical voice, but meanwhile stuffing tobacco into an old pipe with fierce energy, I have often wondered, Petrie—I have never left off wondering—

What?

That accursed Chinaman! Since the cellar place beneath the site of the burnt-out cottage in Dulwich Village—I have wondered more than ever.

He lighted his pipe and walked to the hearth to throw the match in the grate.

You see, he continued, peering across at me in his oddly nervous way, one never knows, does one? If I thought that Dr. Fu-Manchu lived; if I seriously suspected that that stupendous intellect, that wonderful genius, Petrie, er— he hesitated characteristically—survived, I should feel it my duty—

Well? I said, leaning my elbows on the table and smiling slightly.

If that Satanic genius were not indeed destroyed, then the peace of the world, may be threatened anew at any moment!

He was becoming excited, shooting out his jaw in the truculent manner I knew, and snapping his fingers to emphasize his words; a man composed of the oddest complexities that ever dwelt beneath a clerical frock.

He may have got back to China, Doctor! he cried, and his eyes had the fighting glint in them. Could you rest in peace if you thought that he lived? Should you not fear for your life every time that a night-call took you out alone? Why, man alive, it is only two years since he was here among us, since we were searching every shadow for those awful green eyes! What became of his band of assassins—his stranglers, his dacoits, his damnable poisons and insects and what-not—the army of creatures—

He paused, taking a drink.

You— he hesitated diffidently—searched in Egypt with Nayland Smith, did you not?

I nodded.

Contradict me if I am wrong, he continued; but my impression is that you were searching for the girl—the girl—Karamaneh, I think she was called?

Yes, I replied shortly; but we could find no trace—no trace.

You—er—were interested?

More than I knew, I replied, until I realized that I had—lost her.

I never met Karamaneh, but from your account, and from others, she was quite unusually—

She was very beautiful, I said, and stood up, for I was anxious to terminate that phase of the conversation.

Eltham regarded me sympathetically; he knew something of my search with Nayland Smith for the dark-eyed, Eastern girl who had brought romance into my drab life; he knew that I treasured my memories of her as I loathed and abhorred those of the fiendish, brilliant Chinese doctor who had been her master.

Eltham began to pace up and down the rug, his pipe bubbling furiously; and something in the way he carried his head reminded me momentarily of Nayland Smith. Certainly, between this pink-faced clergyman, with his deceptively mild appearance, and the gaunt, bronzed, and steely-eyed Burmese commissioner, there was externally little in common; but it was some little nervous trick in his carriage that conjured up through the smoky haze one distant summer evening when Smith had paced that very room as Eltham paced it now, when before my startled eyes he had rung up the curtain upon the savage drama in which, though I little suspected it then, Fate had cast me for a leading role.

I wondered if Eltham’s thoughts ran parallel with mine. My own were centered upon the unforgettable figure of the murderous Chinaman. These words, exactly as Smith had used them, seemed once again to sound in my ears: Imagine a person tall, lean, and feline, high shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long magnetic eyes of the true cat green. Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources of science, past and present, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the ‘Yellow Peril’ incarnate in one man.

This visit of Eltham’s no doubt was responsible for my mood; for this singular clergyman had played his part in the drama of two years ago.

I should like to see Smith again, he said suddenly; it seems a pity that a man like that should be buried in Burma. Burma makes a mess of the best of men, Doctor. You said he was not married?

No, I replied shortly, and is never likely to be, now.

Ah, you hinted at something of the kind.

I know very little of it. Nayland Smith is not the kind of man to talk much.

Quite so—quite so! And, you know, Doctor, neither am I; but—he was growing painfully embarrassed—it may be your due—I—er—I have a correspondent, in the interior of China—

Well? I said, watching him in sudden eagerness.

Well, I would not desire to raise—vain hopes—nor to occasion, shall I say, empty fears; but—er … no, Doctor! He flushed like a girl—It was wrong of me to open this conversation. Perhaps, when I know more—will you forget my words, for the time?

The telephone bell rang.

Hullo! cried Eltham—hard luck, Doctor!—but I could see that he welcomed the interruption. Why! he added, it is one o’clock!

I went to the telephone.

Is that Dr. Petrie? inquired a woman’s voice.

Yes; who is speaking?

Mrs. Hewett has been taken more seriously ill. Could you come at once?

Certainly, I replied, for Mrs. Hewett was not only a profitable patient but an estimable lady—I shall be with you in a quarter of an hour.

I hung up the receiver.

Something urgent? asked Eltham, emptying his pipe.

Sounds like it. You had better turn in.

I should much prefer to walk over with you, if it would not be intruding. Our conversation has ill prepared me for sleep.

Right! I said; for I welcomed his company; and three minutes later we were striding across the deserted common.

A sort of mist floated amongst the trees, seeming in the moonlight like a veil draped from trunk to trunk, as in silence we passed the Mound pond, and struck out for the north side of the common.

I suppose the presence of Eltham and the irritating recollection of his half-confidence were the responsible factors, but my mind persistently dwelt upon the subject of Fu-Manchu and the atrocities which he had committed during his sojourn in England. So actively was my imagination at work that I felt again the menace which so long had hung over me; I felt as though that murderous yellow cloud still cast its shadow upon England. And I found myself longing for the company of Nayland Smith. I cannot state what was the nature of Eltham’s reflections, but I can guess; for he was as silent as I.

It was with a conscious effort that I shook myself out of this morbidly reflective mood, on finding that we had crossed the common and were come to the abode of my patient.

I shall take a little walk, announced Eltham; for I gather that you don’t expect to be detained long? I shall never be out of sight of the door, of course.

Very well, I replied, and ran up the steps.

There were no lights to be seen in any of the windows, which circumstance rather surprised me, as my patient occupied, or had occupied when last I had visited her, a first-floor bedroom in the front of the house. My knocking and ringing produced no response for three or four minutes; then, as I persisted, a scantily clothed and half awake maid servant unbarred the door and stared at me stupidly in the moonlight.

Mrs. Hewett requires me? I asked abruptly.

The girl stared more stupidly than ever.

No, sir, she said, she don’t, sir; she’s fast asleep!

But some one ’phoned me! I insisted, rather irritably, I fear.

Not from here, sir, declared the now wide-eyed girl. We haven’t got a telephone, sir.

For a few moments I stood there, staring as foolishly as she; then abruptly I turned and descended the steps. At the gate I stood looking up and down the road. The houses were all in darkness. What could be the meaning of the mysterious summons? I had made no mistake respecting the name of my patient; it had been twice repeated over the telephone; yet that the call had not emanated from Mrs. Hewett’s house was now palpably evident. Days had been when I should have regarded the episode as preluding some outrage, but to-night I felt more disposed to ascribe it to a silly practical joke.

Eltham walked up briskly.

You’re in demand to-night, Doctor, he said. A young person called for you almost directly you had left your house, and, learning where you were gone, followed you.

Indeed! I said, a trifle incredulously. There are plenty of other doctors if the case is an urgent one.

She may have thought it would save time as you were actually up and dressed, explained Eltham; and the house is quite near to here, I understand.

I looked at him a little blankly. Was this another effort of the unknown jester?

I have been fooled once, I said. That ’phone call was a hoax—

But I feel certain, declared Eltham, earnestly, that this is genuine! The poor girl was dreadfully agitated; her master has broken his leg and is lying helpless: number 280, Rectory Grove.

Where is the girl? I asked, sharply.

She ran back directly she had given me her message.

Was she a servant?

I should imagine so: French, I think. But she was so wrapped up I had little more than a glimpse of her. I am sorry to hear that some one has played a silly joke on you, but believe me— he was very earnest—this is no jest. The poor girl could scarcely speak for sobs. She mistook me for you, of course.

Oh! said I grimly, well, I suppose I must go. Broken leg, you said?—and my surgical bag, splints and so forth, are at home!

My dear Petrie! cried Eltham, in his enthusiastic way—you no doubt can do something to alleviate the poor man’s suffering immediately. I will run back to your rooms for the bag and rejoin you at 280, Rectory Grove.

It’s awfully good of you, Eltham—

He held up his hand.

The call of suffering humanity, Petrie, is one which I may no more refuse to hear than you.

I made no further protest after that, for his point of view was evident and his determination adamant, but told him where he would find the bag and once more set out across the moonbright common, he pursuing a westerly direction and I going east.

Some three hundred yards I had gone, I suppose, and my brain had been very active the while, when something occurred to me which placed a new complexion upon this second summons. I thought of the falsity of the first, of the improbability of even the most hardened practical joker practicing his wiles at one o’clock in the morning. I thought of our recent conversation; above all I thought of the girl who had delivered the message to Eltham, the girl whom he had described as a French maid—whose personal charm had so completely enlisted his sympathies. Now, to this train of thought came a new one, and, adding it, my suspicion became almost a certainty.

I remembered (as, knowing the district, I should have remembered before) that there was no number 280 in Rectory Grove.

Pulling up sharply I stood looking about me. Not a living soul was in sight; not even a policeman. Where the lamps marked the main paths across the common nothing moved; in the shadows about me nothing stirred. But something stirred within me—a warning voice which for long had lain dormant.

What was afoot?

A breeze caressed the leaves overhead, breaking the silence with mysterious whisperings. Some portentous truth was seeking for admittance to my brain. I strove to reassure myself, but the sense of impending evil and of mystery became heavier. At last I could combat my strange fears no longer. I turned and began to run toward the south side of the common—toward my rooms—and after Eltham.

I had hoped to head him off, but came upon no sign of him. An all-night tramcar passed at the moment that I reached the high road, and as I ran around behind it I saw that my windows were lighted and that there was a light in the hall.

My key was yet in the lock when my housekeeper opened the door.

There’s a gentleman just come, Doctor, she began—

I thrust past her and raced up the stairs into my study.

Standing by the writing-table was a tall, thin man, his gaunt face brown as a coffee-berry and his steely gray eyes fixed upon me. My heart gave a great leap—and seemed to stand still.

It was Nayland Smith!

Smith, I cried. Smith, old man, by God, I’m glad to see you!

He wrung my hand hard, looking at me with his searching eyes; but there was little enough of gladness in his face. He was altogether grayer than when last I had seen him—grayer and sterner.

Where is Eltham? I asked.

Smith started back as though I had struck him.

Eltham! he whispered— Eltham! is Eltham here?

I left him ten minutes ago on the common—

Smith dashed his right fist into the palm of his left hand and his eyes gleamed almost wildly.

My God, Petrie! he said, am I fated always to come too late?

My dreadful fears in that instant were confirmed. I seemed to feel my legs totter beneath me.

Smith, you don’t mean—

I do, Petrie! His voice sounded very far away. Fu-Manchu is here; and Eltham, God help him … is his first victim!

CHAPTER II. ELTHAM VANISHES

SMITH WENT RACING down the stairs like a man possessed. Heavy with such a foreboding of calamity as I had not known for two years, I followed him—along the hall and out into the road. The very peace and beauty of the night in some way increased my mental agitation. The sky was lighted almost

Reviews for The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu

[m_k_m_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Read more out of academic interest than in expectation of enjoyment, which is just as well. The racism is obviously horrible, but it's not even as if Sax Rohmer's prejudice is an unfortunate trait of an otherwise good writer (in the strictly craftsman sense of the term); that would be a poor excuse but one that could at least be made for, say, Ian Fleming or Hergé. Rohmer's plotting is weak to the point of absurdity (a castle falls down for no other reason than dramatic effect), his characters and incidents pale imitations of much better ones (his Nayland Smith is one of the many Holmes imitators who stuffed the magazine pages of the time), and the structure abysmal (these were first published as short stories and knitted together for collected publication).He's got a certain talent for capturing a scary mise en scène, and individual exciting incidents went on to inspire much better writers: Fleming among them, and Alan Moore has done some interesting stuff with Rohmer's characters. But there's no pretending these are timeless works that deserve to be remembered alongside Arthur Conan Doyle. Poor in so many more ways than just plain prejudice.

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

M brother rather despised Nayland Smith and preferred Fu Manchu, who was, at least on occasion, more honorable than his enemies. On the whole, I tend to prefer some of Rohmer's other stories to the Fu mancu books, but there is no denying that Dr. Fu is as ,much a classic contribution to pulp literature as Dracula or Tarzan: the incarnation of the Yellow Peril.

[themulhern · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely unreadable. But I know I enjoyed these when I was in high school.

[nwdavies-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An enjoyable romp, although less a coherent storyline than a series of adventurous episodes. You need to leave your political correctness and non-racist sensibilities behind to read it comfortably, but if you can do that and accept that the political views and racist language were signs of the time it was written in rather than any unusually bigoted viewpoint of the author then you can enjoy the adventure. Speaking personally, and as someone who had read quite a bit of late 1800s - early 1900s fiction, I find these insights into the general mindset of the period fascinating and fiction, where such attitudes are simply an accepted part of the prose, brings this much more to life than any academic work ever could. Written today it would be offensive, but taken in the context of its time it is simply the way it was, and all the more interesting for it. It becomes a social history lesson without any intention of being so. While this first Dr Fu Manchu novel does not, in my opinion, reach the heights gained by such authors as H Rider Haggard, H G Wells, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle or early Edgar Rice Burroughs (all of whom wrote in that period at the end of the 19th Century and/or the beginning of the 20th) it is nevertheless a fun adventurous romp rushing from one dangerous situation to the next. Forget your 21st Century sensibilities and enjoy.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A surprisingly good, albeit politically incorrect, read. Quite fun and a quick read. Petrie and Smith made worthy opponents to the evil Fu Manchu. Written in 1913, many aspects of this book seemed ahead of its time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this "yellow menace" novel when I was a kid and was enthralled by Rohmer's depiction of evil personified.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good story, though a trifle hard to read at times, do to the overt racism against the "yellow menace". Setting that aside, Dr. Fun Manchu is one heck of a villain - cunning, smart, and slippery as heck! Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie, along with Inspector Weymouth try hard to best him, but to no avail. I liked all the characters, along with the potential love interest Karamaneh, but the Dr. stands tall among them! He is their intellectual superior, and an expert in poisons, drugs, fungi, and bacilli, with the ability to come and go as he pleases! The story, and the style, remind me of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the adversarial nature of the characters is reminiscent of another doctor, Sherlock Holmes. Still, the racist nature of the narrative does give me pause as to how I feel overall about the book. I leave it to you to decide for yourself!

[nsenger-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green.The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu?has all the weaknesses of the typical pulp stories of its era. It perpetuates racial and gender stereotypes, it relies too much on melodrama, and it overuses hyperbole. And yet, with all that, it still manages to entertain.The two protagonists, Petrie and Nayland Smith, are out to save the world from the evil genius Dr. Fu-Manchu. Try as they might to stop him, Fu-Manchu always stays one step ahead, moving from one shady hideout to the next, unleashing horrible dangers upon helpless victims. Fortunately, the two heroes have the help of the alluring Karamaneh, woman of mystery.Fans of the old pulp magazines like Doc Savage, The Shadow or Weird Tales will find much to enjoy in The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu. Readers with more modern tastes may find it offensive and hard to stomach.As for me, despite its flaws, I loved its energy, its exotic flavor, and the way Rohmer brings the evil Fu-Manchu to life.

[elizabethchapman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Return of Fu Manchu was to my surprise, pure pulp fiction. That would be a marvelous find, or a terrible disappointment, depending on your taste. The horribly evil and utterly brilliant Fu Manchu is out to conquer the world and gain dominion for the corrupt, sinister, inscrutable Chinese. The only thing standing in his way is Nayland Smith, who as Burmese Commissioner is the epitome of a British colonial officer – a proto James Bond -- and his trusty sidekick, Dr. Petrie. Imagine Holmes and Watson with a bit more brawn and a bit less brain.The novel was written in 1916, just five years after the Boxer Rebellion in China had been crushed. That rebellion is mentioned only once as an aside, but it’s clear that the fear of destruction at the hands of millions of “devilish” Chinese colors the story. Fu Manchu is the type of villain that is delightful to despise. He steals every scene he’s in (and some he is not) and is simply great stuff, if you can manage to overlook the blatant and absurd racism. To say the plot is breathless would be a serious understatement. Every twist is prefaced by phrases such as “Many strange and terrible memories are mine, memories stranger and more terrible than those of the average man; but this thing which now moved slowly down upon us through the gloom of that impenetrable place, was (if the term be understood) almost absurdly terrible.” The turns of the story are easy to predict, perhaps because the book was written before such narrative surprises had become commonplace. Ugly jingoism and chilling clichés aside, The Return of Fu Manchu is a great escapist jaunt.

[alcracka · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, okay, this is...it's entertaining, okay? I had fun. It's a pretty shameless Sherlock Holmes ripoff, with a doctor sidekick narrating an adventure in which the protagonist is his brilliant detectiveish friend. Moriarty is Asianified, but comes with the same breathless, constant hyperbolic descriptions: "The most brilliant criminal mind to have existed in generations!"

The problem with hyperbole is that you kinda have to back it up. Conan Doyle is great at this. There's this fine line you want to walk: you want to leave the reader unable, usually, to solve the mystery, but when you do the big reveal at the end you want the reader not to feel cheated. I have to think, "I didn't get that - but I could have. I almost did. It makes sense." Conan Doyle pioneered that, as far as I know. (Don't bring up Dupin! Holmes owes that guy, but not for this. Poe sucked at this. "Murders at the Rue Morgue" spoiler: "The fucking orangutan did it" is not a good reveal.)

On the other hand, there's a less-discussed, dirtier trick that can be effective: the obvious, shitty reveal that you totally guessed 50 pages ago. You think you don't like that, but actually you sortof do, for the same reason you enjoy easy crossword puzzles or yelling out Jeopardy answers: because it makes you feel smart. You may not come away with the utmost respect for the author...but you may buy his next book anyway, because it's nice to feel smart. I'm convinced that some authors do this on purpose. It's a bit of a craven, lazy strategy, but whatever works I guess.

So...Fu Manchu sometimes pulls off some neat tricks. The explanation for the corpses with mutilated hands was pretty fun, and there's a terrific scene near the end involving mushrooms. And for all I know the old trapdoor trick was invented by Fu Manchu. (Good question, actually.) But still...most of the time, you can guess what's happened way before Nayland Smith does, which makes it hard to respect him as a genius, which therefore makes it hard to respect the insidious Chinaman who's constantly outsmarting him.

And speaking of Chinamen, have you heard that this book is SUPER CRAZY RACIST? Well, you heard right! It is hilariously, horribly racist, in that adorable old-timey racist way: "Unless you have been in their clutches, you can never imagine the depths of cruelty to which a Chinaman is capable of stooping." You just want to pinch racism's cheek when it comes like that.

This is pulp fiction at its pulpiest. Narrow escapes, beautiful exotic women, diabolical traps, madmen, gaping plot holes...Sure, man. I dug it.

[coffeezombie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the proto-types of modern thrillers with a character that set the model for countless stock super-villains. It's a tightly-wound rush of a narrative written with all the subtlety of a jackhammer. Its shocking racism is off-putting, though comically hyperbolic, but the book still has value for its fantasy-like imagery and as the source-code for a broad range of genre literature.

[pondlife_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Wikipedia calls this a novel, but it's more like a collection of episodes with a similar theme. It doesn't have the depth and character development of a novel.I remember the basic idea from the Fu Manchu films on TV in the 1970s. The story is very similar, and it gets repetitive after a while.Naylan Smith doesn't seem the sharpest tool in the box. Lots of nervous energy (always pulling his earlobe, pacing the floor or smacking his fist into his hand), but not much analysis of the situation. He tends to rush in without thinking, and is invariably outwitted by the "evil genious".An easy read, but no great depth, and the repetitiveness gets stale after a while.

[pamelad_570511 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

To quote Barzun and Taylor:The Doctor's adventures may entertain once, partly because of well-contrived suspense, partly because of one's enjoyment of one's own folly in believing what one is told, for example the presence on Wimbledon Common of a menagerie of lethal creatures kept by htis sinister Chinese.And that's not all! Fungal spores that germinate instantly and are immediately lethal; a drug that drives a man mad with one injection; a drug that mimics death. Fortunately, for every drug there is an antidote. The Doctor is "the greatest fungologist the world has known." Madly racist, and entertainingly nutty.

[clif_hiker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I downloaded this free Kindle book to read. Set in early 1900's England, this story introduces Nayland Smith (an adventurer recently returned from the Orient), Dr. Petrie (who plays Watson to Smith's Holmes, and is a bit of a namby-pamby IMO), the beautiful dusky Arabic princess K?raman?h (held as a slave by Fu Manchu... without any visible negative effects of course) and of course, Dr. Fu Manchu, the MOST evil, MOST intelligent, the MOST everything, to ever come out of the Orient. Repeated running from residence to residence, location to location, just misses and encounters with Fu Manchu where he somehow diabolically escapes... it's all great fun... if you like that sort of thing. 3 1/2 stars and hopeful for future installments...

[g026r · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A thinly veiled Sherlock Holmes knock-off combined with a large dose of Yellow Peril. The spectre of individually published stories linked together into a single volume also strikes again, rendering the entire thing heavily episodic in nature.

[delphica · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I remember finding this in a box of musty old paperbacks when I was a kid, and reading it and being completely perplexed and intrigued. It's so wrong on so many levels. Yet, you've got Dr. Petrie prescribing whiskey and soda like it was going out of style. I've got to give some love to a group of characters whose idea of "hurry, we must catch Dr. Fu-Manchu" means that they have to drink their whiskey and soda quickly.

[angharad_reads · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Meh. Bad in the ways I was expecting (overwrought racism, prose, etc.), but I just couldn't find myself caring about the plot (which was awfully episodic). Plot was acceptably outlined. Got some reasonably ridiculous quotes from it. I'd like to see a version that's sympathetic to the title character.