Nick Carter: Killmaster #06 - Saigon

In terms of the early Nick Carter: Killmaster novels, I enjoyed the debut, Run, Spy, Run, and the series's third installment, Checkmate in Rio. The combination of Michael Avallone and Valerie Moolman proved to be a winning formula, although I suspect Avallone had more to do with Checkmate in Rio. The two are listed as co-authors of the sixth series entry, Saigon, published in 1964. Whatever the ratio the two writers shared, they managed to create one of the worst books I've ever covered here at Paperback Warrior.

The novel takes place during Vietnam's Civil War, shortly after the French have been pushed out of the country. Madame Claire La Farge's peaceful existence in Northern Vietnam is under consistent threats from the Communist regime. Claire's sprawling farm plantation provides food and labor for the local villagers, which is one of the few reasons the bad guys have left her alone. There's a backstory in the opening pages regarding Claire's husband, a French Intelligence agent who was killed eight years ago. Claire spends most of her days sunbathing in the nude and...well, that's about it. 

A messenger arrives at Claire's house and immediately succumbs to his injuries at the hands of some merciless torturer. He provides Claire a list, and the book kicks into low gear from there. 

The first half of the book is dedicated to a girl named Toni. She's hooked on heroin and has sex with her dealer. The dealer is a Communist agent who's thrilled to give injections of both varieties to Toni. Yet, he's really working to obtain details about Toni's father, Dupre, a French Intelligence agent. Does any of this tie to the list provided to Claire from the dead guy? Probably, but I stopped caring after these endless pages of “giving her his maleness”. 

Nick Carter eventually gets involved by answering an advertisement in the classified pages. Seriously. He's on loan to the South Vietnamese government, posing as a medical doctor in a nearby village. He's bored one morning and reads a newspaper and sees an intriguing classified ad. He goes to follow up, and it just so happens that it was a secret message sent by Claire in hopes of reaching one of her husband's former French co-workers. Sure, AXE eventually corresponds with Nick and advises him to go to Claire's house, but Nick had already beaten this branch of American Intelligence by reading the newspaper. 

The second half of the book is Toni and her dealer doing the nasty, but mostly involves Nick bedding down Toni's friend Michelle and also pining over what Claire may look like once he journeys through the jungle to find her house. Nick's quest isn't the list, upending communism and providing war efforts. Nope. He needs to get laid by a woman he's never met (or saw).

I've read some bad Michael Avallone novels, so he's not completely off the hook here. I suspect that Valerie Moolman is to blame for this word stockpile of pointless, poorly written trash. The characters behave poorly, there's very little action, and the novel really should have been a sleaze book with no association to the Nick Carter series (although consensus says the series is ripe with poor entries). I hated this book. I despise this book. I have a scanned copy taking up a meager 7MB of space and I want to remove all traces of it from my computer. Hall of Shame, welcome Saigon. 

Paperback Warrior - Conversations

In this episode, I'm talking with Nick from The Book Graveyard and Chris from Liminal Spaces about a 1969 paperback titled To the Dark Tower by Weird Tales author Frank Belknap Long. Is the book an early representative of folk horror? Is it a standard gothic romance paperback? What are the ties to Lovecraft's cosmic horror? We have the answers in this newest episode of the Guide to Gothics series.

Stream the podcast below, on any streaming platform, or watch the collaboration on video HERE.

Listen to "Conversations - The Book Graveyard & Liminal Spaces" on Spreaker.

Underground Airlines

Ben Winters (b. 1976) is a New York Times bestselling author who won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his 2012 novel The Last Policeman. The book was the first in a trilogy of pre-apocalyptic detective novels. My first experience with the writer is Underground Airlines, a 2016 novel published by Mulholland Books.

The novel is set in an alternate history of the United States, one in which the American Civil War never happened. The book's opening page shows the map of states, some of which are free and some that aren't – meaning slave labor is still legal. These states, which are mostly America's upper East Coast, as well as the “Hard Four”, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and California, use forced labor (mostly black) to manufacture goods, for farming, and for household servitude. 

The book's protagonist is Victor, a black undercover agent who works as a U.S. Marshall. His main duty is to hunt escaped slaves and bring them to justice. He's good at it and possesses a stellar resume of apprehensions. However, there's an inner turmoil within Victor that builds throughout the narrative. 

Victor was a slave himself. Throughout the novel, readers are fed pieces of Victor's backstory that reveal his life as a slave, his eventual escape to a free state, and his apprehension by authorities. The feds offered Victor official, legal freedom in exchange for his career as a slave-hunting cop. It is the proverbial “sell the Devil your soul” dish dressed and served deliciously by the author. 

Underground Airlines focuses on Victor's trail to find an escaped slave, a plot that weaves in and out of slave and free states in a compelling mix of unique takes on history and a contemporary look at forced labor in our current society (you're probably wearing clothes stitched by a slave as you read this). I think Winter's novel is a hard look at forced labor and the intricacies of protecting big business and their pockets. It reminded me of classics like Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and how that book's main character, Guy Montag, begins to question the system and plots ways (with assistance) to upend the immoral fabric of the government. 

You can get this unique, entertaining novel HERE.

Babysitter's Nightmares #04 - A Killer in the House

There were a number of middle school horror and thriller paperbacks in the 1980s and 1990s. I' 've reviewed a few of them here on PW, and created videos discussing these novels. I discovered a series recently that was new to me, Babysitter's Nightmares. This was a short-lived, four-book series of stand-alone thrillers published by HarperPaperbacks, the young adult division of HarperCollins, in 1995. My experience comes by way of A Killer in the House, the series' last installment, authored by J.H. Carroll. 

Sue is a high school student earning extra income by babysitting the Andersons' young son. One night, she stumbles on an envelope left under the typewriter of Mr. Anderson. Inside, she discovers a check being paid to a person identified as R. Stoud for $125K. This fat check leads Sue into a search for who Mr. Anderson really is and what led to his wealth. 

Partnering with her friend Lydia and friend Brett, Sue begins an investigation that leads to some really dark places. Apparently, Mrs. Anderson may have killed her prior husband, stolen his money, and set up a new identity. Is she a black widow preying on rich men? Is Mr. Anderson the next victim?

A Killer in the House isn't the novel I thought it would be. I was prepared for a home-invasion setup with some sadistic psychopath breaking in on a babysitter's shift. Maybe something like the film Black Christmas, playing up the killer in the house title. Remember “the calls are coming from inside the house”? Instead, this short novel is a crime-fiction endeavor with the lead researching the suspect's former employer, a trip to the library for archived press clippings, a discussion at a New York Mets game, and other low-tension affairs. 

While the finale produced some gunfire, fisticuffs, and a few surprises, the book is generally going to attract fans of Nancy Drew or The Hardy Boys. It's a fun crime story with a central mystery and the obligatory self-discovery as the protagonist finds herself through the clues chase.

Get the book HERE.

The Wolf in the Clouds

Ron Faust (1936-2011) worked in the newspaper industry in Key West, Colorado Springs, and San Diego. He elected to play professional baseball in the 1950s, but left the sport after just 25 games and two seasons. His first published novel was Snowkill, published in 1970. He authored 14 more books before his passing, most of which are high adventure novels that incorporate skiing, mountain climbing, and philosophy. His intense thriller The Wolf in the Clouds is an avalanche-themed survival novel that also features a deranged psychopath. The book was originally published as a hardcover by Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1977 and in paperback by Popular Library the same year. 

Jack is a family man with a wife and two young children. He works for the U.S. Forestry Service and specializes in avalanche prevention and recovery. As the book begins, Jack's co-worker Frank arrives at Jack's house and explains that their assignment is to retrieve three college kids who have vacationed in a secluded, faraway cabin near the top of fictitious Mt. Wolf. As the two leave the house, Jack's wife begs him to consider moving his job to a different area of expertise or a safer geographical area. 

En route to the base of the mountain, Jack discovers Frank has brought a rifle for the rescue mission. In a philosophical debate that permeates throughout the novel, Jack argues that the gun is not the answer. He questions Frank's intentions and explains that the homicidal maniac was once a friend and co-worker. It's explained that the maniac is Ralph, a quiet man who befriended Jack a year or two earlier on the job. Ralph even rescued Jack during an avalanche, so the two share a bond. Yet, Jack understands Ralph's psychotic tendencies. The killer murdered his landlord and shot several skiers before running from fugitives into the icy wilderness. He's a mass shooter on the run, which is ultimately Frank's defense in bringing a rifle for the rescue. Smart guy.

Eventually, Jack and Frank reach the mountaintop and meet with the three college kids. Ralph arrives as well, and all Hell breaks loose. People are shot and killed, Ralph takes the cabin and captures Jack and two college kids. The novel's second half is a high-tension cat-and-mouse affair as Jack talks with Ralph to de-escalate the situation. Yet without a gun, Jack realizes his efforts are useless and likely to cost him his life. No one is getting out of the cabin without a struggle.

The Wolf in the Clouds is an excellent thriller that incorporates philosophy and high adventure. Jack is aloof and weak, the opposite of a paperback warrior. The idea of combatting violence without violence sounds great in theory, but spells disaster for these college kids and Jack. Despite Jack's efforts to talk to Ralph, the maniac ultimately descends into some really dark places fueled by sexual frustration, psychotic fantasies, and a deep desire to kill people to liberate their Earthly bodies for a space trip. Ralph is the cult leader without a cult, Jack is the white-hatted hero without a gun. Faust blends all of these into a fascinating novel that piqued my interest in his bibliography. Recommended. Get his books HERE.

Mean Business on North Ganson Street

S. Craig Zahler is a terrific independent screenwriter and an accomplished novelist. His 2014 violent crime novel, Mean Business on North Ganson Street, was to be adapted into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx, but it seems the film project never happened.

Our hero is Jules Bettinger, age 50. He’s a tough and cynical black police detective in Arizona. For largely political reasons involving an unfortunate civilian death, he’s fired from his position on the force. His chief made some calls and landed him a job as a police detective in a rustbelt city called Victory, Missouri. The town is a cesspool of rapes, abductions and murders. They could use a seasoned detective.

Victory is a shithole among shitholes resembling Sin City from the Frank Miller comic books. Dangerous thugs wielding pipes are everywhere. The “Welcome to Victory” sign at the city limits is smeared with excrement greeting visitors with miles of dilapidated tenements and dead pigeons adorning every street.

Bettinger’s first case in Victory is a murder-rape (in that order) on Ganston Street, and the book starts looking like a normal police procedural. Not so fast! Zahler’s plotting takes two abrupt turns becoming an investigation into police corruption, then a violent serial killer manhunt.

Ganston Street’s characters are vivid and morally-ambiguous. Characters that stand on virtue are dragged into the muck when a case becomes personal. As a lead character, Bettinger is super-smart and capable. But the real star of the novel is the dungheap town of Victory. Zahler pours it on thick making Victory far-and-away the most putrid city in America — making Gary, Indiana look like Downtown Disney.

To enjoy a Zahler book, you need to be comfortable with an extreme amount of graphic violence. A rotting pigeon is shoved down the throat of a non-compliant subject. Brain matter splatters against the ceiling in an office suicide. All of this is in service if the plot and never gratuitous, but you need to make peace with these sequences as a reader. Some of the descriptions were hard to read.

The mysteries of the novel are all neatly resolved by the end with characters having gone to hell and back to bring these matters to a close. Mean Business on Ganson Street isn’t Zahler’s masterpiece (that would be The Slanted Gutter), but it’s a damn-fine xxxtreme police procedural mystery-crime-corruption-vendetta novel that will keep you glued to the pages. 

Get the book HERE.

The Turn of the Screw

Henry James (1843-1916) authored a number of celebrated works, like The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl, and The Ambassadors. However, his reputation is mostly synonymous with the ghost story The Turn of the Screw. The work was originally published in Collier's Weekly in 1898, then reprinted in numerous formats as part of The Two Magics collection, The Aspern Papers, and stand-alone editions by a variety of publishers. Maintaining the novella's relevancy are the endless adaptations. There have been at least seven film adaptations, ten television series productions, numerous stage performances, and a radio play. I read and enjoyed the book when I was much younger. As part of my collaboration with Nick Anderson at The Book Graveyard, I agreed to revisit the novella for a discussion on gothic paperbacks. 

The basis of the novella is told in first-person perspective from an unnamed narrator. She is the newly hired governess for a boy and a girl living in a large country house in Essex, England. While ages are never provided, I guess that Miles is around 14-16 years of age. He was attending boarding school and has been dismissed for the summer. Later, it is disclosed through a letter that Miles has been permanently kicked out of the school for some undisclosed act. Flora is Miles' younger sister. Based on clues in the novel, I speculate she is around 4-5 years of age. 

Through the narrative, the governess learns that two of her predecessors mysteriously died. While outside on the front lawn, the governess looks up to see a strange man inside the house walking along the tower. Later, the governess sees a malevolent woman dressed in black standing near the children. These appearances continue throughout the narrative, leading readers to question the narrator's mental state. In the narrator's defense, the children behave as if they see these two people as well. Later, the governess describes the people to Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper, and she confirms that these two entities could be the prior “dead” predecessors that tutored the children. 

The Turn of the Screw is a difficult novella to read. The prose and language are Victorian, creating abrasion for readers (i.e. “presumable sequestration”). The most straightforward scenes are described in abstract details that blur the actual events. There is too much anonymity to allow readers to connect to these characters, a strangeness that constructs and seals too many details. I conclude that James purposefully wrote the work in a vague way to create an air of mystery in the whole text. Either this presentation will work for you or it won't. The first time I read the novella, I was intrigued and overly enthusiastic about it. This time, I found the writing tedious and the pace sluggish.

While there are terrifying moments, the way they are described isn't captivating or revealing. Perhaps at the time of publication, this had more of an impact, but in 2025, the horror is tepid at best. I think I'm more moved by the general idea of the novella and the inspiration it provided for gothic paperbacks and films (The Others, The Woman in Black come to mind). There's no questioning the work's positive impact on modern thrillers and horror, and for that reason, I'm appreciative of James' contribution to the genre. You owe it to yourself to read the novella and come to your own conclusions.

Get a version you like HERE.

X-Files - The Calusari

Garth Nix was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was a sales rep and publicist before becoming a senior editor at HarperCollins. He later became a literary agent for Curtis Brown Pty Ltd before becoming a full-time author. He created and wrote the fantasy series Old Kingdom, consisting of six novels, as well as young-adult fantasy titles like The Seventh Tower, The Keys to the Kingdom, and two series co-written with Sean Williams, Have Sword, Will Travel and Troubletwisters. 

Nix kicked off the young adult line of X-Files novelizations in 1997 with the first installment, The Calusari, published by Scholastic. There were 16 of these books from 1997 through 2000, all of which were written by different authors and adapted from the television show episodes. “The Calusari” was the show's twenty-first episode of the second season, originally airing April 14, 1995. 

I always enjoyed the show's monster-of-the-week episodes the most. While I love X-Files, I found the through-story arc with alien invasion and cover-ups way too convoluted. These unconnected, stand-alone episodes are really where the show shines, and this episode is one of the most frightening of the franchise. 

The book, at 116 pages, features an exorcist sort of take on a child's death. In the opener (pre-theme music), Maggie and her husband Steve are at a small amusement park in Virginia. They have their two small sons with them, Teddy and Charlie. In a freak occurrence, Teddy is struck by a train while pursuing a balloon that appears to be floating against the wind. The X-Files become involved after evidence shows the balloon's trajectory and the possibility of a ghost that led Teddy to his death.

Mulder and Scully become involved in the investigation, which takes some unusual turns with Romanian customs, Charlie's bizarre grandmother, Maggie's unwillingness to succumb to the family's odd traditions, and marital woes in the wake of Teddy's death. There is a disturbing plot element introduced that suggests Charlie's dead twin may be an evil force bent on destroying the family. The Calusari emerge as the family's mysterious religious sect pitted against evil.

Novelizations are tricky. One of the most alluring aspects of these novels is the possibility of introducing a different perspective, more depth to certain film or episode scenes, different takes on the source material, or something else. The Calusari doesn't offer much to supplement the episode. This is nearly word-for-word a transcription of the episode, with a few perspective pieces coming from the train driver and Maggie's relationship with her mother-in-law. Aside from that, this is literally an episode on paper. It was brisk, enjoyable, and I don't regret reading it. But it adds nothing to the episode.

Get The Calusari HERE.

The Day They H-Bombed Los Angeles

Using his own name, and pseudonyms like Russell Storm, John S. Browning, and H.H. Harmon, Robert Moore Williams (1907-1977) authored science-fiction and adventure novels and short stories. He contributed his Tarzan-inspired series Jongor to the Fantastic Adventures pulp, and also wrote for other magazines like Amazing Stories and Startling Stories. In my search to read another doomsday novel, I chose his stand-alone 1961 Ace paperback The Day They H-Bombed Los Angeles (D-530).

As the novel begins, Tom Watkins, a former Sergeant in the U.S.M.C., is walking in the harbor area of Los Angeles when a bright splash of light engulfs the sky. He quickly realizes a bomb has decimated Pasadena and begins seeking shelter. As sirens sound, Tom and others find a fallout shelter and brace for more impacts. Earthquake tremors, more bombs, and human hysteria devour the day and night as Tom tries to survive in this hot, confined space.

In these post-apocalyptic scenarios, alliances are naturally formed. Typically, it is the calm, cool, and collected opposing the irrational, deranged lunatics. As unsatisfied people begin leaving the shelter, Tom's group hunkers down to wait for the rain to wash the fallout from the air. His group consists of an FBI agent, Tom's former classmate, a spoiled Hollywood actress, an adventuresome young man, and Tom's soon-to-be love interest, a woman named Cissie. 

The next day, the group leaves the shelter and heads to Cissie's employer, a scientist named Dr. Smith, who lives and works in a large concrete building. Inside, the group set up a makeshift living arrangement and begin prowling the streets by day gathering guns, ammunition, and food storage. At night, the group hears an unnerving howling coming from the dark streets outside. The next morning, they find the remains of a woman that appears to have been eaten. 

On one of the supply runs, the group encounters a small group of survivors displaying bizarre behavior. The people walk/run hunched over and seem to have no regard for their own safety. They just press forward and want to kill. As the narrative unfolds, these “zombies” repeatedly attack the shelter, and the group is forced to shoot them. But as more and more are killed, there are hundreds more that take their place. Is this the Dawn of the Dead?

No. Not really. Although the term “zombie” is thrown around a lot. This is more like the film franchise 28 Days Later crossed with Jack Finney's The Body Snatchers. As Dr. Smith and the group run experiments on these infected people, they realize they are all suffering from a molecule that transforms them into killing machines. But as the molecule evolves, the humans gain intelligence to unite, create armies, and eventually commandeer airplanes. There's a backstory on the molecule, how it was pulled from the ocean, and a far-reaching spin on evolution. 

Williams' narrative combines the efforts of Smith and Tom leading their respective factions against the crazies. Smith's emphasis is on research and attempts to only injure the infected. He feels he can cure them with more time. Tom is in desperation mode as the survivors defend themselves in the concrete building and on supply runs. 

Ultimately, Williams used an alien invasion angle, like the aforementioned The Body Snatchers, to make this post-apocalyptic tale work as science-fiction. It's a fun book loaded with tension, action, and some genuinely scary moments. But the author's dialogue is clunky and uneven, which reduces the book's enjoyment. If you can get through the rough patches, then you'll absolutely love this one. Recommended. Get the book HERE.

Dead of Winter

Keri Beevis is an internationally bestselling author who resides in Norfolk, England. She wrote her first novel at the age of twenty and won a publishing contest in 2012. In 2019, she signed with Bloodhound Books and later became a Boldwood Books author. She's authored numerous hits like The Sleepover, The Summer House, and Nowhere to Hide, making her a successful suspense writer with 14 popular novels that have sold over half a million copies. Her newest novel, Dead of Winter, was published in October 2025 by Boldwood Books. 

Like many modern thrillers, Dead of Winter is a non-linear presentation featuring chapters that weave back and forth between different years. These chapters have an emphasis on a handful of different characters that are experiencing penultimate moments that affect the book's present events and the novel's protagonist, a young woman named Lola.

In the unsettling premise, Lola recounts to readers her experience of losing her mother. After her death, Lola discovers she was adopted when she was a small child. Wanting to connect with her family, she learns that she has one biological family member remaining, a wealthy brother named Daniel living in Norfolk. She reaches out to him on Facebook Messenger and is met with a rather snobby response. He wants nothing to do with her. After several months, she reaches out again and receives a cold invite to meet him at his home. Lola connects her work schedule with a stop at his house a few days before Christmas. 

On the train ride to Norfolk, Lola runs into her former boyfriend, Quinn. Readers gain the backstory on both characters, why they broke up, and the events that have led to a chance meeting on a train. Eventually, Lola arrives at Midwinter Manor, a sprawling mansion, where she is introduced to Daniel (he's confined to a wheelchair) and his rude wife, Rose. After receiving a minimum amount of information on her dead biological parents, Daniel and Rose wish Lola goodbye. Only there's a heavy snowstorm, and Lola wrecks the car leaving the couple's long driveway. With no cell phone signal, she's forced to return to the couple who were so anxious to be rid of her. She'll need to spend the night with these cold-hearted strangers. 

As the evening and night unfold, the author introduces a complex tale that explains Rose's involvement with Daniel, Daniel's crippling injury, Lola's unique relationship with the family, and a myriad of other interesting tidbits. However, when the power goes out, things emerge from the dark that elevate the narrative from a character discovery plot to a psychological suspense novel. Daniel and Rose have secrets, including other people in the house that Lola is unaware of. 

Dead of Winter is a far better book than I expected. After experiencing a few of these modern thrillers from the likes of Darcy Coates and Freida McFadden (house name), I was anticipating a disposable airport paperback. These books typically end up as Lifetime movies or Netflix originals with a lifespan of a week. But Keri Beevis surprised me. The twist was so satisfying, and the buildup was brimming with a tension-laced atmosphere, and an invested interest in past events that paid wonderful dividends on present events directly impacting the protagonist. Beevis is a smart writer and made every detail matter. Lola is likable, Daniel is mysterious, Rose is heinous, and the other characters...well let's pretend they don't exist for now. I don't want to ruin the surprise. 

Like a great gothic paperback, Dead of Winter is the perfect escapism – a cavernous mansion, a vulnerable beauty, and scary happenings in the dark. What's not to love? Get Dead of Winter HERE.

The Penetrator #04 - Hijacking Manhattan

It was Chet Cunningham's turn to write the next Penetrator novel, Hijacking Manhattan, using the house name Lionel Derrick. In this vigilante series, Cunningham writes the even-numbered installments and Mark Roberts the odd. 

Mark Hardin receives some intel on a black militant group calling themselves Black Gold. It's a splintered faction from the Black Panthers, but with a deadly alliance formed with Chinese terrorists. This hybrid of black and red is a wrecking crew, working in prostitution, heroin distribution, racketeering, and general criminal tomfoolery. However, their newest endeavor has brought New York City to its knees.

Led by Abdul Daley, an ex-Vietnam Vet and career criminal, the group has undertaken a series of extortion involving the police and city officials. It begins with detonating a portion of the city's subway system. Abdul then makes a call to the police and demands millions in used $20 bills to avoid it happening again. The city pays up in a bungled attempt to tail the money grabber, and the whole thing recycles again with another planned bombing and payment. Thankfully, one man can stop the deadly game.

Hardin uses a tanning cream to make himself appear to be a nonchalant black guy in Harlem. He practices “acting black” in his hotel room to get the dialect and mannerisms down. He then infiltrates various cells, taking information by force and kicking balls along the way. The narrative's most interesting bit is an uneasy alliance with the book's eye candy, a secretive counter-intelligence woman who wants to nail a weapons distributor providing explosives to Black Gold. There's also a small sidestep with a female detective captured by the gang and then raped.

These books are violent pulpy fun, and both authors that contribute to the series never take it too seriously. Cunningham is a great storyteller and invests enough of the page count in providing character development on the faction's unique leader, as well as planting enough mystery behind Hardin's female counterpart in the book. Of the Executioner rip-offs, Penetrator continues to be one step ahead. Recommended. 

Get the book HERE.

G.I. Joe - Jungle Raid

I've covered G.I. Joe on a couple of different occasions here at PW, including the comics and the recent short story collection. The books that have alluded me my whole life are the YA Ballantine paperbacks that were published between 1987-1988. I've yet to find one in the wild, but thankfully, someone scanned the series' fifth installment, Jungle Raid (cover by Earl Norem), and posted it to Archive.org. It was written by R.L. Stine of Goosebumps and Fear Street fame.

In the fictitious island country of San Juego, the democratically elected government is in jeopardy of losing its nation to a terrorist leader named Raoul and his army of mercenaries. As the fighting erupts between the two nations, a plea is made to the U.S. government to send in the G.I. Joe force. Their mission is to be a peacekeeping faction to protect the innocent civilians. This brings some bitterness for team members like Law and Falcon, who are itching to get into the fight and stop Raoul.

Hawk meets with the team and announces that COBRA forces might be in San Juego conducting mind control experiments. The mission transforms from peacekeeper to investigative as a three-pronged assignment is unveiled. Chuckles will infiltrate the nearby village disguised as a laborer while searching for some sort of COBRA headquarters. Gung Ho and others will beat the bush searching for any sign of COBRA. Meanwhile, Hawk and his men will be busy defending their mobile command center from Raoul and his mercenaries. As the narrative kicks into high gear, all three parts of the assignment explode into action. 

This book begins like a typical adult men's action-adventure paperback from the likes of Pinnacle or Manor. Chuckles has a barroom run-in with village bullies and has a unique way of dealing with them. He then infiltrates the village workforce and is carted away to a secret lair where COBRA and a certain doctor are conducting experiments on villagers. This part of the book turns into a type of prison-break action formula as Chuckles battles the enemy as a prisoner. The action in the jungle expands to include familiar franchise villains like the Dreadnoks and COBRA Commander. But, there's also a central mystery included with Hawk announcing he is helping his brother in San Juego. Everyone knows Hawk doesn't have a brother, so the intrigue behind this relationship is enticing. 

I had way more fun with this G.I. Joe YA paperback than I ever expected to. Stine's writing is flavorful, and his prose is simple yet effective with plenty of G.I. Joe lore that isn't that different than the animated cartoon. This reads like an episode of the show – over-the-top, totally unbelievable pulpy fun. The good guys win, the bad guys lose, America saves the day. Who can argue with that storytelling flow? Jungle Raid is a fun romp that begs for a repeat performance. Thankfully, Stine wrote one more of these books. Unfortunately, the series is rather expensive in the used retail market. You can check prices HERE.

Nurses Dormitory

According to romancewiki, Alice Brennan (1913-1973) was a St. Louis native who lived in Michigan. She was employed as a dancer, hat-check girl, and secretary, but became a novelist in the early 1960s. She authored a variety of fiction that was centered in the romance genre. She wrote gothics and nurse-fiction for publishers like Lancer, Paperback Library, Belmont, Berkley, and Avon. I chose to read her first nurse novel, Nurses Dormitory. It was published in 1962 by Lancer, and later reprinted by Magnum Books. Cover artist uncredited.

The novel presents the careers and personal lives of three young nurses who have just started employment at fictional St. Joseph's General Hospital in an unnamed city. Brennan's smooth narrative focuses on a variety of subplots that affect the lives and inner sanctum of this medical facility. By switching perspectives from these three main characters, the chapters often entwine their personal struggles at the hospital and the various patients and medical concerns affecting both their work and sleep.

The most prominent character is Veronica, a farm girl who grew up with her childhood friend John. By earning an education and becoming a nurse, Veronica is now working at the same facility as John, a resident doctor. Veronica has loved John her entire life, so her placement as his nurse is a twofold problem. Her affection for John could jeopardize her career and derail her career ambitions. At the same time, John has always considered Veronica as a sister, yet her maturity now brings a new spark of romance to the relationship. Veronica and John are cautious in exploring this love affair, which made their portions of the narrative extremely interesting.

Susie enjoys nursing, but has an aspiration to marry into money. However, she meets Veronica's brother, a farmer, and her personal goals are ruined. She flirts with the idea of marrying for love, scoffs at the concept of becoming a farmer's wife, and debates the farmer's grandiose intention of having six kids. While enjoyable, their relationship struggles were the least effective portions of the narrative.

Lita is the daughter of a successful film actress. She's pursuing her medical career despite her mother's best efforts to lead her into the life of a spoiled nepo baby. Lita is also torn between two lovers, a successful entrepreneur named Peter and the resident doctor, Mark. Both men are admirable choices, with each experiencing their own life goals and purpose. Peter wants Lita's hand in marriage, but Mark is the real lover Lita is pining for. Lita's struggles with Mark were laced with a mystery concerning Mark's prior wife and a repressed guilt that leads him to alcohol abuse. 

While these three character studies were interesting enough, Nurses Dormitory surprisingly contains a tight-knit legal battle. The hospital's manager, a tightwad named Larson, has finally put the business into the black, yet his cost-cutting approach is nearly criminal. As the doctors and nurses are desperate for things like penicillin, Larson refuses to order more than a certain monthly allotment. As the doctors battle Larson, he begins restricting their use of the operating room, which leads to a showdown over a dying patient. These high-strung medical scenarios were imaginative and written well. There was also riveting patient drama with a small child's gunshot wound and attempts to save his leg from gangrene. 

While I'm not a fan of TV medical dramas like Grey's Anatomy and Chicago Med, reading these dramas seems to be something I'm drawn to. A lot of great writers penned nurse-fiction, from the king of paperbacks Harry Whittington, to authors such as Max Brand (Frederick Faust), Frank Slaughter, Arthur Catherall, and Peggy Gaddis. It's an entire genre that competes, and sometimes blends, with gothic-suspense and romance. If Nurses Dormitory is any indication of the genre's quality, then I'm all in. I enjoyed the characters, the development, the pace, and the author's ability to weave all of this into a captivating narrative in just 132 pages. 

Get the book HERE.

War of the Worlds

Perhaps the father of science-fiction, H.G. Wells, is best known for his celebrated classic War of the Worlds. The book was written between 1985 and 1897, and first published in Pearson's Magazine in the U.K. and Cosmopolitan in the U.S. The serial transitioned into a novel in 1898, and has been reprinted and offered in numerous formats since then. The seminal alien invasion novel has also been adapted into radio drama, films, comics, and television.

The novel, presented in third-person by an unnamed narrator, begins in Southeast England as a cylinder launches from Mars and arrives on Horsell Common in Surrey. The narrator approaches the pit where the capsule is laying. He then gets a neighboring journalist to accompany him and the news spreads as more and more people arrive to gaze into the pit. Eventually, the cylinder's top spins open and the aliens, possessing tentacles and a beak-like moth, emerge. Within a few minutes the aliens incinerate over 40 people with a devastating heat ray. The human slaughter commences and another capsule arrives.

The book's prose intensifies with more descriptions of battle. Wells focuses a great deal on catastrophe and destruction, elevated with the emergence of the tripods, three-legged Martian fighting machines that simply annihilate military forces. Entwined in the narrative is the narrator's flee with his wife to the nearby town of Leatherhead, leaving her there with relatives. The narrator (for reasons unclear to me) returns to the Woking area to witness more carnage and then the mass exodus of people abandoning London.

The book's second half (labeled Book 2) is more atmospheric as the nature of the novel expands into a more despondent post-apocalyptic tone. London, referred to as “Dead London” in chapter eight, is described as a truly dismal place littered with corpses and alien scavengers. These scavengers seemingly squeeze the blood from humans as a source of nutrients. 

The more intimate details of the book's second half features the narrator and a soldier trapped in a deserted house. The narrator is concerned with his wife's safety and irritated with the soldier's deteriorating mental state. There's a lack of food and water that adds more misery to the situation. Both characters eventually leave the house, only to find themselves trapped in another dwelling as the alien scavengers continue to scrape the streets and houses with probing tentacles. 

The book's climax comes as the narrator travels into lifeless London. As he walks through wreckage he begins to hear an eerie sound emanating from the aliens. I won't ruin the surprise here, but this is a hopeful sound that eventually leads to Earth's liberation from the Martian invaders. 

Reviewing literary classics is challenging. These works are over a century old, and my personal exposure to their legacy – various adaptations of the material, decades of critique, imitators, and overall cultural awareness – means I have been desensitized from the novel's initial grandeur. I hadn't read the book before, but I had watched the movies, heard the radio drama, and was made aware of the book's importance in science-fiction and as a catalyst for the genre's sub-genre of alien invasion. One watch of something as flashy as Independence Day (1996) makes this novel's action sequences a little underwhelming. But that's a personal problem reflective of my absorption of media, not any fault of the author or the work. 

With all that in consideration, I found War of the Worlds to be a good novel. I enjoyed the atmosphere, and the narrator's survival horror perspective. The Martians appearance as tall blood sucking creatures with large eyes, tentacles, heat rays, and deadly gas played on my fears of being flesh-squeezed by a hideous alien invader. The description of England as a lifeless and decimated husk was described in the darkest way imaginable. In post-apocalyptic situations, humans can be the worst horror of all. Wells does an excellent job presenting human suffering and the mass lunacy of everyday people forced into extreme circumstances. Selfishness and greed leads to the greatest suffering of all.

I think my only real complaint with the book was the inability to really hone in on the narrator. Often this character would tell me things happening in other parts of England or explaining in great detail his brother's exploits to survive the invasion, including a naval battle between a battering ram and an alien. I felt that I lost the intimacy of things directly occurring with the character, his personal predicament and the things affecting only him. It took me out of the moment and made the narration more epic in nature than personal. 

Needless to say, War of the Worlds is an important book, and a praised work of science-fiction worthy of imitation, inspiration, and discussion. Read the book and appreciate the novel's legacy and impact. You won't be disappointed.

Get the book HERE.

No Exit

Taylor Adams is an American thriller writer from Washington state who built his reputation on fast-paced, high-concept suspense novels that read like crackling paperback nail-biters. His 2017 novel, No Exit, is his most popular book, and it was adapted into a Hulu-original film.

Darby Thorne, a college student racing through a Colorado blizzard, is stranded overnight at a remote highway rest stop with four strangers. The setup is pure pulp gold complete with an isolated location, rising dread, and the sense that any of the snow-trapped travelers could be dangerous. Adams detonates the plot with one hell of a hook: Darby spots a kidnapped child locked in a van outside. No phone service. No escape. Someone inside the rest stop with her is a monster.

Adams writes with the smooth readability of a seasoned paperback pro. The chapters are short, the cliffhangers brutal, and the violence is gruesome and intense. Darby herself is a terrific modern pulp heroine: resourceful, scared, stubborn, and willing to take a beating to do what’s right. Fans of stories where a lone hero takes on overwhelming odds will eat this up.

No Exit is the kind of lean, high-concept thriller that would’ve sat nicely beside the old Richard Matheson or Day Keene paperbacks, but with a contemporary cinematic punch. The novel is a white-knuckle, snowbound thriller that reads like a classic Gold Medal paperback dragged into the 21st century. Adams gives us an ordinary protagonist shoved into an impossible situation and forced to improvise her way to survival. If you like your suspense tight, your villains vicious, and your heroes forged under fire, this one delivers the goods.

Get the book HERE.

Lady Wrestler

The Gardner Francis Fox Library, established in 2018 by Kurt Brugel, has created a remarkable resource to explore the author's life and literary work. Along with information about the writer, the online library offers a robust selection of Fox's novels and pulp stories in ebook and audiobook formats. You can obtain affordable digital copies of sexy spy series titles like Cherry Delight and Lady from L.U.S.T. or sword-wielding tales starring Kothar or Kyrik. Thankfully, the library also includes numerous Fox stand-alone novels that he wrote under pseudonyms. One of those, Lady Wrestler, was published by Midwood (F193) in 1962 under Fox's pseudonym of James Harvey. Vintage copies of the paperback net over $200, but I was able to purchase the book for two bucks. 

The novel opens with Bella Woods completing a short, ill-fated run of a Broadway performance. The experience left her financially devastated, emotionally depleted, and her body abused by the show's perverted producer. In bed with the sleazy promoter, Bella comes to the realization she needs a change and new life goals. An interview with a male model and entrepreneur opens up a world of possibilities: Pro-Wrestling. 

Brick hires Bella to join his budding stable of female wrestlers. With these eight ladies, Brick hopes to secure a few local bookings, tap into the market share of male pro-wrestling, and secure a television deal. It's all on the up and up, and Bella rightfully trusts Brick and his tunnel vision.

Bella arrives at Brick's family farm house and meets the other wrestlers. There are women there who use gimmicks like an obese jungle native, a tatted carnival oddity, a royal Queen, a revolting slave, etc. Needless to say, it is a colorful house filled with diversity and different perspectives. Bella's conflict is with a rival ex-Broadway star named Charlotte, that is sleeping with Brick. Her other conflict is with Brick's sister, a domineering lesbian named Cleo, who rapes Bella during her first night at the house.

Through Lady Wrestler's narrative, readers enjoy the rags-to-riches rise of these eight women from bingo halls to a local television program. Fox weaves a multitude of minor plot points that include Brick's financial struggles, Bella's romantic flings with Brick, Cleo's uprising, and the lifestyles of a few minor characters both in and out of the ring. The most satisfying plot point is a lawsuit from the television producers over Bella's indecent exposure on their programming. 

After watching the Netflix show GLOW, which fictionally documents the rise and fall of the women's Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling organization in the 1980s, I found so many interesting comparisons to this 1962 paperback. The characters, the TV deal, the promoter, the lifestyles – all of this is remarkably told by Fox nearly two decades before G.L.O.W. first aired on television in 1986. 

If you enjoy pro-wrestling, then you will really enjoy Lady Wrestler. The gimmicks and wrestling personalities were thoroughly enjoyable, and I liked Bella's perspective of being new to the industry. However, Fox was just a serviceable writer, never great but never dull. His writing leaves something to be desired, but nonetheless has enough variance and texture to bring these characters to life, albeit a little wonky on dialogue. 

For $1.99 you can't go wrong. Get Lady Wrestler HERE. 

Matt Helm #06 - The Ambushers

Donald Hamilton's sixth installment of the Matt Helm series, The Ambushers, was published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1963. The book was loosely adapted into a comedic spy film in 1967 with star Dean Martin. As the old saying goes, the books are always better than the movies. The Ambushers is proof positive.

The book begins with Helm in a place he describes vaguely as “let's call it Costa Verde”, an unknown banana country in South America. His mission is to carry a heavy sniper rifle through the jungle, meet up with a resistance fighter named Jimenez, and help assassinate the country's newest political rival. After snubbing a revolution, Helm's job is through, and he can head back to Washington. But like most Helm novels, things don't go quite according to plan. During the successful assassination, Helm finds two surprises. First, a nuclear warhead that was probably smuggled from the Russians. Second, a former Nazi senior leader whom Helm recognizes from a prior mission. 

In Washington, Helm receives a backhanded compliment from his direct Mac – praise for succeeding on the assignment. But Mac's associates scold Helm for ignoring two international threats during the mission. Defensively, cool-headed Helm dismisses their Monday morning quarterbacking and expresses interest in his next mission.

The fallout from the assassination is now spreading into southern New Mexico. In a quiet suburb, the former Nazi leader that Helm identified is now setting up shop for a new movement. Helm's job is to team with a reserved, previously traumatized agent named Sheila to expose the leader and quell this new Nazi uprising. 

Hamilton's prose is a smooth telling of espionage in a conversational tone. Both Helm and Sheila work well together, creating a cohesive fighting pair that both complement each other's scarred pasts. When the two find themselves at odds with a Russian spy (lovely as ever) they must jeopardize the mission to stop a much larger threat. There's plenty of mountainous terrain, gunfire, fisticuffs, and tepid lovemaking, but the real main event is always Helm's thoughts. In a generous first-person perspective, Helm talks to the reader in a way that is just uniquely captivating. 

I paired my reading of Hamilton's narrative with listening to Stefan Rudnicki's gripping audio narration. Either way, your experience with The Ambushers will be thrilling. Highly recommended. Get a modern reprint HERE or vintage copies HERE.

Pack Animals

I've always admired Greg F. Gifune's writing and have covered his books here on the blog and on the YT channel. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to exclusively reveal his newest book's cover, a glorious piece by the talented Zach McCain, an internationally published artist who also created visually striking artwork for Gifune's 2022 horror novella Savages (Cemetery Dance). Since seeing the cover for Pack Animals (Macabre Ink), I've been anxiously counting the days until the book's release. Finally, the hunt is over. Or is it?

Thankfully, Gifune's writing style - an effective combination of visceral violence and horrifying psychosis - takes on one of my favorite aspects of horror. Like Savages, the early description for Pack Animals was a homage to the survival, late-night horror films of the 1970s and 1980s. Films like The Pack, Day of the Animals, The Howling, and Grizzly all sprang into my mind. This was the VHS market I grew up in in the 1980s and early 1990s, and I'm always searching for that same nostalgia in pop culture.

Pack Animals begins with an unknown woman arriving at a medical facility. Inside, she learns that her husband, or boyfriend, has experienced a significant trauma and now remains in a state of mental shock as his body recovers from exhaustive injuries. Inside his room, there's this heavy vacuum that seemingly sucks the hope from the room. The man is despondent and silent as he fixates on something far beyond the hospital, far beyond anything the two of them can understand.

As the book's narrative unfolds, Gifune then takes readers back to the start to explain the happenings and surroundings that have crushed the man's body and spirit. The author introduces a group of thirty-something male friends starting with Truck. He has experienced infidelity, a divorce, and a type of midlife crisis reassembling his life. He moves to an off-the-grid place nestled deep in the rural mountains of New Hampshire. Yet his peace and tranquility are shattered routinely with night visitors that hover in the treeline. Truck's defense is a shotgun, a handgun, and lots of ammunition, which sends up red flags for the tiny community. They don't trust outsiders and send one of their own to warn Truck to keep the peace. 

Later, Truck's assemblage of friends arrives to spend a week with him in his newfound mountain oasis. On their drive to Truck's house, they see an old woman in a bloody nightgown walking through the forest. Later, at Truck's house, they discover there's no phone signal. This isolation becomes alarming when they find Truck's behavior unsettling. He warns the group to leave before dark, before the visitors arrive. When they refuse, Truck provides them with details on something, or someone, that he chained up in his shed. Is Truck insane, or does the darkness bring a host of Hell?

I'm careful with reviewing Gifune's work because it is subjective. Many of his novellas and full-length novels play havoc with your imagination. Many of the horrors in the author's work present themselves differently depending on the reader. However, there's no denying that Pack Animals is a monster story. The book's cover, title, and synopsis suggest a werewolvish type of reading experience, and I believe the lead into the book's release promises survival horror. But it still possesses many of the ingredients that make Gifune's writing so good. 

Truck's move to the country reminds me of the events leading to Lance Boyce's move to snowy Maine in the excellent Lords of Twilight, one of Gifne's best. The disturbing arrival of the town sheriff called to mind the arrival of Bob in Gifune's equally entertaining The Rain Dancers. The idea of average individuals stranded and cold is a concept that Gifune often uses, most effectively in Midnight Solitaire. However, as much as Gifune uses his old tricks to scare us, it isn't simply a recycle. With Pack Animals, Gifune takes all of these elements and thrusts them into an action-oriented, fast-paced survival yarn that is bone-jarring horror, but equally a white-knuckled thriller. It is compared to Gifune's Savages, which is a fair comparison, but also something like Oasis of the Damned. These stories and concepts work well because they pit vulnerable, everyday people into harrowing fight-or-flight situations that push the boundaries of mental awareness and physical exhaustion. 

I could write for days on Greg Gifune's work and how much of an impact he's made not only as an author, but also as an editor. It is novels like Pack Animals that remind me just how great a storyteller he is. If you are searching for an enjoyable action-oriented monster novel, pack your bags for Pack Animals. It's a trip worth taking.

Get the book HERE.

Random Notes – I jotted down a few things as I was reading the book that didn't necessarily fit the review. The sheriff's name of Leland made me think of the nefarious shopkeeper and rival of Sheriff Pangborn, Leland Gaunt, the star of Stephen King's Needful Things. There's a character mentioned at the end of Pack Animals named Maynard. This seems like a nod to Herman Raucher's classic horror paperback Maynard's House. It would be remiss of me not to say that Michael McBride's own monster novel Snowblind came to mind as well. Both Pack Animals and Snowblind should now be the high-water mark of the survival horror genre. 

Condemned to Devil's Island

Blair Niles (1880-1959) was a Virginia native that authored non-fictional accounts of global human suffrage and fictional novels that expressed commentary on social issues. She was a founding member of the Society of Women Geographers and was honored with a Women's National Book Award. I'm always searching for an entertaining prison-themed adventure, so I decided to read her novel Condemned to Devil's Island, which was published as a hardcover in 1928 and adapted into a film in 1929.

Niles authored the book after interviewing an unnamed French prisoner, named “Michael” in the book, that was serving a sentence at the notorious Bagne de Cayenne, referred to as “Devil's Island”, in French Guiana. In flashback scenes, readers learn of Michael's servitude to a Russian Prince and his descent into criminality, leading to a temporary prison sentence in France before being sentenced to seven years of hard labor on the island. 

When the book begins, Michael is jovial about the trip, looking forward to the passage by boat to the island and seeing a new land full of possibilities. He makes friends with another inmate named Felix and the two converse about their pasts and the opportunities that lie ahead on this new island of imprisonment. Despite the horrific aura of Devil's Island, Michael is in a blissful state of denial. He never seems to fully grip his real undertaking here.

As the book expands into the cumbersome chores of prison life, Michael becomes a type of prison courier that works in the village. At night he's behind bars in the less restrictive dormitory portion of the facility, and by day he socializes and gathers gossip that he later trades for various  goods in the prison. Eventually Michael develops a relationship with a warden's wife in town and makes a few escape attempts to no avail.

Condemned to Devil's Island isn't a men's action-adventure prison break novel. Instead, this is simply a character study in the form of a tepid melodrama about Michael's hopes and desires behind prison walls. In fairness, I barely finished the book and found myself skipping entire sections of pointless deliberation between characters over tedious things. This book was a sluggish bore and I can't recommend it to anyone. If you want a more inspiring prison-break adventure try Henri Charriere's Papillon (1969), Peter McCurtin's Escape from Devil's Island (1971), or Rene Belbenoit's Dry Guillotine (1938).

Time to Kill

Ted Stratton was a pulp author who wrote a 1953 Popular Library paperback called Time to Kill published under the pseudonym of Terry Spain. It’s basically an entertaining Mike Hammer ripoff, and it was recently reprinted by Cutting Edge Books.

Mack Berry is a hardboiled private eye assigned to collect intel on a local mobster named Dominic Parente. The racketeer’s organization sold marijuana to a teen girl who (of course) progressed immediately to heroin, overdosed and died. The dead girl’s dad hired Mack to do the gumshoe work to dismantle Parente’s dope operations in this rural New Jersey county.

Among the way, Mack encounters an array of hoodlums, crooked cops and two-timing dames who are itching to bang the PI. Mack also knows how to crack some skulls, and the fight scenes are vividly executed in his one man war against the mafia. Time to Kill is fast-moving, bruising, sincere, and unapologetically thrilling.

1953 was a year when Mickey Spillane could drop a Mike Hammer novel and outsell the Bible, and every aspiring pulp writer was trying to bottle the same mix of bruised masculinity and righteous mayhem. Taken in that context, Stratton’s pastiche is right on the money.

If you like novels where the hero saves the day but pays for it physically and emotionally, this is your kind of book. Just don’t expect a masterpiece. Get it HERE.