Should a Tear Be Shed?

Charles Boeckman (1920-2015) authored stories for digests and pulps like Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Detective Tales, All-Story Detective, and Dime Mystery. While performing New Orleans jazz for 70 years, the multi-talented writer authored a number of novels with his wife Patti as well as penning sleaze paperbacks under the pseudonym of Alex Carter. Bold Venture Press has spotlighted the author and his literary work with several reprints, as well as his autobiography. I've read a lot of Boeckman over the years, but occasionally I drop in and out of his short stories for quick enjoyment.

“Should a Tear Be Shed?” was a short story published in January 1954 by Malcolm's, a short-lived detective and crime magazine published by mystery fan Malcolm Koch. 

This quick read is a success story that focuses on the rise of a tap dancer named Lawrence Terrace Jr., a young man that suffered a brain injury when a truck ran him over. When a shyster named Jess Norvell catches Lawrence dancing by a bar jukebox, he puts together a scheme. First, he befriends Lawrence, then has an insurance policy placed on the young man for $50,000 (double indemnity for an accident) with himself as beneficiary. The next logical step is to get Lawrence accidentally killed. 

Central to the story's plot is Jess' girlfriend, Candy, who does not endorse the scheme and repeatedly tries to warn Lawrence that Jess is using him for financial purposes. Like any good story of suspense, Boeckman intensifies the tension with multiple attempts at murder. It's an explosive, though not surprising, climax. I loved the story and read it twice.

The best way to read this story is by picking up the collection, Strictly Poison and Other Stories HERE.

Missing in Action

William J. Linn was an associate professor of English literature at the University of Michigan, a position he earned in 1979. He was the recipient of three Fulbright lectureships and taught universally at colleges in Bulgaria, Beijing, and Burkina Faso. During his long teaching tenure, Linn also authored three novels: Missing in Action (1981), Kambi Hai (1987), and The People's Republic (1989). I've always enjoyed a rowdy action-adventure novel featuring the prison-break plot device. With that fondness, I chose to read Linn's Missing in Action, published as a paperback by Avon.

In the novel's beginning, William Tompkins is serving in the Army during America's involvement in the Vietnam War. While the year isn't specified, based on the novel's events, I am guessing this is around 1972. During a firefight (off page), Tompkins becomes the only surviving member of his platoon and is quickly taken into captivity by the Viet Cong. 

In captivity, Tompkins, who is simply referred to as “The Prisoner” in the book's narrative, refuses to provide any information beyond name, rank, and serial number. He's placed in general quarters with a dozen or more fellow prisoners. The narrative flows into a rather one-dimensional plot that provides Tompkins' day-to-day activities, including gardening, masonry, roadwork, and other menial labor. There's an interesting plot device with Tompkins feuding with another prisoner, but that is quickly sewn up.

Eventually, Tompkins makes a break for the jungle and escapes captivity, only to be recaptured days later in a different part of North Vietnam. Here, the menial labor isn't an option. Instead, Tompkins is tortured repeatedly by a sadistic Cong leader nicknamed “No Neck”. These include starvation, solitary confinement, whippings, and mental harassment. Eventually, Tompkins is saved by an older, much wiser Viet Cong leader who was originally educated in America. He forms a unique bond with Tompkins that leads the narrative into a literary trance involving politics, war, peace, and America's involvement in Vietnam's internal struggles. 

Missing in Action has nothing in common with the 1980s action film industry that often used POWs and their captivity as its cinematic bedrock. It's void of the proverbial action star, gunfire, fighting, and so forth. If you thirst for that flavor, then look no further than the M.I.A. Hunter series of paperbacks. This novel is a literary examination of captivity and the concept of mental freedom despite physical boundaries. 

Missing in Action is also a rare example of a book written in the present tense, a fad that consumes most contemporary fiction (one that I'm not fond of). It was interesting to read a novel written in this style in 1981. This perspective makes the novel feel more emotional with the peaks and valleys of Tompkins' daily conditions. 

I did enjoy the book, but I feel like Thomas Taylor's A Piece of this Country is a better example of the prisoner-of-war formula. You can obtain Missing in Action HERE and Taylor's novel HERE.

The Sparrows Fall

Charles Frederick “Fred” Bodsworth (1918-2012) was born in Ontario and worked as a journalist for several Canadian newspapers. He authored five novels, one of which was Last of the Curlews (1955), a popular wildlife novel that was adapted into an animated Emmy-winning film by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1972. His novels focused on the Arctic and other frosty locales like the Hudson Lowlands. I wanted to try his great outdoor yarn, The Sparrow's Fall. It was published in 1967 as a hardcover by Doubleday. My edition is the first paperback printing, the 1968 edition by Signet. 

Jacob is a member of the Atihk-Anishini tribe located in the Hudson Lowlands. He falls in love with a young woman of his own tribe named Niska. The issue is that Niska has been promised to another man in Jacob's tribe, a great hunter named Taka. It's a forbidden love narrative, but ultimately expands into a much broader outdoor adventure. 

A pastor arrives by plane and dedicates himself to providing Christianity to the tribe. He introduces Jacob and Niska to the Bible and to the teachings of Jesus. Jacob and Niska ask the pastor to marry them, however, the pastor has some qualms about doing so. First, he wants to honor God's commandment to honor mother and father. If he marries the two of them, he is defying the wishes of Niska's parents. However, he also realizes that both Jacob and Niska have shrugged away their pagan religion (animal and wind gods, etc.) for Christianity. He wants them to marry and create a new generation of Christian followers. I will leave his decision out of the review so I don't ruin anything.

The outdoor adventure begins with Jacob and Niska leaving the tribe (the synopsis gives the reason away) and forging a new path deep in the frosty tundra of the Lowlands. But, Jacob, conflicted with a number of emotional things (some of which are his own doing), waits too long to kill deer for the coming winter. He then must go alone to hunt, leaving Niska behind in hopes she can endure until he returns. However, Jacob soon realizes he's not the only hunter. Taka is tracking him.

This book was hard for me, but I appreciated it. What I really enjoyed was the Christian discussion and the perplexing things Jacob asked about God – things I had never thought of before. I also really enjoyed the tribal politics and the adventures Jacob has in his war with Taka. Great stuff. But, the book has very little dialogue. Instead, there are endless pages of descriptions of Jacob hunting. Details on wind conditions, the history of the Lowlands, and the movement of wildlife were interesting to a degree, but I quickly tired of it. Keep in mind that this author wrote Last of the Curlews and the protagonist is a bird. He uses that same formula in this book and has portions of the book dedicated to deer. 

Despite my qualms with the book, I'm still going to recommend reading it. It's great escapism, offers some deep thoughts on religion and its history, and is a wonderful expansion on the Canadian wilds. I confess that I did have to skip some pages of descriptive details on deer and trees, but it didn't detract wholly from my enjoyment. Get the book HERE.

David Agranoff: Writing Against Facism with Fangs and Fire

This in-depth interview explores the work and creative philosophy of author David Agranoff, known for blending horror, science fiction, and political commentary. The discussion covers his literary influences—ranging from heavy metal and punk rock to authors like Alistair MacLean and Philip K. Dick—and how they inform his fast-paced, visceral writing style. Watch the video chat HERE or stream below. The audio portion is available on any podcasting platform or download HERE.

Crash Course

I initially discovered Kathryn Johnson earlier this year when I read her young-adult thriller Winterkill, originally published by Avon in 1991. I enjoyed the novel, leading me to place the author on my radar to find more of her works. Johnson, who used the pseudonym Nicole Davidson, wrote over 40 published novels and was nominated for the Agatha Award. I located plenty of her books and chose her 1995 book Crash Course to read along with a fellow Booktuber named Bryan from Bad Taste Books. 

The plot is rather elementary, leaving the focus to be more of a character study. Eight Maryland high school students are forced to participate in a group SAT study with a teacher named Porter. But, this isn't any normal scholastic study group. Instead, Porter, with parental consent, takes these eight kids to a rural house miles from civilization. The house, sitting on the shore of Deep Creek Lake, will be the students' home for a few nights over Thanksgiving break. Here's the personalities that clash on this mandatory meeting of the minds:

Kelly – protagonist, in love with a student athlete named Jeff and best friend to her neighbor Brian.
Paula – Kelly's rival, the girlfriend to Brian, jealous rager.
Chris – jock and bully, homicidal.
Jeff – secretly loves Kelly, goes with the flow.
Nathan – motorhead biker and food junkie.
Isabel – Native-American mystic and all-around introvert.
Angel – the group's goth witch.
Brian – pal to Kelly, hardworking student, bound for college.

As the kids arrive and settle in, small alliances begin to form. But, the mystery begins when Brian disappears in the lake. The kids begin to question each other on where Brian is, who may have had a hand in his demise, and what to do next. These suspicious increase once Porter leaves to find help. But, when another student is found stabbed, the need to survive the coming days becomes the most prevalent plot point.

By 1991, the slasher film market had reached a pinnacle of success. Johnson hones in on some of the genre's most intriguing tropes – a camp killer, teens in peril, the clashing of raging personalities, and the ultimate guessing game of the murderer's identity. While the third-person narration consistently flips among the characters, the most dominant is Kelly. She's mature, daring, and makes good decisions when facing adversity. She's also the one with the most motivation to discover the whereabouts of Brian's body. It was fun to join her on the search for motives.

Kelly and two other characters from this book appear in the sequel, Crash Landing. 

Get Crash Course HERE.

A-Team #01 - The A-Team

There are distant echoes of a marital dispute that can still be heard today in Florida. It emanates from a lone parking lot in Jacksonville, adjacent to a 2nd and Charles retail store. The legendary disagreement stemmed from an argument with my wife over what she perceived as an overabundance of A-Team paperbacks stuffing shelves in book stores, flea market tables, yard sale boxes, and library sales. Maybe she was right. Maybe there are millions upon millions of A-Team paperbacks littering the planetary surface. Sure. However, to this day, I think she was confusing the A-Team with another similar-sounding title, Able Team. The Los Angeles Times reported in 1987 that Gold Eagle had shipped over 500 million paperbacks across five men's action-adventure series titles they published – one of which was Able Team. 

A-Team. Able Team. Ovaltine? We'll never know. 

Like every kid in the 1980s, I watched my share of NBC's successful television series the A-Team. It aired between 1983 and 1987 and was created by Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo. The original concept was to simply find a television series for Mr. T, an upcoming megastar that had already appeared in Rocky 3 as Rocky Balboa's fierce opponent (and catalyst for Mickey's terminal heart attack!). The A-Team was the perfect fit for Mr. T to shine as the angry Bosco B.A. Baracus. 

You can journey down any pop culture rabbit hole and learn more about the A-Team on screen, in the cinema, and the various licensed merchandise that dominated everything from toys and comics to lunch boxes and birthday balloons. The concept was an adventure-of-the-week where a four-man team of soldiers of fortune, wanted by the U.S. government as fugitives from the Vietnam War, travel around the globe, with a female journalist, fighting heroically for the people while collecting money from paying clients, although if memory serves me, it was often as a favor.

Where I'm involved in this show is at the book level. According to the trusty Wikipedia, there were 10 paperbacks printed between 1984 to 1986. Only the first six were printed in the U.S., courtesy of Dell. In England, all 10 books were published by Target. These books were mostly published as paperbacks, although a small number appear in hardcover. Charles Heath was the house name used by authors Ron Renauld, who wrote the first five installments, as well as seven and eight. Louis Chunovic wrote the fifth novel, David George Deutsch wrote the ninth, and Doris Meredith wrote the last.

My first experience with the book is the debut, the eponymous A-Team. It was based on the show's pilot episode, “Mexican Slayride”, which aired on January 23, 1983. In the book's opening pages, a California journalist named Al Massey is in a Mexican town doing a story on drug runners. The cartel's leader, a stereotypical villain named Valdez, captures Massey when he attempts to leave town. Massey's colleague and friend, journalist Amy Allen, learns of Massey's disappearance and wants to investigate. She discovers a mysterious team of mercenaries called the A-Team.

Renauld's narrative reads more like the episode's script. There are very few occasions that anything different from the TV episode sneaks in, and that's okay. It is an entertaining read as Renauld learns of the A-Team's enchanting aura, and goes about hunting down clues to their whereabouts. This leads to the introduction of Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, an actor at Universal Studios who leads the team. Next, Amy meets up with the handsome face of the team, Templeton Peck. Through a sequence of events, readers meet the star of the show, “Howling Mad” Murdock, the team's pilot, and B.A. Baracus, the resident tough guy fixer. 

The team flies to Mexico and coordinates a series of tricks that make the local authorities believe they are an international film production company. I always felt that the Three Amigos (1986) comedic western film borrowed the general idea from this A-Team pilot episode. But what do I know? As usual, the good guys fight the bad guys in a small Mexican town – it's an old fashioned, formulated western tale told in a modern way. The team is always mindful of actually killing anyone, so they go to great lengths to avoid murdering any of these bad guys. If blowing away the enemy is your thing, the A-Team isn't those guys. They had more in common with G.I. Joe than The Five Fingers. 

The A-Team is an entertaining, completely unnecessary paperback. The entire series consists of  episode novelizations except the sixth, which may have been an original novel based on the Fog of War blog. Depending on your love of the show may measure how much you need these 180-page paperbacks. Get them HERE.

Secret Agent X #01 - The Torture Trust

First published in Secret Agent X magazine in 1934, The Torture Trust introduced pulp readers to the mysterious figure known only as Secret Agent X. Conceived as a rival to The Shadow and The Spider, the series quickly carved its own niche with fast-paced plots, bizarre villains, and relentless atmosphere. Written under the house pseudonym Brant House (with the bulk of early entries by pulp veteran Paul Chadwick), the stories blended espionage, hard-boiled detective grit, and macabre menace.

The novel begins with a daring prison break setting habitual offender Jason Hertz free from confinement. His guardian angel facilitating this escape is a mysterious attorney named Gibbons who wants Hertz’s help. What would his agenda be?

Meanwhile, the police are dealing with a vexing series of torture-killings with prominent victims. The perps have been dubbed “The Torture Trust” by the news media and the cops are stumped. The killings, as described, are horrific and extreme — victims’ faces burned with acid. Stuff like that.

We then learn that Attorney Gibbons sprung Escapee Hertz from prison to have him get re-acquainted with a mobster Hertz once knew likely affiliated with The Torture Trust. You see, Gibbons is not an attorney at all, but the elusive vigilante crime fighter known only as Secret Agent X.

The reader is treated to a visit to X’s secret lair with his assortment of weapons and disguises. He’s only an “Agent” in the broadest sense that he has the unofficial sanction of the U.S. Department of Justice to fight the criminal hordes preying upon society. Officially within the government records, he is dead. His name and background? No one knows. His budget? Unlimited.

X has a sidekick/secretary named Betty Dale who handles a lot of his back office tasks - like dispersing money X steals from criminals to the poor and needy and being his date when he needs a cover. There’s also a police detective who hates X and his intrusions on police business with his unconventional interventions.

The debut novel is pretty standard - and enjoyable - pulp fare. Disguises and gaseous weapons, a kidnapped damsel in distress, a secret lair, and criminal masterminds deserving some rough justice. It’s not as unhinged as The Spider and the hero isn’t as impressive as Doc Savage, but if pulp heroes are your jam, you’ll enjoy this one plenty. Get it HERE. 

The Commandos

Elliott Arnold (1912-1980) is best known for his 1947 novel Blood Brother, a western that was adapted into a 1950 film titled Broken Arrow and a subsequent 1956 television series of the same name. The Brooklyn-born author, who was once married to actress Glynis Johns, authored 25 novels from 1934 through 1977. My first experience with Arnold is his 1942 novel Commandos, which was adapted into the 1943 Columbia Pictures film First Comes Courage. The book has been published repeatedly by different companies. My copy is the Belmont Tower paperback with artwork by Ken Barr capturing Clint Eastwood's likeness.  

In this 300-page book, Alan is an American soldier serving in World War II as a member of a British-led international team of Commandos. This team operates covertly in Norway, a country held in a vice-grip by Nazi Germany. In the novel's first half, Alan is working solo on missions to capture German leaders, destroy a fish-processing factory, and to hop in and out of long-range reconnaissance missions. In the first few chapters, Alan is teaching a middle-aged Polish man English, as well as training him on stealthy operations to stalk and kill targets. 

Alternating in and out of these chapters are two major characters, Nicole and Dichter. In these chapters, readers learn of Nicole's faithful service as a spy for the Allies. After her husband was killed in the war, she's now a vengeful widow working behind the scenes to feed the Commandos valuable intel. However, by day, she hosts extravagant parties for Nazi soldiers and affluent Norwegians that are sympathetic to Germany – a job she finds distasteful. Years ago, she met and fell in love with Alan and consistently worries about him on perilous missions. 

Dichter is a Nazi Major in charge of tormenting and terrorizing the Norwegian citizens. He has a romance with Nicole and often tells her details about German operations, details she uses to further the Commandos' resistance efforts. There are some chapters that delve into Dichter's personal life, key childhood moments, and a crescendo of violent occasions that have propelled his sadistic behavior. 

The book's second-half concerns Alan being captured behind enemy lines. These scenes aren't for the squeamish as Alan suffers an infectious bullet wound in his leg that complicates his survival efforts in the hands of Dichter and his Nazi torturers. However, his most agonizing moments center around his thoughts about Nicole lying in bed with Dichter while serving the Allies. He fears for her safety while also pining for her in his darkest hours.

Arnold's prose borders on literary, reminding me of a British author named Cecil Day Lewis. They both have a poetic nature to their work that involves difficult romances put to the sword over loyalty and allegiance. The Commandos carefully walks a balance beam of engaging romance and death-defying action-adventure. Thankfully, there's enough here to please both types of readers. Alan is a very human hero, often crying over some despicable act he's forced to endure or simply reminiscing about a better time in human history. Nicole's strong feminine leadership is a captivating part of the book and an endearing look at the sacrifices women made during the war. 

If you love a slow-burn action novel, The Commandos is a winner. Highly recommended. Get the book HERE.

Pack Animals Exclusive Cover Reveal

Prolific horror and crime-fiction author Greg F. Gifune, recently announced a thrilling four-book partnership with Crossroad Press. The deal features brand new editions of two of the author's out-of-print works, Dreams the Ragman and Samsara, plus two exclusive originals, The Standing Dead and Pack Animals.

Gifune, the recipient of multiple Bram Stoker Award and International Horror Guild Award nominations, sits down with Eric Compton of Paperback Warrior to reveal the details of his new books, including an exclusive reveal of the wrap-around cover art for Pack Animals. It was illustrated by Zach McCain, an internationally published artist who also created the striking artwork for Gifune's 2022 horror novella Savages, published by Cemetery Dance. 

“Zack, he's such a nice guy and he's a very talented guy and he's an absolute joy to work with. He's got the whole retro cover thing. When we got this deal, they asked do you have any preference? We all kind of agreed that the covers are always important, but with these kinds of books, the pulp kind of books, they're really important. They asked me if there was anyone I wanted, and I said if you can get Zach McCain. He'll nail it...and he did”, Gifune said. 

When asked to elaborate on the concept of Pack Animals, Gifune explained the atmospheric nature of the story and the impact it has on the characters.

“There's a couple of werewolf novels that are kind of fun, but I essentially just said, you know what...I'm going to write a book that I would want to read about this kind of thing. And it's essentially about a group of guys who have been friends since high school, and they're middle-aged now and have families. One of them gets divorced in a kind of really messy divorce, and he decides to leave. He moves up to this town in the mountains in New Hampshire. There's this property that's kind of a steal, and he buys it. But not long after moving there, he realizes there's something wrong. There's something moving around out there that shouldn't be. And his friends all sort of coordinate to take vacations and go up and see him because they're worried about him. So they go up, and then it kind of goes from there. There's a blizzard, and they're kind of in the middle of nowhere. There's this pack of animals that are stalking them.”

Gifune, who has a love for survival horror, explained some of the elements that influenced his take on the sub-genre. 

“It's kind of a homage to the survival horror novels of the seventies and eighties. And, you know, the drive-in movies and the exploitation movies of the seventies. It's just like “Savages”. One of the best compliments I had was when somebody said to me, when they were reading “Savages” it was like watching a drive-in movie back in the day, you know, which was just what I was going for.” 

Watch the full Paperback Warrior interview with the author HERE. 

Preorder the book HERE.

Decoy in Diamonds

Natalie Gates (1895-1980) was the daughter of John Brush, an entrepreneur that became the first owner of Major League Baseball's iconic Cincinnati Reds. Natalie attended the Baldwin School, then Columbia University before becoming active in the Junior League of Indianapolis in the 1920s. In 1967, her first novel, Hush Hush Johnson, was published by Holt. It was a spy-romance that garnered unfavorable reviews. She tried her had a second time with her only other book, Decoy in Diamonds. It was originally published in hardcover by Putnam in 1971 and then by Dell in paperback in 1972. What drew me to the book was Dell's deceitful marketing that promised this was a gothic.

The book stars Elsa White, a doctor that has spend a great deal of time caring for her sick mother. As a reward for her unwavering dedication, Elsa's sister buys her a 12-month cruise. Readers pick up the action as Elsa is aboard a cruise ship that has docked on the South African coast. On an excursion, Elsa acquires a large diamond. There's a prologue in the book of a miner smuggling operation and Elsa, in the right place at the right time, now has herself this big 'ole shiny rock as a product of this smuggling ring.

On the cruise ship, Elsa meets a New York attorney who has been hired by the African diamond mine to weed out the smugglers. Together, Elsa and the attorney lose the diamond and spend chapters attempting to retrieve it aboard the ship. That's the plot of this terrible 200-page paperback.

Decoy in Diamonds suffers from a boring protagonist, a silly plot, contrived “and then...” progressions, and flimsy character development. It isn't a gothic, Dell just dressed it that way hoping someone would buy this lousy romance novel. That's the real smuggling crime. Decoy in Diamonds is horrendous, making it an inductee into the Paperback Warrior Hall of Shame.

I talk about this book with Nick at The Book Graveyard HERE.

Conversations - Bad Taste Books

Bryan from Bad Taste Books joins to discuss 90s young adult horror paperbacks, focusing on imprints like Point Horror and Avon Flare. The chat includes mentions of Goosebumps, The Final Cruise, Christopher Pike, and reviews of two books by Nicole Davidson, along with a showcase of nostalgic book covers. View below or on YouTube HERE.

Matt Helm #27 - The Damagers

By 1993, the Matt Helm series by Donald Hamilton had lost its steam and readers after 33 years and 27 installments. The final adventure was The Damagers, and it was a commercial flop that exists today as a reprint. Did the government assassin series end with a bang or a whimper?

The book begins with Matt Helm living undercover on a luxury 38-foot yacht on Long Island Sound. He meets up with his first partner for the assignment, a beautiful Swedish-American spy named Ziggy from a different agency, who actually knows how to pilot and operate the vessel.

The mission? Well, it’s more of a mystery. The last three people responsible for sailing the boat - named The Lorelei III - died under mysterious circumstances while on the ship. The dead yacht enthusiasts were undercover operatives for a sister U.S. intel agency, and their bosses are very interested in the reasons the last three people on this yacht were clipped. Matt’s little agency is tasked with learning that motive.

So Matt is basically a decoy. He’s told to prevent his own death, capture the would-be killers, and relinquish them for interrogation until their agenda is known. For this assignment, he’s the bait for a counter-assassin operation.

Once Matt sets sail towards Florida on his ruse journey, the author (through Matt’s first-person narration) delves into way too much detail about the fixtures, equipment and operations of a large luxury yacht. Perhaps Donald Hamilton was trying to stretch the page count to 1993 levels when Tom Clancy imitators were dominating spy fiction. In any case, the voluminous maritime specificity throughout this book is a total snooze that can be safely skimmed.

But don’t skip the budding sexual tension between Matt and his sensuous co-pilot. There’s a rather sneaky early plot-twist that I should have seen coming, but didn’t. Even late in his career, Hamilton still had some tricks up his sleeve.

Once the mission and the adversary become clear, we learn that The Damagers is a sequel, of sorts, to the second Matt Helm installment, The Wrecking Crew. A Swedish assassin whose father was killed by Matt in that 1960 novel is out for revenge. There’s danger for Matt at every turn. Every sexy woman he encounters and lays is either a secret adversary or a secret ally.

The conventional wisdom is that the Matt Helm series lost its shine with the last handful of novels, but The Damagers was a lot of fun — like catching up with a dear, old (deadly) friend. Breeze past the yachting nonsense and enjoy the final adventure of a great series character. Get the book HERE.

When Michael Calls

Missouri native John Farris is an author, screenwriter, and movie director. His first novel was published when he was just 19 years of age. He has contributed to suspense, crime-fiction, and romance genres, but is mostly known for his horror and suspense novels. I read Farris' When Michael Calls, a 1967 novel that was made into a television film in 1972 starring Michael Douglas.

This is a suspense thriller, but the first half of it is steeped in the idea of a paranormal ghostly haunting. The reason is that the main character, a widow named Helen, is receiving phone calls from a little kid that claims to be her nephew Michael. The problem is that little Michael died in a blizzard years ago when he was a child. Helen, who now has a child of her own named Peggy, receives these calls and finds them disturbing because Michael frequently refers to her as Auntie Helen, an endearment that only Michael would have known. As the plaguing calls continue, they trend into more ominous warnings that people in town are going to die. 

The novel's murders all play out like a slasher horror film. Victims will hear noises or see shadows and, when investigating, meet their demise in some heinous fashion. Along with the murders is a robust list of suspects that could be Michael. The main suspect is Michael himself either as a ghostly demonic child or existing in a plausibility that he never really died as a child. The other is Michael's older brother Craig, who works in town as a psychiatrist and still has a great relationship with Helen. Other suspects are Craig's girlfriend Amy and also the idea of an out-of-town stranger.

The phone calls are creepy. The kills are satisfying. But, my favorite part of the book is a character named Doremus. He's a hardboiled retired homicide detective that is a widow himself. He comes to Helen's aid after the sheriff is killed, offering a charismatic approach to the investigation. He rides a scooter, plays chess, and provides a captivating backstory on how he lost his wife years ago.

Overall, When Michael Calls is an enjoyable book and I felt the pace was just right to allow the murders to happen in a way that keeps the investigation plot-propuslive. It was a chain reaction that worked really well. Amy, Helen, and Doremus are all excellent characters that have plenty of time to develop in the novel. If you haven't seen the movie, definitely steer clear of it until you read the book. This is a book that probably doesn't have as much impact once the culprit is revealed.

Get When Michael Calls HERE.

Conversations - The Book Graveyard

The Paperback Warrior collides with The Book Graveyard for another "Guide to Gothics" episode. On this show, Eric and Nick discuss a 1972 Dell Gothic paperback titled, "Decoy in Diamonds". The episode includes a review of the book, discussion of the author Natalie Gates, the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Giants, and a showcase of 10 Gothic paperbacks. Stream below or download the episode HERE. Also, Nick and I did the conversation on video and you can watch that HERE.

Listen to "Conversations - The Book Graveyard" on Spreaker.

Joyride (Video Review)

Eric's love affair with the subgenre of horror slashers is on display with a video review of the 1983 Pinnacle paperback, Joyride. Check it out HERE.

Your Body Will Never Be Found

A master of blending horror with razor-sharp humor, Jeff Strand has carved out a unique niche in the genre with stories that are as unsettling as they are laugh-out-loud funny. With dozens of novels under his belt, ranging from splatterpunk chaos to darkly comedic thrillers, he’s earned a cult following among horror fans who like their scares served with a side of satire. His 2025 release, Your Body Will Never Be Found, is a fine entry-point to his “body” of work.

The 222-page paperback begins with a family of four lost in the deep woods of rural Georgia with their car’s GPS in constant recalculation mode and the fuel gauge approaching empty. They are Arden (Dad), Laurie (Mom), Nick (15) and Misty (6).

When the car finally konks out with a blown out tire and lack of gasoline, the family is at the foot of a long driveway snaking into the forbidding woods. At the base of the driveway is a sign reading, “If you’re here, you’re clearly lost. What you do next will determine if you stay that way.”

Of course the house’s resident is Finch, a giant scary redneck with a shotgun. But is he dangerous or just worried about coyotes? Would he allow little Misty to use the restroom inside his shack while they await roadside assistance? What could go wrong?

The author does a great job of ratcheting up the tension gradually playing with the tug-o-war between normal human manners and the gut feeling that something isn’t right. When violence finally breaks out, we have a nonstop, extreme horror bloodbath.

Nick and Misty will go to any length to keep their kids safe, and they have a secret history of their own that does not make them the soft targets you’d imagine. Meanwhile, the occupants of the home also have a creepy backstory that adds to the sense of danger and foreboding.

To be sure, Your Body Will Never Be Found is an extremely violent and visceral novel with some truly vile and disgusting scenes. Be warned. Strand also writes some of the best violent fight scenes in horror fiction — as evidenced throughout the novel’s second half.

Overall, this was not a masterpiece of horror fiction, but it’s probably a fine entry-point if you want to dip your toe into the extreme horror pool of blood. He’s a solid writer and the novel’s perspective changes had a cinematic, Tarantino quality. By now, you should know if this is your thing. If so, consider this a recommendation.

Get the book HERE.

Night of the Black Frost

My monthly review of an Arthur Catherall book continues. I've become quite fond of the British author and his nautical adventure fiction that was originally catered for the young adult market. I've covered his books HERE and featured the author's literary work and author on a podcast episode HERE. I continue my examination and enjoyment with the author's Night of the Black Frost. The book was published in both England (J.M. Dent) and America ((Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard Co.) in 1968. 

Norwegian young adult Leif has just graduated high school and is in that life-lull deciding how to spend his time prior to college. His friends convince him to tour Europe for months, but Leif's father has another plan. He'll support and pay Leif's way to northwest to the Barents Sea, a frigid wasteland of ice between the Arctic Ocean and Russia. He convinces Leif to spend a few weeks with his uncles, Peder and Jan, on their commercial fishing expeditions. Leif, longing for adventure and maturity, accepts.

Onboard his uncle's fishing trawler, Leif experiences a harrowing two-day adventure. His Uncle Peder is hesitant about Leif's participation in the dangerous fishing expedition. Uncle Jan is a bit more patient and understanding. For Leif, his endurance and stamina is tested when two Russian pilots plunge into the frosty ocean in an accident. When Peder and Jan attempt a rescue they become lost at sea. It is up to Leif to run the trawler, make a rescue of his uncles and the pilots, while enduring a black frost (when fog turns to ice). 

This 166-page book was a short perfect example of what Catherall does so well – nautical adventure storytelling that features ordinary young people facing life-threatening adult decisions that accelerates their maturity and personal growth. As I always preach in these reviews, throw out the stigma of young adult. The book has an intense survival element with some gritty life choices including possible amputation of a leg, frostbite, hypothermia, and a very personal conflict facing one of the Russian pilots. There's turmoil and intrigue involving the Russian government and their interaction with these Norwegian fishermen. 

Night of the Black Frost is a fantastic adventure that showcases everything I love about this captivating author. If you like books in the style of Hammond Innes (The White South comes to mind) then look no further than this must-read. Highly recommended.

Paperback Warrior - Episode 124

This podcast episode features William R. Cox, a prolific author of over 1,000 pulp stories known for his crime-fiction, sports, and western novels. It also includes a review of a 1967 vintage suspense-thriller by John Farris. Listen today! Stream below or on YouTube HERE. Download the episode HERE.

Listen to "Episode 124: William R. Cox" on Spreaker.

Paperback Warrior Primer - Mack Bolan

In March of 1969, Pinnacle published a paperback titled War Against the Mafia. It was written by Don Pendleton (1927-1995), a U.S. Navy veteran who entered World War II at the age of 14. The novel became a success for Pinnacle/Pendleton, eventually earning literary prominence as a major catalyst for men's action-adventure paperbacks. Don Pendleton's 170-page vigilante yarn spawned a character universe that grew to a staggering 900 books across multiple publishers, authors, and titles.

The fifth podcast episode explored Bolan's publishing world, and numerous reviews exist here at Paperback Warrior covering the series. However, many readers new to the character may prefer a brief outline of the series. That's the point of this article, a Paperback Warrior Primer on this shifting, gritty, and violent experience known as The Executioner.

Mack Bolan's origin begins with Don Pendleton. As I alluded to earlier, he served in the U.S. Navy during WW2. Additionally, he served in the Korean War before becoming an air traffic controller for the FAA and an engineering administrator at NASA. Pendleton turned to writing at the age of 40.

In War Against the Mafia, the essential origin tale, readers are introduced to 30-yr-old Bolan. He's a U.S. Army Master Sergeant serving a second tour of duty in the Vietnam War. With 12 years of military service, he's a skilled sniper, holding an official record of killing 32 high-ranking North Vietnamese and 63 Viet Cong leaders. Bolan and his mother Elsa, communicate twice a week and she sends him care packages. Bolan's father is Sam, a steel worker he respects “as indestructible as the steel he made.” Bolan's two siblings are 17-yr-old Cindy and 14-yr-old Johnny. 

Elsa explains in a letter that Sam had a heart attack, and, due to lost wages, the family was in a financial bind. On a fateful day in August, Bolan is summoned to the base camp chaplain's office, where he's informed that his parents and sister are dead and his brother is in critical condition. On emergency leave, Bolan arrives stateside and learns about events leading to their deaths.

Sam borrowed money from a mob-run loan shark. Despite paying off the loan with interest, the mob puts the squeeze on Sam and requires him to endlessly pay them money. Under the financial stress, Sam cracks and fatally shoots his wife and daughter in a murder suicide. Johnny is critically wounded in the exchange.

There are a number of iconic and pivotal moments in the Mack Bolan universe, but in my opinion, none compare to the first sequence of events in Bolan's vigilance. The character purchases a Marlin .444 rifle, camps in front of the loan shark office, then shoots and kills five of the corrupt employees, thus setting off a violent rampage that will become his way of life for decades. He declares his mantra in War Against the Mafia:

"Life is a competition, and I am a competitor. I have the tools and the skills, and I must accept the responsibilities. I will fight the battle, spill the blood, smear myself with it, and stand at the bar of judgment to be crushed and chewed and ingested by those I serve. It is the way of the world. It is the ultimate disposition. Stand ready, Mafiosi, The Executioner is here."

By most standards, the first four installments are considered the essential building blocks of The Executioner series - #2 Death Squad, #3 Battle Mask, #4 Miami Massacre. After 15 novels, Pendleton and Pinnacle experience a dispute and the publisher releases the 16th novel, Sicilian Slaughter, without Pendleton's involvement, instead settling on William Crawford's writing (using the name Jim Peterson). Pendleton returned to the series with the 17th installment, ignoring events that transpired in Crawford's book.

37 of the first 38 The Executioner novels were all written by Don Pendleton and considered the "Mafia Wars" story arc. The covers for many of these novels were painted by Gil Cohen, who began working with Pinnacle on the title with the 11th installment, California Hit (1972). The publisher was so impressed with Cohen's paintings that they had him paint covers for reprints of the series' first ten installments. Cohen would continue painting over 100 Bolan novels and companions, making his name nearly synonymous with that of Mack Bolan. Men's Adventure Library, published by New Texture, offers an amazing collection of Cohen's Mack Bolan artwork titled One Man Army: The Action Paperback Art of Gil Cohen. Get the book HERE.

There's a 1977 stand-alone companion piece called Executioner War Book. According to Linda Pendleton, it was a collaborative effort stemming from Pinnacle Editorial featuring Stephen Mertz, Mike Newton, Don Pendleton's son Greg and daughter Melinda doing the research and putting the book together. The book has some letters written by fans to the author as well as drawings of Bolan's battle van and firearms. 

After the 38th novel, Satan's Sabbath, there is a major shake-up with Bolan and the publisher.

Pendleton, who grew complacent with the Mack Bolan character, sold the licensing rights to the Harlequin publishing group. Under Harlequin's Gold Eagle brand, the series continued as The Executioner, but utilized bold fonts stating Mack Bolan on the paperback covers. The iconic face of Bolan at the top of each book was replaced with a small circular font that stated The Executioner and the series installment number. 

The first paperback of this new enterprise was #39 The New War (1981), the second book of the series to be written by someone other than Don Pendleton. Gold Eagle's investment in the series brought a rotating assembly of writers who would utilize Pendleton's name. However, Pendleton was adamant about listing the writer of the books on the inside copyright page, a feat that isn't often used in the cutthroat paperback publishing business of that era.

With The New War, the character and premise of the series changed. After 38 novels of Bolan fighting the Mob, this new 80s decade warranted a different type of enemy. Global terrorism began making headlines in the 1970s, spurred by horrific events like the “Black September” Munich massacre, and rising organizations at the time consisting of the Japanese Red Army, the Symbionese Liberartion Army, and the Weather Underground.

In The New War, readers learn that Bolan, once a fugitive wanted by the F.B.I. and C.I.A., is now working for the U.S. government to combat global terrorism and international crime. Mack Bolan's new name is John Macklin Phoenix and his headquarters is a covert operation in Virginia called Stony Man.

The Executioner would run from 1981 through 2020 with a total of 464 installments authored by a variety of writers. The most respected of the series' writers was Stephen Mertz, although Mike Newton, Dan Schmidt, Jerry VanCook, Chuck Rogers, and Mike McQuay wrote the majority of the series, collectively 181 total installments. 

The other major changes and additions that began after The New War included an expansion of The Executioner title. Because of the many allies that serve Stony Man and Bolan, Gold Eagle took the opportunity to launch companion titles.  

Collaborating with Gold Eagle, Don Pendleton created the titles Able Team and Phoenix Force and “helped” write the series debut installments. Able Team consists of allies previously seen in Death Mask and Bolan's California infiltrations. The title ran 51 installments and two Super Able Team novels, using rotating authors using the house name Dick Stivers. Phoenix Force consists of international special operatives hand-selected by Bolan. The title ran 51 installments and four Super Phoenix Force special editions. The series was written by rotating authors using the name Gar Wilson.

Both of these titles were featured in a giant crossover of Bolan and allies in the 1983 novel Stony Man Doctrine. This impressive “giant-sized” novel served a couple of purposes. 

First, it was the first of the Super Bolan paperbacks published by Gold Eagle. These were double the size of the The Executioner books and had a higher price tag of $3.95. These Super Bolan novels worked in the same fashion as the standard The Executioner title and featured a revolving door of authors. 

Second, Stony Man Doctrine also served as the first of the Stony Man books, a series that would take off in 1991 after Able Team and Phoenix Force stopped publication. Stony Man combined both of the teams with other Bolan allies for a massive 140-book run through 2015. The start of the series in the early 90s also paralleled a marketing change for men's action-adventure novels – a shift to more epic, technical thrillers that honed in on the Tom Clancy marketplace share. Covers featuring good guys with guns morphed into generic covers of satellites, military installations, and fighter jets. 

In addition to paperbacks, there are four issues of the short-lived The Executioner Mystery Magazine (Ackerman Productions), a 1993 four-issue comic adaptation of War Against the Mafia (Innovation Publishing), a 1996 black-and-white comic adaptation of Death Squad (Vivid Comics), and a 2008 five-issue comic titled Don Pendleton's The Executioner: The Devil's Tool (IDW). 

There's no denying that Marvel Comics' The Punisher is a direct descendant of the Bolan character and series. In June of 1993, Advance Comics interviewed Don Pendleton about the comparisons between The Punisher and The Executioner. In it, Pendleton says, “Let's just say The Punisher has taken a lot of liberties with my work. Anyone who knows the history of The Executioner has known that all along. I elected many years ago to just let it pass, feeling that there is room for both of us in the industry.”

Audio books exist on cassette through DH Audio and Books in Motion. Cutting Edge Audio published The Executioner and Stony Man novels between 2004-2006.

You can get most of the Mack Bolan universe using this LINK.

The Burial of the Rats

One year before Bram Stoker's penultimate work, Dracula, his short story “The Burial of the Rats” (1896) was published in Lloyd's Weekly News. The story would be collected for the first time in book format courtesy of the George Routledge and Sons 1914 hardcover Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories, complete with one of Thomas Handforth's greatest illustrations. Since that date the story has appeared in hundreds of magazines, anthologies, and audio narrations. The story was adapted into a 1995 film titled Bram Stoker's Burial of the Rats by Roger Corman's film company. 

Surprisingly, despite the morbid title, “The Burial of the Rats” isn't quite a horror story. It is more of a dark, man-on-the-run flavor that would find its readership in the pages of a men's action-adventure magazine than a horror anthology. It would be 28 more years before Richard Connell Jr. set the standard for “men hunting men” in his marvelous romp "The Most Dangerous Game", but Stoker's early effort helps shape the formula. According to oldstyletales.com, predating both Stoker and Connell Jr. was the man-on-the-run thriller “An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, “The Suicide Club” by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Rudyard Kipling's “The Man Who Would be King”.

In Stoker's rather simple story, an unnamed British narrator wants to marry his sweetheart. However, the parents want him to spend a year apart from her, a 12-month journey that places the dejected narrator in Paris. He finds himself in a bad part of town where trash is heaped and the poverty-ridden populace squats in makeshift, unconventional housing. It is here that the narrator sees six veteran soldiers, now tattered in rags and scruffy uniforms, watching him like a hawk.

Lost, he stops to ask for directions from an old woman. She tells him of her life, and, while she talks, the narrator sees large rats swarming all over. She explains a horrible personal experience of venturing into the sewer once to retrieve a lost ring and of the rats there that would suck flesh from bones in an instant. Vaguely, the narrator then hears (or thinks?) the woman call out to the soldiers to help her kill the young traveler. In a quest to survive the night, the narrator then takes off on foot through this kingdom of rubble and trash to escape his pursuers.  

Stoker had a unique fascination with rats and used them quite often to set a type of warning that man's existence is perpetually haunted, or hunted, by a predator. Rats scurrying about is a frightening and disturbing image, but even with this appalling element, Stoker manages to eek by with a storytelling ability that is wholly steeped in an adventure. The story's second half is a furious run as the narrator attempts to escape the clutches of this maddened group of scrawny and starved ex-soldiers. The atmosphere and visual imagery of the city – this wasteland of debris and its King and Queen Squatters – is a character all to itself. For me, this is the real highlight of the book – the visual imagery of this awful place. 

You can get this story and others by Bram Stoker HERE.