THE TAKERS BY JERRY AHERN

Copyright 1984.

Josh Culhane writes an action series called The Takers. One night he gets a call from his twin brother asking for help. He arrives too late but finds out that his brother, who is a CIA agent, was murdered by a former agent. Steiglitz and his psychotic daughter Sonia are after the Gladstone Log. Back in the nineteenth century Prime Minister Gladstone commissioned an expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis. The logs were found by a woman hiding out as a librarian in a small Georgia town. She died but managed to mail the logs to Mary Mulrooney who is an author on the paranormal. By a strange coincidence she is also the former girlfriend of Culhane.

The two join forces to find clues that will lead to the lost city of Atlantis. They have to battle pirates trying to sell them into slavery and the thugs of Steiglitz. With the help of the CIA, they mound an expedition to Antarctica. A lost alien starbase may hold the key to world domination.

Another book that I was interested in when I was a teenager but never got. Now this book was awesome. I already was a fan of Ahern, and this Indiana Jomes type adventure was a blast to read. The characters were interesting and the action exciting. The villains were truly evil with the psychotic daughter truly over the top. A fun action book that I recommend and hope to read the others in this series.

THE EXECUTIONER #5 CONTINENTAL CONTRACT BY DON PENDLETON

Copyright 1971.

Mack Bolan is at Dulles International Airport to take out a mob operation. Only this is a trap set by the mob. To escape he has to jump on a flight to Paris. Luckily Brognola gave him a phony passport. The local capo finds out one of the men working for him used to serve with Bolan in Vietnam. They deduce he jumped on the flight to Paris and send this hit squad with the war veteran to entrap Bolan. Meanwhile when Bolan arrives a movie star gets kidnapped because the mob thinks that he is Bolan. Bolan manages to rescue him and kill a whole bunch of the local mafia. He gets involved with a French actress that helps him go to southern France. There he continues his war to save some prostitutes that ran afoul of the local boss. A big showdown ends with him successfully escaping the hit squad thanks to his old war buddy switching sides.

The first thing about this book is how easy it is to board a flight. Bolan pays in cash at the last minute, and they hold the plane before it takes off. There are no metal detectors or long lines with the TSA. No taking off your belt and shoes. The guy even just carries his pistol on the plane. He passes through customs with this pistol. There is just no way you could write this story nowadays. It was definitely a much more innocent time back in 1971.

Anyway, the story is another fun romp for Bolan. Thanks to his benefactor in the Justice Department, he manages to escape to France. While there he decides to kill a whole bunch of mobsters. Gets involved with a brothel and has to save the girls from being sold into slavery in Africa. Gets involved with a beautiful French actress. The black guy who he served with in Vietnam decides he would rather help his friend than the racist mob. Pendleton wrote a really fun series that so far, I never been disappointed.

THE EXECUTIONER #4 MIAMI MASSACRE BY DON PENDLETON

Copyright 1970.

Mack Bolan has destroyed the southern California mob. Now he has the mob from Arizona after him. Fortunately, they are as good as the mob in California, and he wipes out the group in Phoenix. While doing this he hears that the capos are gathering in Miami for their yearly meeting. So, he hops a plane and heads to Florida. Once there he continues his one-man war and starts killing the mobsters. He gets some help from a local anti-Castro resistance group. He also gets some help from Brognola the Justice Department guy who wants to use Bolan against the mob. Ends up while not wiping them out completely kills a whole bunch of the mob.

The fourth book in the series is the best so far. This series just keeps getting better and better. Bolan uses some genius methods to elude the mob enforcers while taunting them. He continues to show a ruthlessness in going after these guys. Also starts his relationship unofficially with the Feds. He gets a passport and intelligence on European operations of the mob. Something that will play a prominent part in the next book.

THE EXECUTIONER BATTLE MASK BY DON PENDLETON

Copyright 1970.

Mack Bolan continues his war against the Mafia in southern California. After eluding both the mob and police he decides to visit a war buddy that became a plastic surgeon. In the small town of Palm Village, he gets a new face. With the new identity he once again infiltrates the mob. He manages to hook up with the capo’s daughter and infiltrate the mob in Palm Springs. From here he feeds information to the police to weaken the drug trade. An enforcer finds out his secret and he ruthlessly kill him and his entourage. Then he manages to sow discontent among the mob, and they destroy themselves.

This was an excellent book. Bolan gets a new face and infiltrates the mob. It shows how ruthless he can be. His friend doctor is tortured and killed along with the friendly police chief and his wife. Bolan rams a car into the escaping mobster and casually shoots all the survivors in the head. This also is the start of his unofficial relationship with the Feds. Brognola from the Justice Department offers to give Bolan a portfolio for his crusade against the mob. For now, Bolan decides to continue on his own but it will start to play a more prominent role in later books. I can see why this series became so popular.

THE EXECUTIONER #2 DEATH SQUAD BY DON PENDLETON

Copyright 1969.

Mack Bolan is on the run from the Mafia. He comes into L.A. and stops by an old war buddy. The Mafia had staked out guys to watch his buddy and a big fight ends up with some Mafia enforcers dead. The war buddy decides he wants to join Bolan’s war. He also suggests they get some other veterans who would love to get into the fight. Bolan recruits nine more old Vietnam veterans that are disillusioned with their peacetime lives. This Death Squad then proceeds to wage war against the DeGeorge family. The police form a squad codenamed Hardcase to stop Bolan and his Death Squad. Eventually it ends with seven of the squad dead, two captured by the police and Bolan once again alone in his war against the Mafia.

For the second book, Pendleton decided to give Bolan a group of men to help him. Seven disillusioned vets that represent all the major ethnic and racial types. He does a good job of giving all these characters their own personality and backstory. I can see that such a large cast of characters is hard to develop some character development. It makes sense he decided to whittle them down and make Bolan the lone wolf type. Two of the survivors would eventually go on to be part of Able Team along with the sergeant of Hardcase. A fun and fast paced action story that continues this awesome adventure of the most famous men’s adventure hero of all time.

THE EXECUTIONER WAR AGAINST THE MAFIA BY DON PENDLETON

Copyright 1969.

Mack Bolan is a sergeant in Vietnam. He is a deadly sniper known as the Executioner. One day he received news that his father, mother and sister are dead with his younger brother in the hospital. Getting emergency leave he heads home to Pittsfield. He finds out his father killed his mother and sister then shot himself. The police close the case as a murder/suicide. Bolan finds out his father had taken out a loan from the mob. His sister became a prostitute to pay off the debt. This news is what drove the father to kill himself and his family. He finds out he has been waging war against the wrong enemy. Bolan gets a sniper rifle and takes out the thugs at the local collection agency. Then Bolan infiltrates the mob and wages a one-man war. Hunted by the mob and the police he starts to destroy the local organization while becoming a folk hero to the public. An explosive conclusion ends in the destruction of the local mob as Bolan gets ready to take his crusade nationwide.

I AM NOT THEIR JUDGE. I AM THEIR JUDGEMENT. I AM THEIR EXECUTIONER.

So begins a quote at the beginning of the book by Mack Bolan. Don Pendleton is considered the father of the modern men’s adventure. His groundbreaking series featuring the vigilante Mack Bolan became a phenomenon that still sees books coming out now. You couldn’t visit the local book spinner or rack at the local grocery store in the eighties and not see all sorts of Mack Bolan paperbacks. You could say he came up with the whole vigilante genre. That lone individual who suffered a tragedy that the law was incapable of bringing to justice. So, he takes the law into his own hands. There was a flood of imitators since, but they never could match his creation. I always wanted to read this series and found the first book at the local Half Price very cheap.

So how was it? I loved it. The story holds you from beginning to end. Bolan is this man who has a personality that won’t let him not do something when he sees injustice. He takes a very impersonal view to it and considers his war as a crusade against evil. He knows that it is an impossible task that will end in his death. Yet he still does it anyway. The Mafia or “The Organization” as they like to call themselves is portrayed as a well-oiled machine. They even use computers which in 1969 was way ahead of the times. I loved this book and will have to check out further ones in the series to see this continuation of war on crime.

LONG RUN TO TOBRUK BY GORDON LANDSBOROUGH

Copyright 1975.

A daring S.A.S. raid takes place hundreds of miles behind enemy lines. An airfield is hit and destroys 39 planes on the ground. These are planes that Rommel can’t afford to lose. He orders the S.A.S. be hunted down and captured or destroyed. So begins a cat and mouse chase across the vast expanse of the Libyan desert. The commandos have to face the grueling heat and lack of water. Along with troops and airplanes out to get them. This includes the elite paratroopers that Rommel sends after them. It all comes to an exciting conclusion.

I saw this on a facebook page and remembered it from my childhood. I remember trying to read this when I was probably nine or ten. I think I was just too young for this. I decided to get it and try it now. After all it has been a while since I read a good WWII book. This was a very good book. The characters and setting seem very authentic. There is the aristocratic captain who has this attitude you would expect from an officer from the time. He looks a bit down on his lieutenant for not attending the proper public school. Yet he will back him up when one of the men accuses him of abandoning him because that is what is expected of him. Officers will always back up other officers. Yet he is a very competent one and has genuine concern for his men. There is the corporal who always smiles to hide his fear. Someone descended from an Italian immigrant who has this love of everything Italian.

Considering that the author was a veteran who served in North Africa it is no surprise that the book seems authentic. Landsborough was a very prolific author and wrote many books including ones set in North Africa. I probably will someday check them out. If you want a realistic WWII story then this is a good book for you.

THE DEFENDER #12 NO SURVIVORS BY JERRY AHERN

Copyright 1990.

David Holden and the Patriots in Montana plan to attack Fort Makowski and free the officers kept prisoner. David marries his girlfriend Rosie after finding out she is pregnant. They manage to recruit the local Native Americans for the big assault. The day of the big assault arrives and the group manage to infiltrate the fort disguised as Presidential Strike Force personal. In spite of it being a trap they still manage to free the prisoners, kill Townsend Holmes the presidential chief of staff and take prisoner President Makowski. In the escape Makowski is killed while trying to escape and Both David Holden and Rosie also die. Meanwhile Geoffrey Kearney is taken to a nationwide broadcast where he is supposed to give the position of the FLNA on nationwide TV. Instead he kills the FLNA leadership including Dmitri Borsoi and makes his escape. Twenty five years later Wisdom Twobears is elected President and at the inauguration unveils a statue dedicated to the Patriot heroes who gave their life. It is Rufus Burroughs holding a flag with David Holden and Rosie Holden holding each other before they die.

The final book in the series lives up to its name. There are survivors but the main characters are killed. I thought it was a bold move to kill off David and Rosie at the end. He sets them up as about to have a baby and getting married. Ahern could have had them survive and live happily ever after. Yet he chose the more powerful ending of sacrificing their lives. Throughout we get the speech from President Twobears who was a teenager during this time talk about the events. This was a good idea as it gives the readers some foreshadowing of the events about to occur. We know they succeed but there is a sense that not everyone makes it.

This was a much darker series then anything Ahern as written before. It is filled with kids being killed and molested. Terrorists killing whole families and the main character loses his own wife and children. There is a sense of urgency as we see the country slowly lose its freedom. I think its the only one where the hero doesn’t come out alive at the end. I think Ahern was very prescient when he predicted the future. The way the government eagerly grabs power during an emergency. The way the press gleefully supports the government. There is one scene where a reporter is bragging about how great it is that there are warrantless searches going on. That the piece of mind this measure brings is worth the minor inconvenience. I mean it you have nothing to hide like owning a gun or CB radio which is also now illegal then you have nothing to worry about. Plus they will buy you a new door to replace the one knocked down. Yeah right. I could see the Marxist activists pretending to be journalists nowadays being all for it. A very relevant series for what is going on these days.

THE DEFENDER #11 THE CHALLENGE BY JERRY AHERN

Copyright 1990.

The Patriots in Montana have discovered that many of the captured military officers are being interned at Camp Makowski. There the regime plans to brainwash them into obedient followers of the regime. The only hope is to get the Patriots from Metro to help them mount a rescue. So David Holden goes out to Montana to help plan the rescue. He first has to escape a trap by the Presidential Strike Force because of a traitor. Then he has to unite the various Native American tribes into a fighting force. Meanwhile Geoffrey Kearney the British agent and his girlfriend have successfully infiltrated the FLNA. The leader Borsoi has plans to make Kearney the spokesman for the organization. Unfortunately his girlfriend develops a drinking problem and an accident is arranged by Borsoi to get her out of the way.

This was an excellent book. The series is really moving to a climatic confrontation. Already it is setting up for a confrontation between all the major players. David Holden will confront President Makowski while Kearney now has a personal reason to kill Borsoi. We get to see just how loathsome Makowski and his chief of staff Townsend Holmes really are. We also get a real glimpse into the FLNA who are just degenerate criminals out to take over the country. Introduces some new characters in Mathew Smith and the Indians of the Patriots in Montana. We see that Makowski is completely insane and plans to invade Canada and annex the western provinces so Alaska can’t succeed. You get a feeling that the big final confrontation is about to happen which it does in the next and final book of the series.

THE DEFENDER #10 THE GOOD FIGHT BY JERRY AHERN

Copyright 1990.

The Makowski regime has rounded up all the officers and noncoms from all branches of the military that aren’t loyal to his regime. They are packed into boxcars for eventually elimination. One officer manages to escape and make it to the Patriots and tell them of this. David Holden the leader has to mount a rescue mission for the imprisoned officers. At this time the Presidential Strike Force has occupied Metro and is shooting down unarmed protesters. They have to stage a raid on their main HQ located in an old theater. This mission is a success but unfortunately they fail to rescue most of the imprisoned officers. Geoffrey Kearney and his girlfriend manage to infiltrate the FLNA as recruits.

The series really starts to take a dark tone in this book. We have people getting imprisoned and killed by the PSF. Military officers not loyal to Makowski are rounded up and taken out to be shot. The FLNA has apparently taken over Mexico and using that country has launched an invasion of the border areas and the gulf coast. You do get a feeling of desperation setting in. That the country has really gone to hell. This final stretch of the series continued to fire on all cylinders to give us this dystopian version of a future America under a dictator.