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.

NIGHT STALKERS 2 GRIM REAPER BY DUNCAN LONG

Copyright 1990.

In the final days of World War II the Japanese launched balloons toward Australia. The balloons carried a deadly bacteria that causes homicidal paranoia in its victims. Fortunately the balloons fell harmlessly into the ocean. One made it to Antarctica where it’s deadly payload remained preserved in the ice. Now in 1990 a nearby American research base has unearthed the balloon. In opening it they release the bacteria on the base. The nuclear submarine USS Oklahoma sends a medical team to help with the outbreak. Only the bacteria infects the crew. Soon a rogue nuclear submarine with a paranoid crew roams the ocean. The bacteria also spreads to the nearby Soviet base that has a contingent of Spetsnaz stationed there. Fortunately captain Oz and the Night Stalkers are stationed in the Antarctic to test new anti-submarine weapons. So now Oz and his helicopter/Delta force must stop the rogue Oklahoma before it starts WWIII while fighting off the crazed Spetsnaz that are attacking them.

The second book has a very unique idea set in a part of the world that doesn’t usually get much attention. Based on a real scenario from history. The Japanese did launch balloons with incendiary devices to drift over the Pacific Northwest. They did cause some damaging forest fires and kill a few people. They also were actively experimenting with biological weapons so this scenario basis has a historical basis to it. I enjoyed the exotic setting of the Antarctic with this weapon from the past. Long managed to come up with some unique scenarios to his plots and writes a fast paced action thriller.

DOWN TO A SUNLESS SEA BY DAVID GRAHAM

Copyright 1981.

It is 1985 in this near future world. The US dollar has collapsed and the country has run out of oil. Martial law is in effect and everyone is trying to flee the country. Jonah Scott is a captain of a 797 for Air Britain. He is in New York on a routine flight from New York to London. The passengers include a mix of refugee children, diplomats, some scientist who are attending a conference and some SAS troops that were in the country to train the National Guard. Midway in flight the news comes that Israel has retaliated for the poisoning of the Tel Aviv water supply that killed 200,000. They have nuked the major Arab capitals. Russia and China blame the US for arming Israel and attack. Soon every country is being bombed out of existence. Now he has to find a safe place to land his airplane.

Yet there isn’t many options open. All the worlds cities have been hit. They find that the Azores was only neutron bombed and the airfield is still intact. Later a Soviet plane also arrives carrying the inhabitants of a village that managed to escape. Things are looking grim for the survivors. The radioactive fallout is coming and they won’t survive. The only safe place is Antarctica. McMurdo has plenty of supplies but will they have enough fuel to make the trip.

It is interesting how back in the eighties how writers would set the end of the world so close. He was only writing about five years in the future which means this book has a short self life before becoming dated. It does seem like the attitude at the time was a nuclear war was inevitable. And what a world he envisions. A black president negotiating with blacks about a separate homeland in an America coming apart at the seems. The Dutch are recolonizing Indonesia and using nerve gas. Cuban troops are in Socialist Ireland to liberate the north. Still I guess a lot can happen in five years. Could anyone five years ago envision how our world is now. How different will it be in five years in the future.

This book was a well done that kept the reader’s interest which is no small feat considering most of it takes place on a jetliner. Told in the first person by the captain we are drawn into this deteriorating future. From the anarchy of New York and the desperate search to find a safe place to land. An interesting fact is there were two ending for this book. The British edition has an ending where they all die at the end. The American version has a happy ending where a tilt in the Earth’s axis bring Antarctica to a more temperate climate and the hope for a new start. I don’t know why the two endings. I have the American one and it is an upbeat ending for what is a very pessimistic book. Possibly the grim ending didn’t go over very well and it was rewritten.

The author in his foreword states that he is an epitome of a rabid outspoken atheist. That his purpose was to “demonstrate that man is alone in his own personal Hell, that he would inevitably sow the seeds of his own destruction, rising and falling in a few hundred millenniums which represent the tiniest fraction of eternity. Now-damn it all-I’m not so sure.”

This story definitely set out to do this. I have never read such a total nuclear war anywhere else. Huge bombs are dropped everywhere causing massive radioactive fallout. Even the Falkland Islands are nuked. Still there were some very noble acts throughout the story. The fifty Russians who jumped out of a plane so it could rise above the fallout clouds. The people in the Falklands who left their shelter to find out if Antarctica is viable. There was hope in this pessimism and I think it shows a man who was in doubt over his beliefs. A very well done book.

GODZILLA AT WORLD’S END BY MARC CERASINI

It has been a year since Godzilla’s epic battle with King Ghidorah. The U.S. and most of the world is in a deep recession due to the monsters destruction. The INN news network is sponsoring a scientific expedition to Antarctica. The Destiny Explorer is a thirty foot long dirigible that will have the best and brightest teenagers in the field of science.

At this time a mysterious hole opens in the Antarctic and the worlds communications are knocked out. Monsters start causing a reign of destruction. Gigan destroys satellites and lands at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Megalon and Battra rampage through South America. Manda attacks Shanghai and Hedorah Osaka.

Luckily for the Earth they have their own defenders. Godzilla with Anguirus, Mothra, and Rodan fight back. The Destiny Explorer rescues some Army Rangers in Lima and heads off for the Antarctic. There they find a deranged teenage girl using technology of an ancient civilization for revenge on the world. The timely arrival of Godzilla and his battle with Biollante saves the world.

The third book in the series is another exciting read. Godzilla is back and once again the good guy. New monsters and a lost civilization of crystalline beings make this book a fun read. Marc Cerasini really shows his knowledge of the Godzilla universe and combines it with his knowledge of geography and military hardware.

Here is a list of new Kaiju introduced:
Gigan

Megalon

Manda

Battra

Hedorah

And finally Biollante

Here’s Blue Oyster’s tribute to the big guy.

WHITE FOR DANGER BY DAVID STEVENS

Logan Adams is a successful adventure novelist. He has come to visit his sister in his native New Zealand when she asks him for a favor. Her husband was involved in an expedition to Antarctica where he was the only survivor. He claims to have seen a city. Everybody thinks he abandoned his teammates and is making up this story.

The husband has convinced an eccentric Englishman named Warden Grampton to finance and expedition. Grampton has a theory that Antarctica was inhabited in the past and hopes to prove it. Logan’s sister wants Logan to accompany the expedition to watch after her husband. Logan has arctic training from his days in the Canadian army and proves to be a beneficial addition to the expedition.

Logan is reluctant but agrees. Soon after he is attacked by thugs on a walk and has his car breaks severed. Grampton’s assistant dies in a mysterious accident. It seems that someone does not want this expedition to go forward.

The expedition finally reaches Antarctica and find out that the city turns out to be a Soviet base with plans to turn Antarctica into a giant nuclear base for missiles.

I got this book thinking that it would be like an Indiana Jones story with a lost civilization. What I got was a tense spy thriller. I wasn’t disappointed in buying this book. It has an interesting plot with suspense and action. The exotic locales of New Zealand and Antarctica are refreshing unique. If you want an exciting suspense book I would recommend it.