Fu-Manchu: The Mystery of Dr. Fu-ManchuSax Rohmer
Titan Books, February 2012
ISBN: 978-0857686039
London, 1913--the era of Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, and the Invisible Man. A time of shadows, secret societies, and dens filled with opium addicts. Into this world comes the most fantastic emissary of evil society has ever known…Dr. Fu-Manchu.
The first in the Fu-Manchu series.
"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, if you will, of a wealthy government - which, however, already has denied all knowledge of his existence. Imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man." - Sax Rohmer, "The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu" (1913)
The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu - the first in the popular Fu-Manchu mystery series - introduces English sleuth Denis Nayland Smith and his companion, Dr. Petrie, to the satanic Dr. Fu-Manchu, a cunning Chinese criminal mastermind who means to rule the world.
Fu Manchu is a master chemist, and cunning member of the Yellow Peril, “the greatest genius which the powers of evil have put on the earth for centuries”, though his mission is not exactly clear, he appears to be trying to capture and take back to China the best engineers of Europe, for some larger criminal purpose.
As a villain, Fu-Manchu is presented as an almost otherworldly figure. Dr. Fu-Manchu is rarely seen, and mostly felt, throughout the book. He is a master of lores and alchemies that are virtually unknown to Western science. His lethal tools include poisonous insects and fungi, disease, drugs and toxins delivered in a cunning variety of ways.
The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu is completely packed with action and horror from the first page to the last. At nearly every turn, Smith and Petrie find themselves in another terrifying predicament. In the end, horror, action, and mystery are all here in excess supply. Flavorful atmosphere, fast-paced action, and colorful characters enliven this 1913 classic.
SAX ROHMER was the acclaimed author of the Fu Manchu series of novels. The first, The Mystery of Fu Manchu, was published in 1912 with many more following. Rohmer also wrote more traditional detective stories and supernatural horror. He died in London in 1959.
ISBN: 978-0857686039; ISBN10: 0857686038; Imprint: Titan Books; On Sale: 2/14/2012; Format: Paperback; Pages: 256; $9.95
