Emile C. Tepperman (1899–1951)

Kind of like reading a super-hero comic book. Fancy literature this is definitely not. On the other hand, it's not all that bad if all you want is good guys and bad guys shooting each other up, and the good guys winning in the end.

So, somebody is taking over New York City. Several chiefs of police have been murdered or locked up in insane asylums. Ditto a couple of mayors. Thus it become imperative that the Spider, once again patrol the streets and clean things up. The Spider had other ideas, such as marrying his sweetheart and going off on a honeymoon, but eventually the call of duty prevails. So, aided by his trusty "servants" (the Spider was actually a rich guy with servants), a Sikh and a former pugilist (? too lazy to check back), the Spider wipes out the bad guys and restores law and order to NYC. The restoration involves much shooting and mayhem.

FWIW, this book is listed as having zero pages because my ebook was based on a long-lost pulp. So, not being able to cross check the pulp, we're required, I'm told, to say the book has zero length. In reality, it's about 41,000 words, which would work out to something like 120 pp.… (meer)

Classic pulp. Not great, but entertaining enough. Bummer that the rendering into ebook format was so poorly done.

I gather there is a host of pulp books featuring Secret Agent X. This is one of them. "X" is a master of disguise and takes on a number of personna. He can also mimic the looks and mannerisms of known people when necessary. He's also independently wealthy and absolutely abhors criminality and crime. He's dedicated his entire being to erasing crime. He has a network of private detective agencies and agents who do his bidding. None of them knows exactly who he is. He deals, always, in some disguise or another. Something like that.

So, in this book, at the end of a football game between a bunch of collegians and the inmates of a prison, "someone" manages to collect up the 25 most ruthless killers in the prison and carts them off in a truck. They all vanish.

Next thing one knows, there's a host of robberies featuring "robot killers". Sometimes they show up with an ungainly monster. The monster speaks in a metallic voice and has a finger that shoots a stream of gas at people, which upon contact causes the people to be engulfed in flames. The police are, of course flummoxed. People who might have pertinent information get incinerated in spectacular fashion. But, doggedly, Agent X and his minions eventually track the Murder Monster to his lair, eliminate him and disarm all the robot killers so that they can be returned to prison.

… (meer)