The British Empire had better be on its toes tonight!
From 1913, this was the first in the Fu Manchu books and it's hard now to recapture just how frightening and exciting it must have been to readers who hadn't seen its like before. First appearing as a series of short stories in COLLIERS, the book was only slightly rewritten to provide a few transitions, which gives it a distinctive rhythmn. Every twenty pages, a murderous attack by Fu Manchu is narrowly foiled or (more often) claims a hapless victim, and the next chapter starts it up again. The ending is a bit weak and unsatisfying, obviously allowing for a sequel, but aside from that, these stories are immensely satisfying and still pack a jolt.
Although he later developed into a mastermind leading a worldwide cult (James Bond villains owe a lot to him), Fu Manchu here is a straightforward assassin. His mission in England is "To pave the way!",
eliminating any men who had learned of the new China's plan to conquer the world. It's usual to dismiss "the Yellow Peril" as mindless racism, but in 1913, events were a bit alarming. The ancient Manchu dynasty had been overthrown, an uncertain republic established, and Chinese warlords were rampaging for control. In a world dominated by empires, the idea that the largest and most populous country in the world would now set out to overthrow the Europeans seemed very believable. When THE
INSIDIOUS DR FU MANCHU was first published, it must have seemed as terrifying as the headlines. (Of course, twenty years later, it turned out to be a different Asian nation that set out on empire-building...)
Fu Manchu himself is at his most bloodthirsty and maniacal here ("They die like flies!...and I am the god of destruction!"), leering wickedly at his victims and choosing the most bizarre and unsettling
methods of assassination imaginable. Denis Nayland Smith, a Burmese police commissioner drafted against his will to combat this menace, is visibly frightened and unsure of himself (a far cry from the confident, heroic figure of the later books). And yet, almost from their first face-to-face encounter, these two enemies begin to show that grudging respect that will last for decades. There is that emphasis on honor and keeping one's word that marks both these men.
There is also some discussion as to just who Fu Manchu really was. Petrie thinks he was leader of a third party, apart from the Manchus themselves and the Republicans, working for their own benefit. I
wonder if this name was chosen by its bearer to mean "Manchu Champion" or "Manchu Successor"-- sort of like "Captain America"? We're never told Fu Manchu's real name, nor that of his daughter, Fah Lo Suee.
(In TEN YEARS BEYOND BAKER STREET, Cay van Ash tells us it's a war name that means "the Warlike Manchu.")
One element that sets Sax Rohmer's books apart from most pulp thrillers is the strong romantic undertones. Not that there's any actual sex implied, but the attraction between the sexes is a vivid, compelling force that drives a lot of the narrative. Although Dr Petrie keeps telling us he's a staid, unemotional English physician, once he sees the gorgeous Egyptian woman Karamaneh, he's as smitten as a junior high student gazing at that girl at the next desk. The fact that she's Fu Manchu's unwilling slave and also immediately falls passionately in love with Petrie sets up that characteristic tangle of loyalties and conflicts Sax Rohmer always returned to.
There's some pretty heated moments here as Dr Petrie has to deal with this exotic beauty pleading with him, "...if you will carry me off so that I am helpless, lock me up so that I cannot escape, beat me if you like, I will tell you all that I do know." Whew! I bet Petrie broke out in a sweat just thinking about it.
Something that puzzled me throughout the series was why a mega-genius like Fu Manchu had such a high regard for a rather ordinary doctor like Petrie. Here we see Karamaneh sneak a sample of the Golden
Elixir (which restores the Devil's Doctor's comatose victims to life) to Petrie-- and Fu Manchu thinks Petrie has figured out how to make the elixir and wants to keep this genius on his Council. I personally think this is hilarious.