The Mantrackers

Author William Mulvihill (1923-2004) was a Cornell graduate that penned a dozen books during his career. Born in New York, Mulvihill joined the Army and acquired the rank of corporal and squad leader during WWII combat at the Battle of the Bulge. After, he settled on Long Island and taught history at Glen Cove High School for 32 years. His emphasis was on African history, stemming from his visits to the continent in the 1960s and 70s. He owned a robust collection of books about Africa and became a scholar and expert on it's natural history. He utilized this passion to fuel his 1960 adventure novel “The Mantrackers”, which later would be re-titled “Serengeti” for the 1995 reprinting. 

The book introduces us to Captain Pfeffer, who on this January day in 1910 is serving the German Imperial Army in Tanganyika. The hotheaded Pfeffer has a dozen years of wartime in Africa, fiercely fighting in Herero, Bushman and Masai on his destiny to become general. He's a young German enigma, captivating military minds with his fighting prowess, grim determination and career mindset. But, on this day things take a drastic turn for Pfeffer. While hunting, a leopard takes him by surprise, severely mauling and disfiguring him before he can be rescued by soldiers. Hinging on life and death, Pfeffer is taken to a hospital for a long rehabilitative stint. Once Pfeffer heals, the German military discharges him from service due to his appalling appearance. Pfeffer, furious with himself, the military and Africa, returns to the bush as a solo hunter, determined to kill every animal on the continent. 

With Pfeffer on a seemingly endless killing tear through African game, the news finds former fighting man John Thrustwood. Thrustwood, along with his friend and servant Chapupa, campaigned as trader, farmer and mercenary for the British Army, serving in the Boer War and later establishing himself as one of Africa's premier hunters. Thrustwood, finding Pfeffer's vendetta and mission unacceptable, vows to track and stop him. Soon, Thrustwood, Chapupa and friend Quinell find and confront Pfeffer in the jungle. After disarming him, they take Pfeffer to African officials who place him on a ship to England. Pfeffer escapes and resumes his bloody tirade through the African countryside. Thrustwood and Chapupa now realize they must hunt and kill Pfeffer to end the carnage.

Mulvihill is an unusual but talented writer. In “The Mantrackers”, his love of history and African landscapes is awe-inspiring. But, his delivery is of one purpose – simply the storyline. The book has a distinct absence of humor, witty dialogue or a focus on character development. Mulvihill is very serious with his presentation, almost scholarly in the telling of the tale. It was an adjustment for me, the avid reader of more vivid displays of bravado, to accept this storytelling early on. But, a fourth of the way in I not only accepted it – I found it to be personally enjoyable. This is a fantastic adventure story that builds to a fiery crescendo. Pfeffer vs Thrustwood/Chapupa is the main event and Mulvihill pulls no punches. For that, I applaud the author and look forward to hunting down more of his works. For now, “The Mantrackers” is a respectable and entertaining read from a unique writer.

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Ian Ludlow #01 - True Fiction

Lee Goldberg began his literary career in 1985 with his '.357 Vigilante' series of men’s adventure novels published under the pen name of Ian Ludlow. (Fun Fact: Goldberg chose the Ludlow name, so the books would be shelved next to Robert Ludlum.) The series lasted four installments and then disappeared without much fanfare. Thirty years later, Goldberg re-released the books under his own name as 'The Jury' series for modern audiences.

Everyone figured that was the last we’d ever hear from Ian Ludlow. Goldberg went on to have a successful career as a television writer and producer for shows including Diagnosis Murder, Psych, and Monk. He continued to write mystery and suspense novels until he struck literary gold by co-authoring a commercially-successful series of humorous mysteries with the already-famous Janet Evanovich.

Understanding this basic bio for Goldberg helps give the reader some context for the literary stunt he pulls in his latest novel, “True Fiction.” The plot is about a thriller author named Ian Ludlow who gets sucked into the kind of save-the-world adventure that the fictional Ludlow writes in his own novels. Goldberg penning an action thriller about an author named Ian Ludlow is like if Stephen King wrote a horror novel about an author named Richard Bachman.

“True Fiction” opens with a horrific terrorist attack in which a commercial jetliner is flown into a high-rise hotel causing mass carnage. The reader quickly learns that the attack was secretly orchestrated by a malevolent corporation named Blackthorn that aspires to be the recipient of a massive outsourcing contract from the CIA in the same manner that the Department of Defense outsourced duties to Blackwater for the Iraq War. Blackthorn sets up some innocent Muslims to take the fall for this 9/11 sequel, and the corporation puts itself in the position to crack the case for the U.S. government while showing off its superior private-sector intelligence abilities.

When we meet our hero, Ian Ludlow is at a sparsely-attended book signing in Seattle where he is promoting his new action novel. We learn that Ludlow writes thrillers in the same vein as the 'Jack Reacher' series, but the nebbish author is no hero himself. For the Seattle leg of his book tour, he is accompanied by an attractive escort (not that kind of escort) named Margo hired by the publisher to shepherd the author from one book signing to another.

When Ludlow learns about the circumstances surrounding the recent air attack on the hotel, he is taken aback because it perfectly mimics a storyline for a terrorist incident that he presented to the CIA at a “what-if” focus group years earlier. Ludlow becomes convinced that the recent mass-causality incident was actually orchestrated by the CIA as a false flag operation and that he is a marked man for knowing this fact.

This kicks off a breakneck exciting “couple on the run” story as Ludlow and Margo avoid assassins from Blackthorn while thinking they are actually being pursued a CIA kill squad. The cat-and-mouse scenes in Seattle were especially gratifying as Goldberg incorporates a lot of unique features of the city into the action.

Fans of men’s adventure paperbacks will find “True Fiction” to be filled with Easter eggs and references to the genre’s greatest hits, including 'The Executioner', 'James Bond', 'The Destroyer', and, if you pay close attention, '.357 Vigilante'. There’s also a fun backstory about Ludlow’s history of writing for crappy TV mystery and cop shows - a plot point that becomes important as the novel progresses - that recalls Goldberg’s own career trajectory. 

At times, it’s hard to figure out where Goldberg ends and Ludlow begins. We have an action-adventure novelist writing about an action-adventure novelist who becomes an action-adventure hero by drawing inspiration from his own action-adventure hero. It’s a house of mirrors, but it’s also a real blast to read. The book is written with real cinematic potential, and you can imagine this being a big-budget, Hollywood summer blockbuster one day

Goldberg toggles from violent, propulsive action into comic relief quite adeptly. “True Fiction” is both exciting and hilarious with no slow parts to weigh it down. The only criticism I can muster involves a scene towards the end of the book involving a car chase that veered too far into slapstick, but it didn’t derail the book for me. The samples of Ludlow’s own writing interspersed throughout the novel serve as a particularly hilarious send-up of the modern state of the action thriller genre.

Throughout the book, Goldberg pokes fun at the tropes and excesses of modern thrillers without ever descending into full farce. “True Fiction” is a successful author’s love letter to a genre he truly adores, and I was excited to see that Ian Ludlow is coming back for a second installment in 2019. In the meantime, be sure to check this one out as it was written just for a guy like you. Highly recommended. 

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Warlock #01 - Autofire Blitz

“Adrenalin pumped through his system as he prepared to lock horns with scumbags who didn't deserve to keep sucking God's good air.”

With that kind of testosterone, Mark Allen's debut 'Warlock' novel, “Autofire Blitz”, is the perfect companion piece to 80s action movies and books. In what he considers an ode to the pop culture that inspired him, Allen created Damien “Warlock” Locke, a bullet spewing vigilante with purpose.

The book begins with a swift flashback to January 17^th, 2011. Locke finds himself an amnesiac left for dead in Afghanistan. With no prior knowledge of his life, or who put the bullet crease in his head, Locke is left with a clean slate on life. He has tattooed names of “Damian Locke” and “Warlock” on his arm...so Locke and Allen are running with that. Experience fighting bad guys? Yeah, Locke has it in spades. He can only guess that he's had explicit training with the Navy Seals or Delta Force, and from the action sequences here...I'd say that skill-set and more.

Fast forward to present day and Locke's current mission – rescue a 10-year old boy from the clutches of a drug cartel. The only problem is that this particular cartel has deep, corrupt ties to the DEA. As Locke hits various pool halls, bars and alleys, the story starts to expand and “flesh” out – meaning long, descriptive explanations of bullets penetrating organs (like when horror authors dish out pink-gray froth for their intended victims). That's really what sets Allen apart from the 80s and early 90s vigilantes. This author is way over-the-top in terms of rapid fire delivery and graphic violence. I can't help but compare it to horror novelists like Edward Lee or Jack Ketchum (and Allen himself dabbles in the horror genre as well). It's expressive...to say the least. Whether you like or dislike that sort of thing is the measuring stick on your entertainment value here. For me personally, I can run with over-the-top if it is fun, senseless and has some boundaries.

“Autofire Blitz” is a fun, compelling and gritty read from an author who is clearly a fan of the action and adventure genre. While Paperback Warrior typically doesn't read or review contemporary (maybe TWO A YEAR), this was an entertaining novella that fueled my desire to check out more of Allen's work. You can find him and his books on his Amazon page.

Ranger Kirk

It’s hard to guess why William Crawford adopted the pseudonym of W.C. Rawford for his 1974 stand-alone western, “Ranger Kirk.” The copyright page says it’s by William Crawford and the book is dedicated to “Robert Gene Crawford, my brother.” Moreover, the pen name of W.C. Rawford isn’t really throwing pseudonym sleuths off the scent. Who was he fooling?

My best theory is that maybe he thought that “Ranger Kirk” was a crappy novel he could unload on Zebra Books - and later Pinnacle Books - without the stench of the paperback following him to his grave. The publication of “Ranger Kirk” also coincided with the debut of his 'Stryker' series, and Pinnacle Books really thought they had a hit on their hands with Stryker (Spoiler: They didn’t). Crawford was also Pinnacle’s choice to replace Don Pendleton as the author of the Mack Bolan series during a time when Pendleton was feuding with his publisher. In fact, Crawford authored The Executioner #16: “Sicilian Slaughter” published under the pseudonym of Jim Peterson, a controversial installment in the iconic series that still has hardcore Pendleton loyalists seeing red.

Whatever the case, I figured I’d give “Ranger Kirk” a fair hearing and see if this good-looking paperback is a lost literary treasure or best-forgotten garbage. The character of Ranger Kirk is Sergeant Tom Kirk, an Old West Texas Ranger with the Frontier Battalion along the Mexican border who approaches his job the way a modern intel officer might. He deploys undercover agents into Mexico to gather information about criminal activity. This clandestine approach to law enforcement makes Kirk an oddity among his colleagues who are more of a shoot first and ask questions later bunch of guys. Moreover, Kirk’s spy operations have been going poorly and three consecutive operatives are slaughtered and mutilated by the enigmatic Mexican crime lord, Tuerto.

As the reader gets to know our hero, we quickly discover that Kirk is a flaming asshole. He’s that friend of yours who starts taking swings at you after he has a few drinks in him. His abhorrent behavior crosses the line one too many times, and he is forced to give up his Ranger badge. This leads to a fairly clever and unexpected series of events that brings Kirk right into the heart of Tuerto’s operational base in Mexico.

When Kirk finally meets Tuerto face-to-face, it’s a surprising encounter. Once again, the author chooses a plot turn quite unexpected and somewhat more satisfying than the typical western showdown the reader expects. Tuerto is a fascinating character, and Crawford should have done more with him. Along the way, there are Indian attacks, a damsel in distress, and the eventual redemption of our hero.

Even with all this, “Ranger Kirk” is a pretty lousy novel. The story never really comes together into anything particularly interesting. The action scenes are poorly-written, and Kirk never turns the corner fully into a likable character. The upside is that it’s a blessedly-short paperback at 160 big-font pages with blank page between each chapter for further padding. In fact, the brevity of the book is the only reason I finished it. Finally, the cover art by George Gross is outstanding, but this paperback isn’t worthy of its own packaging.

Final assessment: Don’t bother.

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Blonde Bait

Ed Lacy was a pen name used by author Leonard S. Zinberg. Lacy wrote over 25 novels between 1951 and 1969. He was credited by creating one of the first African-American detectives – Tony Moore, who debuted in the 1957 novel “Room to Swing”, which also won the Edgar Ward for best novel. “Blonde Bait” was released mid-career in 1959 by Zenith with an alluring premise: “She had to buy protection and her payment was her body”. Okay, I'm in.

The book begins with a troubadour named Mickey reuniting with his old friend Hal in Haiti. Mickey proudly tells Hal of his new lover Rose and his new boat, The Sea Princess. He loves both equally and soon we realize that Mickey and Hal were former business partners. Hal chose married life and quietly settled in New York. Mickey chose freedom – sailing around the Caribbean and up the east coast. Being a lackadaisical sailor costs money, and that's really the central emphasis of the novel. Money. How to get it? What to do with it? Lacy begins to tell this romantic story to us - the curious readers - on how Rose and Mickey became wealthy.

Rose is a tall blonde that is often described as a “big woman” by the author. Mickey finds her washed ashore in the Keys hungry, lonely and desperate. After a few odd conversations between the two, and a rain storm, they become friends. Mickey suspects Rose is carrying emotional baggage – evident from her secrecy regarding a suitcase on board and a book written in French. As the two sail and island hop, engaging in their life stories, we learn that Rose was a down and outer, doing stripping and service work before meeting an elderly French man. He needed her companionship, she needed a consistent residence. While not exactly love, the two made it work until he was murdered. After finding a suitcase in her strip club locker, the police and FBI began harassing her about his death and where the suitcase is hidden. After repeated attempts on her life, she bought a boat and sailed away.

I won't spoil it for you. The suitcase is important, as well as the book. It takes some time and patience on the reader's part to slog through the dialogue between Rose and Mickey. There's a payoff, but the author does a tremendous job staying reserved in his storytelling. Eventually, Mickey finds himself running from the feds and goons as he learns the secret behind Rose's murdered lover. The action takes us from the Keys to Virginia Beach to New York, propelling the narrative with different locations and outcomes for Mickey and Rose's flight. The end result is a really engaging story with enough momentum and intrigue to keep it fresh and entertaining throughout. This was my first Ed Lacy book and I'm already planning which of the author's works to read next.

Rudd #02 - Anything But Saintly

I’ll confess that the cover art by Robert Abbett sucked me into opening the 1963 stand-alone paperback “Anything But Saintly” by Richard Deming. But in my defense, I’ve enjoyed the hell out of the handful of Deming’s novels I’ve read thus far. Deming was an under-appreciated master of crime fiction, and it’s a crime that few people know his work today.

“Anything But Saintly” is narrated by a fundamentally honest vice cop named Matt Rudd (Americanized from his given name of Mateusz Rudowski) who is playing gin with his partner in the squad room one day when a citizen barges in asking, “Is this where you come to report whores?” The citizen is a visitor from Houston who was rolled by a prostitute after consummating the transaction in his hotel room and wants his $500 back.

The investigation of this seemingly simple crime gets materially more complex for Rudd and his partner when they learn the identity of the whore and her pimp. It turns out that the pimp has some pretty heavy political connections, and this is particularly inconvenient for Rudd who is jockeying for a promotion in a town where the police board is politically appointed. “There are certain rackets we overlook because of the political influence of the racketeers”, Rudd explains.

The story takes place in the fictitious city of St. Cecilia, but it’s obvious this is a euphemism for Chicago, and Deming does a nice job of taking the reader into the incestuous alliance between the urban racketeers and the local politicians, a symbiotic relationship that was the real deal in 20th century Chicago.

The cover of the paperback gives away a fairly significant plot point that occurs around the 20% mark, but I won’t spoil it here. Suffice it to say that the stakes in this minor investigation increase markedly as the plot evolves into a murder mystery and the political alliances of the characters shift. This is very smart novel - smarter than it had to be for a cheapo paperback original from this era. The writing is excellent and the characters - particularly the call girls - are vividly drawn. The plot is fast moving and dialogue heavy with a good bit of action and gunplay. The murder mystery also has a nice twist with a satisfying solution.

If you can’t find the 1963 paperback, it’s also available as an eBook in all formats. Whatever the medium, “Anything But Saintly” is another straight-up winner for Richard Deming. Recommended.

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The Executioner #09 - Vegas Vendetta

It was only a matter of time before author Don Pendleton placed his beloved vigilante Mack Bolan into the city of sin. Vegas Vendetta is the ninth entry of The Executioner and was published by Pinnacle in 1971. After what I would consider to be one of the early series standouts, Chicago Wipe-Out, the bar was set rather high for the author to deliver another quality effort. Sadly, this installment is the worst of the series thus far. 

Other than the book's beginning, featuring Bolan in the familiar high ground situation of attack, there's absolutely no action. As I slogged through it, all 180 miserable pages, I found myself consistently checking what was left, measuring the amount of pages, checking page numbers...things no author would ever want to hear about his or her work. But, it's a genuine stinker because there's a skim plot to develop devoid of any interesting characters that would otherwise make the dialogue tolerable. 

Bolan infiltrates the mob after crippling the Talifero branch between Lake Mead and Las Vegas. After a brief reunion with his old ally Carl Lyons, Bolan settles on the strip utilizing the familiar cloak and dagger routine that worked so well in prior entries. There's pages and pages of Bolan ordering around mob goons (as Mr. Vinton), moving money and participating in daily rituals that ultimately just go nowhere. The mob boss here is “Joe the Monster”, whom Bolan wants to cut-off while liberating a comedian named Tommy Anders (who has an awesome commentary on politics and entertainment for a few pages). By book's end...some money changed hands. 

Vegas Vendetta works better than Nyquil. Leave it, skip it and seek out better books.

The Bogus Hijack

In February 2018, Paperback Warrior published a feature article exposing that the author of “The D..C. Man” series of men’s adventure novels, “James P. Cody, ” was actually a former Roman Catholic Priest named Peter T. Rohrbach. There were four D.C. Man books published in 1974 and 1975, and they were thought to be the only genre writing that Rohrbach undertook using the Cody pseudonym before his 2004 death.

However, further investigation revealed that Rohrbach sold a short story called “The Bogus Hijack” that was printed in the December 1970 edition of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine under the Cody pen name. Placing this story into the timeline of his life, Fr. Rohrbach left the priesthood in 1966 and married in September 1970. This story likely would have been his first fiction sale as a married man free from the bonds of the priesthood.

First, some historical context for the short story: Skyjackings were fairly common in 1970 and did not have the dire consequences we associate with a mid-air takeover today. Fifty years ago, it was almost always some goofball looking to go to Cuba with a gaggle of inconvenienced Americans and an expensive jetliner along for the ride.

“The Bogus Hijack” is an enjoyable 14-page story told by an air traveler named Tom embarking on a Florida vacation with his family. At one point during the flight, our protagonist notices a Hispanic man walking closely behind a flight attendant toward the cockpit. After the pair disappears behind the first-class curtain, Tom whispers to his wife that he suspects the plane is about to be hijacked. Sure enough, they are now en route to Havana with little fanfare.

Upon arrival in Cuba, the hijacker is taken away while the passengers - including Tom and his family - are taken off the plane by local authorities and placed in a waiting area. While waiting at the airport, everyone is treated well and allowed to use the bathroom while the plane refuels. Soon thereafter, the passengers are reloaded and on their way to Miami no worse for wear.

However, our hero Tom notices something odd. One of the passengers on the unplanned flight from Havana to Miami isn’t the same person who landed with the other passengers in Havana. Did a switch occur in the airport bathroom to smuggle someone into the U.S.? Was this a real hijacking or a Trojan horse designed to smuggle a spy into America? The suspense later increases when Tom spots the suspicious passenger in Miami and disrupts his family vacation to tail the fellow - much to his wife’s annoyance.

“The Bogus Hijack” was a delightful little story of an everyman who stumbles into a world of intrigue that was clearly written by Rohrbach to be consistent with the Alfred Hitchcock brand. It never appeared in any of the Hitchcock anthologies, so if you want to read it, you’ll need to find it in the original magazine through collector’s channels.

For my part, I was glad to read the story and pass my copy of the magazine along to Rohrbach’s only daughter - now an adult - who was unaware that her dad had sold a story to the digest bearing Hitchcock’s name. I hope she enjoys the story as much as I did. 

Island Feud

Hugh B. Cave was a key contributor to the pulp fiction class of the 1920s and 30s. The British born writer relocated to Boston in his childhood, later penning nearly 800 stories across the genres of western, romance, crime and adventure. Wildside Press launched the debut issue of 'Adventure Tales' in 2005 and featured an interview with Cave as well as two short stories - “Island Feud” and “The Man Who Couldn't Die”.

“Island Feud” was originally published by Argosy Magazine in December of 1953. It begins auspiciously enough in the coastal village of Teala Town. Three men are waiting for the arrival of Matt Martinsen on his ship The Witch. In a flashback sequence we learn that Martinsen has cheated the islanders by purchasing their copra (dried coconut kernels) at a below market price. The island doctor, Harty, is the makeshift governor of the people and proposes that Martinsen will purchase the goods at an elevated and fair cost. Martinsen declares a feud and secretly spreads rumors that Harty is a rapist (and other dastardly things) all over the isles. Circling back to the present day, the trio are seeing Martinsen return to the island. Is he returning to fight Harty? Or, is there something amiss with the crew? Thankfully, all is revealed in this short-story that features a bit of mystery and a decent fight (but I won't say between who for spoilers sake).

Purchase a digital or paper copy of this issue here.

Parker #12 - The Sour Lemon Score

The twelfth installment of Donald Westlake’s 'Parker' series - published in 1969 under the pen-name Richard Stark - is a fantastic hardboiled crime novel with a plot that significantly diverts from the formula of a standard heist story with favorable results.

Unlike previous books in the series, the paperback opens mid-heist with Parker in a four-man crew successfully executing a bank robbery during an armored car delivery. The thieves flee to a hideout to split the cash when a violent double-cross occurs sending the betrayer, George Uhl, into the wind with the stolen loot. Parker survives the ordeal with a new mission: Find Uhl and get back the money.

Stranded with no cash, no car, and no gun, Parker uses his resourceful mind to hunt Uhl up and down the east coast in a multi-state, high-stakes game of cat and mouse. What follows is part treasure hunt, part vendetta tale, and part man-on-the-run story. Parker also leads the reader through a tour of the criminal underworld filled with gun-selling black marketeers, fences for stolen items, duplicitous homosexuals, and an underground banking system where guys like Parker can stash their nest eggs.

“The Sour Lemon Score” is a testament to Westlake’s versatility as a storyteller as the criminally-minded Parker serves as his own private investigator in a missing person case that, if successful, will culminate in the murder of his prey and the re-theft of ill-gotten gains. Westlake’s invention of a subculture where an informal network of professional thieves can be manipulated and leveraged against one of their own is utterly fascinating and filled with colorful characters and great moments.

On the hunt, Parker is perpetually irritated by the exasperating array people he encounters as he chases the leads to locate Uhl. For the most part, Parker lacks the charm, patience, and people skills to engage in the normal slow-dance that brings fictional investigators closer to the truth. However, a manhunt investigation conducted “Parker-style” makes for some exciting reading while turning the traditional P.I. genre novel on its ear.

The ultimate confrontation between Parker and Uhl is incredibly satisfying and fraught with further complications for our anti-hero. “The Sour Lemon Score” is a short book that seems even shorter because the propulsive nature of the events makes it hard to put down. Like all the Parker capers, consider this one required reading for fans of classic men’s adventure and crime fiction. Highest recommendation.

Postscript:

Check out the helpful blog from our friends at www.theviolentworldofparker.us for more in-depth literary analysis of the Richard Stark Universe.

The Gladiator #01 - Hill of the Dead

'The Gladiator' is billed as “In the great tradition of Spartacus!”. It's debut, “Hill of the Dead” was released by Pinnacle in the US in December of 1975. The author's name of Andrew Quiller is a pseudonym utilized by writers Kenneth Bulmer, Laurence James and Angus Wells. It's tied to the American series called 'The Gladiator', but also to the European version deemed “The Eagles”. It's a five-book run that's supposedly penned completely by Bulmer (or at least the first three). 

The book's beginning is actually the ending. The reader is placed in a Roman Colosseum circa 75 a.d. A notorious gladiator named Vulpus the Fox is doing battle with a unnamed prisoner to the delight and roar of the crowd. As Vulpus is about to strike the bloody death blow...he hesitates. The combatant advises Vulpus, “Aye. It is Samuel ben Ezra. No ghost. Come brother, strike. I have had enough of debts”. And with that intriguing statement, Vulpus, Samuel and the reader go back in time to learn the history of both fighters and what events led to this battle.

Vulpus is actually Marcus Julius Britannicus, a young Roman soldier in the Tenth Legion. He was awarded the service by his father, Flavius Silva. Marcus' father is now dead and Marcus is committed to the Roman Army and to rising in the ranks of leadership. The legion is to wipe out the remaining Jewish forces in Jerusalem. The last fortress standing is Masada, fifty miles southeast of Jerusalem overlooking the Dead Sea. It's 1000 feet up and defended by the Zealots. Marcus, anticipating a strike on the fortress in the coming days, visits a Jewish whorehouse prior to battle. While in the act, Jewish troops descend on the building in an attempt to destroy Marcus and the Roman soldiers. Samuel ben Ezra, showing mercy on his soon-to-be attacker, allows Marcus to escape through a window. The two become friends and Marcus swears a debt to Samuel for saving his life. 

Later, Marcus is in charge of the first assault on Masada but is torn between annihilation of the Zealots (including Samuel) or an escape plan for Samuel and his sister to flee before the battle begins. The novel really comes alive in this finale, ripe with both action, intrigue and anticipation of the inevitable Marcus/Samuel showdown. The novel ends where it began and the reader is left with a cliffhanger. Hopefully, it continues this story-line in the second book “The Land of Mist”. 

Overall, Marcus is a worthy protagonist and a character with many different dynamics. His youth, experience and skills are central to the book's strengths. While emotional, the author incorporates many battle sequences featuring a sole Marcus or as a legion featuring the character. There's a love interest, the blood debt and the history of both Marcus and Samuel for the reader to absorb (or in my case devour). At just 162-pages and large print, this is an easy one day read that will leave you scanning auction and used store sites for the second entry. 

Hostage for a Hood

“Hostage for a Hood” was a 1957 paperback by under-appreciated crime novelist Lionel White who specialized in fantastic heist and caper stories. The book has been reprinted for 21st century readers by Stark House as a double along with White’s “The Merriweather File” from 1959 and an introduction by Brian Greene.

“Hostage for a Hood” opens with a simple car accident - a bit more than just a fender-bender - in the suburban community of Brookside. The accident involves doting housewife Joyce Sherwood (and her poodle) striking a car containing Harry Cribbins and Karl Mitty (dressed as policemen) who are en route to meet others for their meticulously-planned armored car robbery. The tension of heist day is compounded by the accident, and the crooks kidnap Joyce to ensure that their robbery happens on the required timetable.

White employs a clever “time jumping” style in this one - like Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” - where the events of the novel aren’t always portrayed in exact chronological order. There’s also a good bit of third-person perspective jumping as well. It’s an effective storytelling trick that keeps the reader hungry to learn what brought the characters this far. White was an immensely talented writer, so the narrative is never confusing, and readers won’t be lost along the way. The story ping-pongs from the planning of the heist, to the missing person’s investigation, to the robbery’s aftermath where the thieves find themselves with an attractive, yet unexpected, guest for their getaway.

Cribbins and Mitty are colorful and well-drawn hoodlums. Cribbins is a criminal mastermind of sorts (think Richard Stark’s Parker), and Mitty is his hulking, dimwit sidekick. A handful of secondary characters - some important, others not - round out the robbery crew for this well-orchestrated caper. Through White’s adept perspective changes, the reader is also treated to an excellent police procedural story, as well as the tale of Joyce’s husband searching for his missing bride. I found the scenes with the police and the husband piecing the puzzle together to be among the most satisfying of the novel.

The tension of the story increases the longer the holdup crew occupies the safe house with their hostage. All this is builds to a violent conclusion, and the resolution is handled perfectly. It’s hard to read Lionel White without comparing his work to Richard Stark, and “Hostage for a Hood” can hang with the best of the heist sub-genre. Highly recommended.

Killsquad #02 - Mission Revenge

Along with plenty of Bolan affiliated action, Dan Schmidt wrote two military team-based series' – 'Eagle Force' and this one, 'Killsquad'. It launched in 1986 with the debut “Counter Attack”, eventually running through nine total installments on the Avon publishing label. This novel, “Mission Revenge”, is the second of the series picking up just 18 days since the events of “Counter Attack”.

The Hangman John Smith is recuperating with his half-dozen killers after the shake-downs in Algeria and Syria. While the World Strike Force is running the show, Killsquad is ultimately a trickle down effect with Smith commanding his team. As the series promises, we know “Mission Revenge” is just another assignment for Killsquad. The reader wants fireworks and Schmidt concocts a familiar story to set the tone.

Eli St. Judas is called The Preacher. He's a TV evangelist taking money from the poor and gullible and building his New Order Church regime in West Virginia. Coincidentally, this same set-up was used by Rich Rainey for his “The Protector #2: The Porn Tapes” using a vile character named The Reverend. Or by Norman Winski for his “Hitman #3: Nevada Nightmare”. Turns out placing a crooked, perverted preacher on the pulpit is a sermon action-adventure readers love to hear. The Preacher has built a mountain fortress in West Virginia and hired an ex-Green Beret team called Charlie Company to protect it (similar to Schmidt's use of Eagle Force vs Phantom Plague in “Eagle Force #3: Flight 666”). We know Charlie Company is going to fight Killsquad...but how much of The Reverend plowing his Queen from behind do we need before we get to the inevitable confrontation? Sadly, this one takes a great deal of patience.

Sometimes this author swings for the fences and lands the perfect combination of action and dialogue. With “Mission Revenge” it just all falls flat. There's a side-story of Russian soldiers being kidnapped and held for ransom...but by this point no one cares. Sure, it is Killsquad invading the religious compound to capture The Preacher but it's just a failed plot that's redundant and more convoluted than its own good. It's a hard pass from me. I carried that cross so you wouldn't have to. 'Killsquad' may not get a resurrection from me anytime soon. Stay away!

Hell Hath No Fury

In 1953, Fawcett Gold Medal released Charles Williams’ fourth published novel, Hell Hath No Fury. It was later reprinted several times under the alternative title of The Hot Spot, and under that name, it was adapted into a 1990 movie starring Don Johnson and directed by Dennis Hopper.

Our narrator is Harry Madox, the new-in-town, amoral car salesman who observes some odd behavior from the sexy 21 year-old girl in the dealership’s collection’s department. On the same day, he also notices an appalling lack of security at the small town’s local bank. And then there’s the matter of his boss’ voluptuous wife with her lusty eyes trained on Harry.

These three story threads (the girl, the bank, the boss’ wife) are all swirling around Harry’s head when he begins planning a bank heist. As a certified expert in crime fiction bank jobs, I give his plan, execution, and post-robbery actions a solid B+. The complications that arise thereafter are due to minor flaws in the planning amplified by drama with the two women in his life.

Williams’ writing is always top-notch and this is no exception. The prose is crisp, conversational and hardboiled. When one character tells another that he sticks out “like a cooch dancer at a funeral,” you know that you’re in literary good hands. The plot twists and turns were crafted by a master of noir who knows how to reveal great surprises along the way to the conclusion.

It’s hard to believe that Williams only authored 22 novels in his 24-year writing career before his 1975 suicide. His impact on the noir genre really can’t be minimized, and Hell Hath No Fury is a superb example of his early suspense work before he shifted gears to maritime-themed suspense books. Highly recommended.

Little Saigon #01 - Abel's War

Author Nicholas Cain is a former US Army MP, sergeant and Vietnam Vet. After penning his experiences for the manuscript “Saigon Alley”, he was later rejected by publishers and convinced by Zebra to convert it to a series entitled 'Saigon Commandos', which ran 12 total books. Cain wrote the 'War Dogs' series as Nik Uhernik, eight entries of 'Chopper-1” as Jack Hawkins as well as writing three novels for 'Able Team' as Dick Stivers. In 1989, the 'Little Saigon' series debut, “Abel's War”, was launched by Lynx Books. It was the first of six novels starring Police Lieutenant Luke Abel, a former MP and Vietnam War vet. The character parallels the author's own life, but is it worth reading? Sadly...it's hit or miss.

Protagonist Luke Abel worked seven years in Old Saigon, three in Santa Ana and another ten years for the L.A.P.D. The book's beginning has Abel working for an elite Department of Justice arm called M.A.G. (Metro Asian Gang) task force. The traditional territorial boundaries between police and Sheriff's departments in the L.A. metropolitan area are largely ignored by M.A.G. The officers selected for this division are skilled veterans approved by the Justice Department and given free reign to conduct investigations as detectives. The book's premise is the rivalry between Chinese and Vietnamese gangs in Little Saigon as the Tet Lunar New Year festivities approach.

This debut plays out like a weird episode of 'ChiPS'. There's talk of the rivalry and a few centralized run-ins with a gang leader, but overall it is just a series of daily procedures in the life of a M.A.G. Officer. None of it is really that interesting and it has taken nearly 2 weeks to complete all 214 pages. It's a bit cumbersome with a lot of flashback sequences revealing Abel's MP work in Vietnam and his unfortunate separation from Xinh, the love of his life. I'm hesitant to agree with the book's title as there really isn't an “Abel's War” to be found here. It's just a standardized police procedural that sort of mucks along. Depending on how much you like the police sub-genre is the gauge on “Abel's War” entertaining you. 

I'll pass on the next volume but I'm giving a tip of the hat to Nicholas Cain. His volunteer service time in Vietnam (despite a high draft number) and as a Colorado state trooper is commendable. In 1990 he stopped writing to concentrate on private investigation.

Parker #09 - The Rare Coin Score

Extensive polling of Men’s Adventure Fiction fans has firmly established that the Parker series of heist novels by Donald Westlake (writing as Richard Stark) is the most popular series of all time. The ninth book in the series, “The Rare Coin Score”, is a great example of why this is the case. 

This 1967 installment finds Parker set for money but restless and bored. He’s running through loose and disposable women like old Kleenex while he awaits an invitation from his broker to join a promising heist crew for a good score. Instead, he meets Billy. 

Billy is an amateur and a fool putting together a crew of professionals to knock over a rare coin convention in Indianapolis. It’s a challenging heist because the convention will be in a hotel guarded by Pinkerton men. Moreover, collectible coins are hard to steal because they require the thieves to be able to distinguish the valuable ones from the dead weight. And then you’ll need to fence the coins with someone who will give fair value for the plunder. Despite his legion of shortcomings, Billy knows coins has the hookup for the fence, so Parker and other pros go forward with the planning despite their misgivings about the guy.

“The Rare Coin Score” is also the Parker novel where our hero meets Claire, the woman who becomes a significant figure in Parker’s life for the remainder of the series. Parker’s interest in Claire provides the tension of the novel because Billy has his eyes on her as well. Can everyone just set aside their pettiness, puppy love, and jealousy to rob a coin convention like professionals?

It’s not too much of a spoiler to tell you that the heist goes sideways. The Parker novels generally follow the same narrative structure in that most of the novel is told in third-person narration from Parker’s perspective. However, there’s always a section that puts the reader into the head of the other characters leading up to the heist before returning to Parker for the action-packed conclusion. It’s this insight into the secondary players that always reveals the egos, spite, and hidden agendas that ultimately undermine the smooth success of the job. Westlake was an amazing writer, and this literary revelation trick never fails to deliver excitement.

Some Parker paperbacks need to be read in specific order (the first three, for example) and others stand alone nicely. “The Rare Coin Score” is one of the better books in the series that does not require any historical knowledge of previous books. It’s a great origin story for Parker’s girl, and a damn fine heist novel by the master of the genre. Highly recommended.

Hardman #01 - Atlanta Deathwatch

Atlanta native and author Ralph Dennis launched the 'Hardman' series in 1974 for Popular Library. The debut, “Atlanta Deathwatch”, introduces us to the series hardmen, the aptly titled Jim Hardman and his African-American “protector” in Hump Evans. The series ran 12 volumes, finishing with “The Buy Back Blues” in 1977. In December 2018, Lee Goldberg’s Brash Books imprint will reprint these classics starting with the debut: https://bit.ly/2C4BASi

While certainly dressing the part as the typical 1970s armed-action fare, this debut showcases a much deeper narrative that doesn't quite match the stereotypical cover. Sure, the book has the #1 plastered on the jacket, complete with a painting of guns, car chases and a female hostage, but under all that, I would theorize that these books were planned as stand alone mystery novels that happened to feature the same sleuths. With the popularity of 'The Executioner', I'm sure the publisher rode the marketing wave and presented this as another men's adventure series instead of the straightforward mystery that truth-in-advertising ethics would dictate. 

Jim Hardman was an Atlanta detective who lost his gig when his girlfriend Marcy fingered him as an accomplice for her crooked employer. Now, Hardman is an out of shape, financially-strapped everyman taking odd jobs for cash. With a bit of anti-hero flavoring, Dennis has Hardman running drugs up to New York for cash while taking “private eye” type jobs to pay the rent. 

Accompanying him is Hump Evans, an ex-NFL player who hit hard times and is in financial dire straits himself. Evans is the enforcer, often playing strongman to protect Hardman from the inherent danger of these odd jobs. For 1970s Atlanta, there is plenty of racial tension that spills over into the investigations. Often, Hardman is canvassing black bars and needs Evans front and center. Other times, it's Evans as the minority in the all-white bars probing bit characters for info. So, what exactly is this Atlanta Deathwatch? Well, that part of it is fairly complex.

Hardman takes on a small job watching Georgia Tech student Emily Campbell's activities. Her father is concerned with her well-being and poor academics and pays Hardman to play spectator. It seems innocent enough until Emily winds up dead in the backseat of a car. Before Hardman can even begin piecing together clues, he's forced into a job by a black crimelord simply called The Man. This mysterious criminal was Emily's lover and he's paying Hardman and Evans to locate her killer. Along the way, they run into Emily's former lover along with more criminals associated with The Man. Emily's father, ex-lovers and politicians are all suspects, but as the clues pile up...so do the bodies.

Ralph Dennis has a real passion for the mystery genre and

'Hardman' possesses all of the key elements that make up the genre – plenty of suspects, a riveting whodunit question, strong characters and enough momentum to keep the reader second-guessing the prior clue's validity. What really sets these characters apart from the jacket's misconception is just how average they are. In one hilarious scene, Hardman is attacked by two enforcers in a car. It's written in the first person and our protagonist reminds us that in these unfortunate situations, the only thing he can do is fart while vomiting all over himself. 

Hardman is a poor lady's man – losing Marcy and then somehow gaining her affection/sympathy again. There's not even big guns, knives or fists here. Hardman carries a .38 revolver, and former star athlete Evans is a shotgun man. In fact, the author could have easily ran with Evans being the stereotypical 70s black guy. However, Evans isn't conveyed that way to the reader. I kept thinking of an O.J. Simpson sort of character...”gray” in a time when black and white were clearly defined. 

Some have compared the Hardman series to both Robert B. Parker's 'Spenser' as well as Mickey Spillane's hard-boiled 'Mike Hammer'. Regardless of influence, Ralph Dennis clearly has a lot of talent and provides the reader with an enjoyable mystery novel that finishes with a bang. I'm already on the lookout for book two.

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Run, Brother, Run!

Between 1947 and 1966, Thomas B. Dewey wrote dozens of hardboiled mystery novels - most of which featured successful P.I. series characters, Pete Schofield and Mac. He also wrote a couple stand-alone crime novels under the pseudonym “Tom Brandt,” including 1954’s “Run, Brother, Run!” The original 25 cent paperback may be hard to find, but Wildside Press now has it available as an eBook for a buck and a paperback reprint for a ten-spot.

As the novel opens, Jim Stuart is a financially-struggling Chicago private investigator working undercover in a prison as an inmate for an insurance industry client. He’s monitoring the activities of a prolific jewel thief named Big John Halloran, whose latest heist landed Big John in prison but failed to recover any of the valuable jewels he stole. As such, the insurance company hired Jim to pose as an inmate in hopes that Big John would provide a clue leading to the recovery of the stolen jewels.

Jim’s inmate cover is that of a bank robber, and this attracts Big John’s attention. Things get complicated when Big John hatches a prison break plan with his crime partner that relies on Jim’s participation. Killing a prison guard would create unwanted collateral damage in the undercover assignment, but escaping with Big John might lead Jim to the hidden jewels.

The prison break and getaway occur fairly early in the novel, so a sizable segment of the fast-moving book’s first half occurs while the crew is hiding out in Big John’s secluded mountain lodge. Big John imports a group of girls to entertain the escapees with bawdy songs, striptease acts, and sex. This creates a dilemma for Jim as one of the girls knew him years ago in Chicago under his real name. Will she remember him, alert Big John, and blow the assignment? And then how can he ensure her silence?

Eventually, Big John invites Jim to participate in a heist that a repugnant criminal associate has planned. Although this goes beyond the scope of Jim’s undercover assignment, he agrees in hopes that his involvement and proximity to Big John may lead him to the jewels and the successful completion of this assignment.

The plot twists and turns in some interesting ways, and to the novel’s credit, I was never really sure where it was headed. Dewey’s writing is superb, and Jim’s undercover high-wire act is perpetually nerve-wracking for the reader to experience through the first-person narration of the protagonist. Finally the ending was sufficiently bloody and violent to please the action junkies along for this ride. Overall, a solid crime novel from a reliable author in classic era. Recommended.

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The Face of the 80s: A Paperback Warrior Unmasking

It's hard not to find model Steve Holland's likeness when browsing the 50s, 60s and 70s Men's Adventure line. The American actor portrayed the iconic Flash Gordon in 1954, appearing in 39 episodes. Switching from actor to male model, he appeared in several comics released by Fawcett and Gold Key as well as manly magazines like 'Men' and 'Man's Story'. Holland's biggest contribution was the paperback action genre, with his likeness adorning covers for 'The Executioner', 'The Man from O.R.G.Y.', and 'Jason Striker'. His most renowned work is modeling as “The Man of Bronze”, the pulp fiction hero 'Doc Savage' for Bantam's paperback reissues. 

Holland's face can be found on countless comics, magazines and books, but when the 80s hit, was there a new version of Steve Holland? In 1985, New York model Jason Savas originally posed as 'M.I.A. Hunter' Mark Stone for the publisher Jove. The curly black hair, smooth shave, Bruce Wayne chin and high cheekbones was the perfect image of the 80s self-reliant hero. Vigorous, bold and exhibiting droves of masculinity, action readers needed this bravado to match the bullets. Savas was that guy, and his likeness adorns a majority of Stephen Mertz's 16-book series. 

Savas was an extremely popular model for cover artists to use throughout the 80s and early 90s. In fact, in the late 80s it is hard to find an action series that doesn't feature a painting of Savas, geared in fatigues and headband with the always present CAR-15. He's always grinding his teeth, ready for battle and exhibiting the internal fortitude to fight your fight. It wasn't always in Southeast Asia or Colombia against drug cartels and communists. No, you could find Savas riding the range (Louis L'Amour), six-shooter in hand with a Winchester in the scabbard. He was there as a street savvy vigilante (Avenger), an ex-CIA mercenary (Eagle Force), a doomsday warrior (Out of the Ashes) or the Vietnam grunt (Vietnam: Ground Zero). Savas knows more about our genre than we do. So much that he wrote his own action novel in 1999. "The Messenger" features a Gulf War veteran working as a bike messenger and fighting crime in New York City.

How Savas was able to become the face of the 80s is anyone's guess. Unfortunately, this Paperback Investigation hit a cold trail. We can't locate an address or anyone who is familiar with his whereabouts. If you or someone you know has a contact, send them our way. In the meantime, we have tons of paperbacks to remind us that Savas is Mark Stone, Matt Hawke, Ben Raines...and you and I.

Parker #05 - The Score

“The Score” by Richard Stark (a pseudonym of Donald Westlake) was the 1964 entry in the series starring the gruff and businesslike thief known only as Parker. The novel was later released under the name “Killtown,” and in the book’s opening scene, Parker kills a man with his bare hands while walking down a New Jersey street. This sets the tone for both Parker as a no-nonsense character and the events that follow.

He’s in New Jersey to be pitched a plan for an audacious and complex heist promised to bring in $250,000. The idea is to take over an entire desolate North Dakota town and steal everything - the bank vault contents, loan company cash, the jewelry stores, and the payroll of the local mining company. To pull this off, a lot of good men will be needed for the job. The problem: the guy who identified the target and assembled the initial team is an amateur with unknown motives. Can he be trusted?

Parker devises a plan that would rely on 12 men working in concert over one night to paralyze the town and make off with the loot. The dozen trusted thieves assembled for the job are a wonderful cast of characters - especially when they are chewing the fat about their chosen profession. One conversation about the importance of paying income taxes on ill-gotten gains was particularly hilarious and insightful.

“The Score” also features the first appearance of Alan Grofield, the summer stock actor who finances his dramatic pursuits by pulling heists. Grofield serves as the comic relief in this novel, and the reader is treated to his origin story. He reappears in later Parker installments and even had a four-book spin-off series of his own. In this one, Grofield makes some problematic choices along the way that compromise the success of the mission, and the reader learns a lot about him as a person. 

“The Score” is structured pretty much like other Parker heist novels: Recruitment, Planning, Execution, Getaway, Resolution. Part Three of the story places the reader in the narrative heads of characters other than Parker, and this was especially fascinating because of the intricacy involved with the moving parts of a 12-man crew. The weaving of the female characters into the story arc was particularly well done and served to humanize the hardboiled guys in the story.

A heist novel without bumps in the road would be tiresome, and some curve-ball compilations arise in “The Score.” I won’t give them away here other than to say that the problems that manifest themselves in this one were my favorite parts of the story and elevate this paperback among its genre cohorts.

Although this was the fifth entry in the Parker series, it stands alone nicely as a self-contained novel without reliance on prior installments. It’s a fairly perfect series, and pitting one installment against another is a fool’s errand - you might as well read them all. In any case, suffice it to say that “The Score” is absolutely essential reading for hardboiled fiction fans. Highest recommendation.

Postscript:

Fans of the Richard Stark books would be well-served to visit the fan site “The Violent World of Parker” which dissects his work with an impressive academic rigor.

The website is: www.violentworldofparker.us 

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