Category: Review

Review: Defcon One

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Defcon One

Joe Weber’s Defcon One is a late Cold War technothriller with one unintentionally prescient scene and a lot of iffy clunkiness.

Who and What

This is a very stock technothriller. It’s also a very boring techno-“thriller”. Which is a shame because its nuclear “almost-war” could have been better in defter hands. Instead it has supervillain Soviets and makes what should have been a second Cuban Missile Crisis look very boring. It’s technically competent, but also dull and feels from start to finish like it’s just going through the motions of what a technothriller is supposed to be. “Superweapons. Check. Action. Check. Conference Rooms. Check. Lots of Viewpoint Characters [who aren’t developed even by genre standards]. Check.”

The creepy and unintentionally prescient scene is having the Space Shuttle Columbia get damaged in space and then be destroyed during reentry. The book was published in 1989, 14 years before that happened in real life.

DEEP HISTORY OF TEM

Not only are there lots of infodumps in Defcon One, but they feel sort of-forced. Like it’s “I have to describe what this aircraft engine is”. Weber is a former Marine aviator, but at least in this book he fell too often into the trap of “I know the exact designation of a Scud TEL, and I’ll share it” that some writers with genuine expertise fall into.

Zombie Sorceresses

Let’s see, the initial push, the too-neat final resolution of this (even Arc Light did better), and the general “supervillain Soviet” trend. A goofier premise might have helped it along.

Tank Booms

There’s some fighting at sea, having spies run around in the USSR, and having the occasional superweapon-beam destroy a space shuttle. The action describes the biggest problem that DefCon One has-it’s too exaggerated to be a good grounded highbrow story, but too tame to be a good cheap thriller.

The Only Score That Really Matters

Defcon One is well-put together, especially for the first novel that it was. I just found it dull and kind of an “IKEA Technothriller”. It has the contrivances and structure of a technothriller, but surprisingly few actual thrills.

 

Review: Created The Destroyer

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Created: The Destroyer

The Remo Williams Destroyer series has been one of the biggest “rivals” to Mack Bolan, starting with 1971’s Created: The Destroyer, and continuing for a massive number of books. I figured that, like with Mack Bolan, I’d start at the beginning.

Who and What

Police officer Remo Williams is saved from death row by secret agents, trained under a martial arts master, and then seduces a woman to stop her criminal father. It’s that kind of book.

DEEP HISTORY OF TEM

The prose in this book is very, very purple. It’s purpler than a king’s wardrobe. Thankfully, while it’s overwrought and ridiculous, it doesn’t get in the way of a smooth read.

Zombie Sorceresses

You know, I just felt I had to put the word “EVERYTHING” in this section. It’s that kind of book. And that kind of series.

Tank Booms

The action suffers from a bit of the same overwroughtness as the prose, but it’s still very good. The series is a martial arts one, which is a fun change of pace from some of the gunpowder-filled cheap thrillers I’ve read before.

The Only Score That Really Matters

This book is unfortunately a product of its time and has some uncomfortable racial stereotypes and slurs. Beyond that, it’s a raucous, goofy cheap thriller, and I could see why it spawned the mega-series it did.

Review: Invasion USSR

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Invasion USSR

A later book in Stephen Mertz’s “MIA Hunter” series, Invasion USSR features Mark Stone and his ‘crew’ doing something that’s long been the bane of megalomaniac tyrants-invading Russia. I liked it.

Who and What

An American journalist in Moscow has been kidnapped by the Soviets. Are Mark Stone and friends bad enough dudes to rescue the journalist? That’s pretty much the entire plot of the book.

The characters are basic cheap thriller stock. The only protagonist who stands out is not Stone himself, but vulgar Texan Hog Wiley.

DEEP HISTORY OF TEM

This is also lightweight, and not very infodumpy by the standards of the genre. Even if the choice of cars (if nothing else) seemed rather questionable for something that’s mostly taking place in Moscow. And Hinds having “40 mm” cannon.

Zombie Sorceresses

The zombie sorceresses have to let three foreigners run loose and rampant through the Soviet Union without attracting the entire MVD. They accomplish this unforgiving task.

Tank Booms

Let’s see, there’s the heroes having women flash the guards to distract them while they shoot, there’s escaping a helicopter-borne battalion, there’s nonchalantly shooting down helicopters, and so on. It’s very 80s action movie.

But it’s done well for an 80s action story. The sense of tension and feeling is there, and there’s just enough danger to make the heroes look not totally unstoppable.

The Only Score That Really Matters

As far as low-cost cheap thrillers go, you can do a lot worse than MIA Hunter: Invasion USSR.

Unstructured Review: X-Wing Series

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As a kid, I inherited (and read) a lot of my family’s old Star Wars novels. The most relevant to Fuldapocalypse and most fun are the X-Wing novels by Michael A. Stackpole and the late Aaron Allston. For books that are both movie tie-ins and video game tie-ins at the same time, they’re actually really good.

Especially Allston’s. The Wraith Squadron series are a combination Dirty Dozen and fighter story (and yes, fighter pilots somehow turn into effective commando-spies. But this is Star Wars), and manage a degree of emotional height (Allston’s not afraid to kill off developed sympathetic characters) and comedy (such as someone having to fly into battle with a giant stuffed Ewok in his lap-long story) without feeling jarring at all.

Stackpole’s books are more formulaic, less daring, and he has the tendency to take game mechanics a little too literally, but they’re still solid and still better-scaled than a lot of the other Star Wars books of the time period (which have all the antagonist problems of 1990s technothrillers and then some).

Technothriller authors could do worse than read these. They’re good examples of how you can manage a decent-sized cast and medium-scope story, and they’re fun.

 

Review: DC Firestrike

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Cody’s Army: DC Firestrike

Picking out cheap thrillers that would stand out from the pack is tricky. When I looked for examples of a second-tier 1980s action series called “Cody’s Army”, I deliberately aimed at the book with the most ridiculous setup (this is not a new activity on my part). Shooting terrorists in _____? Boring. Been there, done that. Shooting terrorists who’ve stormed DC and kidnapped a president? Now that’s something.

So DC Firestrike it was.

Who and What

So, the book stars action hero John Cody and his band of super-commandos, none of whom are that interesting. Opposing them are supervillain Libyans and their local gangster allies, who are only interesting in terms of being cringeworthy. Most of the book is flopping around in a disjointed plot and the actual kidnapping of the president doesn’t take place until over halfway through. I wondered if this was the setup for some kind of cliffhanger, but no, it’s over in a rushed finale.

DEEP HISTORY OF TEM

By the standards of 80s action novels, this is surprisingly infodump-free, at least concerning the descriptions of firearms. I think one of the few things that irritated me was how the author flipped back and forth between “magazine” and “clip” with no consistency.

Zombie Sorceresses

Well, this is par for the course as far as 80s action novels go. I think the biggest contrivance by far is of course leaving these few supercommandos to be the exact rescuer when you’d have airborne divisions combing the countryside, but this is the kind of series that doesn’t have to be logical.

Tank Booms

Most of (note the word most of) the action is pretty paint by numbers action-adventure. I say this despite not having read that many books in the genre. It’s that blatant. However, the conclusion is weird in that it’s actually somewhat realistic. Instead of the big 80s action battle, the heroes move in quickly, decisively, and unflashily.

I think this is a coincidence in that the author was clearly running out of space and just needed to wrap things up quickly, and so it turned into something more plausible by parallel coincidence.

The Only Score That Really Matters

Except for the unintentionally realistic conclusion and over-the-top premise, this is pretty much Middle Of The Road 1980s Action Novel. Not that that’s a bad thing.

 

Review: Thunder of Erebus

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Thunder of Erebus

Thunder of Erebus may just be the technothrillerest technothriller that ever technothrilled. I’ll probably eat those words, but I don’t say this lightly either. And it’s not a bad thing.

Who and What

The book features a Soviet-American battle in Antarctica over a rare element. When reading it, I checked all the technothriller boxes. Land battle! Air Battle! Sea Battle! Soviets who only really win anything with their zombie sorceress superweapons! Viewpoint characters galore!

But more importantly, this was the clearest kind of technothriller that really emphasized the “techno-” part. Technology is both the goal and the process, be it real platforms or the ASBM-torpedo dispensers. By being so blatant, it cleared up a very blurry genre.

And the prose is-interesting. There’s a lot of flowery descriptions that made me smile, starting with  someone being “So thin that his polyester uniform seemed to be draped on a coat hanger instead of a human frame”, and only getting ‘better’ from there. Despite (or because of) this, it flowed well, which is good because…

DEEP HISTORY OF TEM

Not only does the “technothriller trope bingo” extend to infodumps, this book also has an infodump that states that an infantry division with the word “light” in its name is, in fact, a light infantry division. Yes.

Zombie Sorceresses

There’s every contrivance needed to have a giant battle take place in Antarctica.

Tank Booms

There are M1 tanks booming in Antarctica, and boomer submarines booming, and aircraft booming. The “maximum technothriller” and “flowery prose” apply to the battles as well.

The Only Score That Really Matters

This is it. A 1991 (year of the USSR’s collapse) maximum technothriller. Everything technothrillery in one package. I didn’t find the cliches grating-I found them, and the book, entertaining.

Review: Wingman

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Wingman

Mack Maloney’s Wingman kicks off a post-apocalyptic fighter pilot series that is pure undistilled, full-strength, high-dose 80s ridiculous fun. I was reminded of everything from Iron Eagle to Area 88 to just goofing off in the Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations scenario editor.

Who and What

Wingman is the story of Hawker Hunter (the name is not a coincidence), a fighter pilot who flies in the shattered remnants of the US after an apocalyptic third world war. It is the story of his super F-16. It is the story of Hunter fighting lots and lots and lots of stock 1980s Post-Apocalyptic Bandits and enemy fighter aircraft of both western and eastern design. It is the story of Hunter bedding beautiful woman after beautiful woman. It is the story of Hunter going to various theme park apocalypse cities and places.

It moves very well and has all the characterization you’d expect from a cheap thriller. And that’s all it needs.

DEEP HISTORY OF TEM

The infodumps are there, but they don’t really feel like that much of a burden. The book flows very breezily, and it feels like everything is part of the fun. I feel obligated to say that a lot of technical description is (brace yourself) not the most realistically accurate.

If you have strenuous objections to this, please do not read the book. Otherwise, enjoy how an F-16 equipped with six 20mm Vulcans and ship-busting Sidewinders can blast its way through the competition.

Zombie Sorceresses

It would be easier to say “what did the zombie sorceresses not have to set up?” when describing the plot of this book. Most of the aircraft in this book have the same names as historical ones, and that’s about it.

It’s crazy. But it’s a good type of crazy.

Tank Booms

With the exception of a clunky out-of-the-cockpit action scene in the middle of the book, the action is ridiculously over the top and well-done. Yes, it’s as out-there as everything else, but it’s fast and novel.

The Only Score That Really Matters

This is one of the most fun cheap thrillers I’ve read in a while. I highly, highly, highly recommend it.

Review: Hangfire

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Hangfire

Sadly, Hangfire has to rank as one of the lower entries in the wildly uneven Starfist series. The basic premise-intrigue on a world that’s a combination 1950s Cuba and Westworld-style historical theme parks-is good. Unfortunately, this just makes the rest of the story worse.

Who and What

To infiltrate a mobster-ruled resort world of debauchery named “Havanagas” (I told you it was based on 1950s Cuba), the government turns to… MARINES, of course. Also, there’s intrigue on a colony world as aliens invade it.

The relative cohesion of Steel Gauntlet is lost, and the group of tangled, clunky subplots I’ve seen in worse Starfist books are in full force.

DEEP HISTORY OF TEM

There are a few infodumps here, but not that many. The problem is that the potentially interesting focus (The Space 1950s Cuba) gets sidelined.

Zombie Sorceresses

Hard to judge, save for all the MARINE contrivances.

Tank Booms

There really isn’t much action involving the MARINES. This is a shame because the chance to throw them into a Murderworld-style deathtrap amusement park would be amazing. Instead there’s intrigue that isn’t too well-written, a tiny bit of action, and an arena scene that is ridiculously foreshadowed. The barely related alien invasion is nowhere near as good, so of course it takes up a big chunk of the book.

The Only Score That Really Matters

While I’ve read worse Starfist books, this seems disappointing as well as bad. What should be a romp through Mobster Murderworld ends up treating that tamely while devoting a ton of time and space to uninteresting aliens invading an uninteresting world and fighting uninteresting battles to set up an uninteresting arc.

It’s a shame.

Review: Season of Slaughter

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Season of Slaughter

It’s time to fast forward several decades from the debut of Mack Bolan. Now he’s the well-established king of the adventure novel with many spinoffs and many, many more novels to his name. A more recent Bolan, 2005’s Season of Slaughter, is the subject of this review.

Who and What

Bad guys do something very bad at the beginning. Mack Bolan and company move to stop them from doing more bad things. Simple cheap thriller plot, simple cheap thriller characters. Although I have to say there are a lot of characters here, contributing to the “overstuffed” feeling of the book. I have a slight hunch that some may have been there to let a casual reader notice that the spinoffs existed.

The prose unsurprisingly feels like an action movie in words. Characters firing Desert Eagles and skidding safely away from mammoth fireballs.

DEEP HISTORY OF TEM

There are the usual gun infodumps, and a very, very detailed infodump about a super-helicopter used by the protagonists. Only a few of these infodumps go to ‘waste’ in that they’re totally irrelevant, but many of them are gratuitous. Of course, this entire book is gratuitous.

Zombie Sorceresses

Apart from the action novel contrivances, the choice of villains is less zombie-sorceress than you might think in one way. It’s an alliance between Islamist terrorists and white supremacist terrorists. This is handled with a surprising amount of deftness-it’s treated only as a teeth gritted alliance of convenience against someone they both hate and nothing more.

Of course, they’re coordinated by a cartoon anarchist group and backed by supermercs, so the zombie sorceresses reassert themselves there.

Tank Booms

The “overstuffed” nature of the book is nowhere more apparent than in the action. There’s a lot of action scenes shoved together into this fairly small book, from fistfights to helicopter dogfights. The action can still be blurred and clunky at times, but one advantage of the many characters is that it allows for diverse fights.

And to be fair, this kind of book is the kind where you expect lots of action. I’d rather have too much action in a cheap thriller like this than too little.

The Only Score That Really Matters

This is an assembly-line book, and it shows. But it works as an assembly-line cheap thriller. The first Mack Bolan was a late 1960s cheap thriller, while this is a 2000s cheap thriller. This has explosions and Mack Bolan action, and that’s what’s asked of this kind of story.

 

Review: Fire Ant

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Fire Ant

Jonathan Brazee has been prolific with his books, and so, not knowing where to start at first, I decided to simply jump into one of several. Fire Ant, telling the story of a woman explorer pilot turned fighter pilot in the far future, is an excellent sci-fi thriller tale.

Who and What

The story follows the saga of a pilot who has the long name of “Floribeth Salinas O’Shea Dalisay” but is thankfully just called “Beth” for most of the book. A corporate exploration pilot, Beth finds aliens, escapes from them, and gets sucked into the military as a fighter pilot, facing even more action.

It’s a simple plot but an effective one. Likewise, the characters, including Beth herself, are simple but as effective as they need to be for the sake of the story.

DEEP HISTORY OF TEM

Unfortunately, there are a few too many infodumps. Some are forgivable in terms of defining the mechanics of the universe, but some are less so. None are that bad, but it could have used a little more showing and a little less telling.

Zombie Sorceresses

This is the kind of book for whom the “zombie sorceress” scale isn’t that suitable. Enough contrivances to set up a science fiction tale are there, simple as that.

Tank Booms

The action here is crisp and involved. Moreover, Brazee manages a balancing act of keeping the tale mostly “soft” in science fiction terms without going all the way to “historical but with blaster rays”. It’s an impressive accomplishment.

The Only Score That Really Matters

If you want starfighter action that pushes a little, you can’t go wrong with Fire Ant. I certainly enjoyed it.