Rx: Kill!

The Enforcer is back in CALLING DOCTOR KILL!, the 2nd Lancer paperback by Andrew Sugar, published in 1973. This time, Alex Jason is cloned as a pathologist named Douglas and sent undercover inside a fancy hospital owned by the Syndicate and run by a sinister physician named Guider. Inside the highly guarded D ward, Guider is holding hostage Rosegold, the resident genius at the John Anryn Institute--Jason's bosses--who created the complex formula for keeping minds alive indefinitely inside a series of clone bodies, each of which lasts for no more than ninety days before the mind is transferred to a new body. It's up to Jason to either snap Rosegold out of his trance (self-induced in order to not give Guider any secrets) and get him out of the hospital or kill him to ensure he never talks.

As with the original novel, the science fiction elements are there, but not overpowering, and almost make you believe Jason's exploits are possible. Also like THE ENFORCER, Sugar's series is one of the sleazier men's adventure series, injecting racist dialogue and graphic sex scenes into the chapters and introducing a particularly lurid subplot about the rape of a retarded young boy. With nearly the entire book set inside the hospital, CALLING DOCTOR KILL! runs short on torture and action scenes, saving most of the fun for the last chapter. If you don't mind the often lurid story points and the placid setting, CALLING DOCTOR KILL! is entertaining enough, though a letdown from the jungle adventure of the first Enforcer novel.