The Lost Oasis
(Monk, Ham, Renny, Long Tom, Johnny) (New York, Maine, The Aeromunde, the Sahara Desert)
Original Publishing date 9/1933
Publishing Order #7 Bantam #6
Cover Artist : Most likely Doug Rosa with one person attributing it to Keith Wilson

No fancy poetic introduction by me this this time, just a straight jump into the story. A little departure from the Dent’s earlier formula of having 3 settings of action in this tale we get 4 settings. In this tale we get the Doc of my remembrance, the competent, one step ahead of the bad guy action hero. Doc demonstrates that code against deliberately killing except at the very end. Although you could argue that the villains brought on their own demise. This story feels like it is all Doc but I realize Renny gets a little bit of the limelight moving the adventure along. In retrospect the second half of the story is Doc focused but each aide contributes to the overall adventure.
This was one of the first Doc Savage stories I read probably right after I read Land of Terror. At the time I was disappointed since Lost Oasis felt like it should have some dinosaurs or desert marauders in it. I was also 12 at the time. Reading it almost 50 years later, I find it to be a favorite. The action is well paced, Doc is the competent chess master planning for all contingencies as he moves forward. When a glitch happens, he has plan B ready. Being a science teacher, I did find some flaws in the ecology of the Lost Oasis but chalk it up to the fact that Dent is writing in the 1930’s. Biodiversity and ecological interdependence weren’t in the course of study at the time.
My one complaint would be the deviation from the original magazine cover design to the Bantam cover by Keith Wilson.
Spoiler Alert Dent sets up a mystery creature and without some zoological knowledge the mystery works. The Bantam cover gives the mystery away although Dent does give enough hints that if you have studied animals you can figure it out long before the big reveal.
For me this is the quintessential Doc Savage adventure, quick action, modern for the time technology, exotice locale and crafty villains. Not a bad place to get the feel for a good Doc Savage story. ( )