Swap

Walter Wager (1924-2004) was an American author of espionage, crime, and adventure fiction. He penned the books inspiring the movies Telefon and Die Hard 2. Under the name John Tiger, he also wrote several media tie-in novels for Mission Impossible and I Spy. His stand-alone 1972 novel Swap was a Cold War espionage heist adventure of the Vietnam war era.

The action opens in combat where American super-soldier David Garrison is 28 days away from the end of his tour in Vietnam. Garrison is a jungle fighter, parachutist, sabotage expert, and ambush maven. He’s like Rambo on steroids (make that additional steroids). Unfortunately, Garrison’s luck runs out when an enemy grenade detonates near him in the ‘Nam forest making his whole world go black.

Fortunately - for the sake of the novel - killing Garrison isn’t that easy. He is airlifted to safety - blind, mute, disfigured and paralyzed - where a U.S. Army brain surgeon named Dr. Bruce Brodsky saves Garrison’s life and mind. Garrison learns that Dr. Brodsky is “at war with war...he wants to kill death with a scalpel...it’s a personal feud.” In any case, Garrison’s war in Vietnam is over. He’s flown to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC, where a plastic surgeon gives him a new face - just like Parker, Drake, Bolan and dozens of other men’s adventure paperback heroes.  

Garrison owes his life to Dr. Brosky and seeks out the miracle medic to thank him. After tracking him down, Garrison offers him a favor - anything the surgeon wants. After some cajoling, it turns out that Dr. Brodsky actually does need help. The doctor’s grandfather is a department store tycoon in his 80s who is dying of cancer. Before the old man dies, he wants his 14 year-old great-grand-niece rescued from a Russian orphanage and brought to America to live in freedom. The problem is that back in 1972, the Soviets weren’t enthusiastic about shipping teenage orphans to capitalist America. The old man is willing to pay Garrison $250,000 to snatch the girl from her orphanage and transport her to the USA. Out of loyalty to Dr. Brodsky, Garrison accepts this impossible mission.

En route to the Soviet Union, Garrison stops in Athens and Israel and is able to dispatch terrorist plots in both countries. Once in Moscow, the difficulty of the mission becomes centralized. Grabbing a kid from a Soviet orphanage is harder than you might think. As Garrison’s plan evolves, Swap becomes a team-based heist novel featuring the obligatory Apache soldier, Georgia hillbilly, Israeli killing machine, and sexy babe. Think of them like a smarter, better-written Phoenix Force.

Beyond that, I don't want to give much else away other than to say that this book is so, so good. Wager’s writing is never flashy, and the action moves forward in a compelling, linear fashion. There are great twists and turns along the way and vivid characters who make you want to cheer and jeer. Wager successfully merges the combat, heist, and espionage genres into one, nearly-perfect paperback.  

Many of Wager’s novels have been digitized and reprinted over the past few years, but Swap has yet to be rediscovered by any of the reprint houses. This is a glaring oversight because the novel is simply awesome and will appeal to fans of early Nelson DeMille or classic Alistair MacLean high adventure. Whatever it takes, your mission is to drop everything and get yourself a copy of Swap. Highest recommendation. Get a copy HERE

First Blood

David Morrell's First Blood (1972) is probably one of the biggest influences on men's action-adventure literature behind Don Pendleton's War Against the Mafia (1969). The novel eventually launched a blockbuster film franchise starring Morrell's main character. I've seen the Rambo films and I'm quite fond of the film version of First Blood. I was curious to read the differences between the film and book. With a few extra dollars, I bought a used Fawcett Gold Medal printing of this classic action novel.

First Blood begins with Rambo (no first name) walking into the rural small town of Madison, Kentucky. With his thick beard and long hair, Rambo stands out in this quiet God-fearing community. Wilfred Teasle, the town's sheriff, is a decorated Korean War hero that is highly respected by Madison's residents. Wanting to shield his little town from danger, Teasle forces Rambo out of Madison. Rambo defies Teasle by walking back into town to dine on burgers and a coke. Once again, Teasle escorts rebellious Rambo out of town only to find him returning again. Three strikes and you are out.

Teasle arrests Rambo and the judge books him for a 35 day stay in jail. When the deputies attempt to shave him, Rambo has a flashback to his military service in Vietman. Rambo grabs the straight razor and disembowels one cop before blinding another. He then steals a motorcycle and flees into the mountains. Teasle, wanting control, doesn't want the state police involved in the manhunt. Instead, he leads his own task force to hunt Rambo through the Kentucky wilderness.

First Blood in novel format is much different than the film. Examples: Rambo isn't in town to visit a friend. Rambo doesn't have a close relationship with Colonel Trautman. Sheriff Teasle isn't a scummy villain. But beyond all of that, the film version depicts Rambo as a humble, quiet, reserved man that has a lot to say about Vietnam veterans and the poor homecoming they received. The novel showcases a loud-mouthed, sarcastic, and defiant Rambo as a psychotic veteran battling voices in his head. Perhaps the most striking difference is that Morrell's story reveals that Rambo has killed at least one homeless person in a park prior to arriving in Madison. It's also hinted that he previously killed another man as he attempted to escape by car. 

I would be remiss if I didn't state that this original version of Rambo weirded me out. There are some similarities (Rambo is a proficient warrior) and then odd moments (Rambo drinking moonshine with hillbillies) that made me question which version I liked. The book's end result effectively squashed any opportunity for book sequels. However, after the film's popularity, Morrell performed a quasi-retcon to write the novelization of Rambo II and III. I'm okay with that. At the end of the day, I can comfortably say I really enjoyed the book and Morrell's writing is top-notch. Plus, one can never truly have enough Rambo, right? Get a copy HERE

McAllister #06 - Kiowa

The Piccadilly Cowboys were a loose community of British authors during the 1960s and 1970s writing short and violent novels of the old American West. Using the pen name Matt Chisolm, Peter Watts penned a series of paperback originals starring Remington “Rem” McAllister during the heyday of American western fiction written by Brits. I was fortunate to find a used copy of the sixth installment, Kiowa (1967), during a book-hunting expedition in Abu Dhabi. Starved for reading material in the desert, I decided to give the character a try.

As we join McAllister, he’s in real hot water. He and two sidekicks are travelling across the plains of Texas with horses intending to establish a ranch and a new life. They are awakened by a savage band of Kiowa Indians who kill one of the sidekicks and steal a bunch of McAllister’s horses. With only one horse remaining, our hero takes mount and sets off alone in pursuit of the Indians and some frontier justice.

While on the hunt, McAllister meets a young and cocksure hothead named Arthur McShannon (the author’s choice to give the two main characters similar names gave me a migraine) also stalking the same Kiowa tribe. McShannon is an immature bounty hunter pursuing a fugitive who may or may not be hiding out with the Kiowa at their encampment. They tentatively join forces based on their shared desire to infiltrate the Kiowa and take what they need.

It takes no time at all before the pair is captured by the Indians and subjected to cringe-inducing violence and torture - a signature dish among the Piccadilly Cowboys. Thereafter, the reader is treated to a series of escapes, captures, chases, rescues and ambushes. There’s a damsel in distress to be rescued, and an outlaw to be transported to the law. The writing is solid, the action is non-stop, and the plot is a bit thin.

Worth reading? Sure. It was a fun adventure, but nothing groundbreaking. If a copy is aging on your shelf, give it a grab. However, I can’t recommend spending more than a couple bucks to acquire a copy. A better idea might be to read any of the eight McAllister titles reprinted by Piccadilly Press (no Kiowa, though) for $1.99 per ebook. Odds are that the respected reprint house chose the best of the series for their branded product line.

Addendum:

I emailed western fiction scholar Steve Myall of Western Fiction Reviews to ask him about the McAllister series. Here’s what he shared with me:

Hi Tom,

As far as I know, there were 31 in the original run. The first McAllister appeared in 1963 and the last, The McAllister Legend came out in 1974. Having said that, two of the McAllister books came out in 1961 under different titles and were republished into the main series later. In fact, there are four McAllister books that were published with different titles - two of which were put out under one of his other pseudonyms, Cy James.

In 1981, the first of eight more McAllister books was published. So that makes 39 McAllister books in total.

There was also a short story, "The Return of McAllister", that appeared in the British publication, Western Magazine.

More stories were published in Norway, but they've never appeared in English. Not just McAllister either - this is also true for the Blade series.

Watts also wrote other series as I'm sure you know, Blade, The Storms, Sam Spur and Hodge which came out under his Chisholm or James pen names.

McAllister also has minor roles in some of Watt's stand alone books.

Paperback Warrior Primer - Edward S. Aarons

Author Edward S. Aarons is mostly associated with his long-running and successful series Assignment, starring a CIA agent named Sam Durell. However, Aarons was extremely prolific in the decades prior to his Assignment books. In today's Paperback Warrior Primer, we reveal who Edward S. Aarons is and delve into his remarkable literary career. 

Edward Sidney Aarons was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1916. He attended Columbia University and gained degrees in both literature and history. At the young age of 17, Aarons had his hands in writing short stories while also working through college as a newspaper reporter and a fisherman. This experience probably lends itself to his crime-noir novels, which typically feature reporters and/or fishing towns in the Northeast.

By the end of the 1930s, Aarons had three full-length novels written - Death in a Lighthouse (aka Cowl of Doom), Murder Money, (aka $1 Million in Corpses), and The Corpse Hangs High. These novels were published by Phoenix Press and authored under the name Edward Ronns. 

Like most of the mid-20th Century authors, Aarons served in WW2. He was part of the U.S. Navy between 1941-1945 and reached the rank of Chief Petty officer. During his military service, Aarons sold a lot of his short stories to the pulps. He was featured in the late 1930s and 1940s pulps like Thrilling Detective, Angel Detective, Detective Story Magazine, Complete Detective, etc. According to Crime Mystery and Gangster Fiction Magazine Index, I found 92 short stories listed from the 30s through the 50s under the name Edward Ronns. Needless to say, by the time Aarons was discharged from the Coast Guard in 1945 he transitioned smoothly into full-time writing. 

In 1947, his hardcover Terror in the Town was published. It was later reprinted in 1964, complete with a suspenseful, horror-styled cover. I had the opportunity to review it for the blog HERE. In 1947 and 1948, Aarons wrote two novels starring Jerry Benedict, a newspaper cartoonist who functions as a private-eye. The first one was called Lady, the Guy is Dead, which would also be printed as No Place to Live. The second book was called Gift of Death and I had the opportunity to review it HERE. Like Terror in the Town, Aarons used a distinct atmosphere with moonlit graves, dark cornfields and a weird menace styled-subplot involving a family curse. Also in 1948 Aarons saw his novel Nightmare published internationally. I also have a review of that novel HERE.

Up until 1950, each of Aarons' published novels listed his name as Edward Ronns. But, in 1950 he used the pseudonym of Paul Ayres to contribute to the Casey, Crime Photographer series created by George Harmon Coxe. The series installment was Dead Heat. In 1951, his novel The Net was published by Graphic and reviewed HERE. Most of the author's 1950s crime-noir novels were published by the top crime-fiction company at the time - Fawcett Gold Medal. They published stuff like Escape to Love, Passage to Terror, Come Back, My Love, The Sinners, Catspaw Ordeal, The Decoy and so forth. But at the same time, Aarons was also being published by Harlequin, Graphic and Avon. In 1950, he had five novels published, two in 1951, two in 1952, two in 1953, and then one more in 1954. 

It is remarkable to think that Edward S. Aarons had 20 novels published before he really struck gold. His career trajectory is very similar to John D. MacDonald. Aarons honed his craft in the pulps and wrote stand-alone novels until he was ready to launch a series character that carried him financially for the rest of his career. For Aarons, this was his Assignment series starring CIA operative Sam Durrell and published by Fawcet Gold Medal.

The first series installment is Assignment to Disaster, published in 1955. After the debut, the series ran for 48 installments through 1983. Each book in the Assignment is mostly a stand alone title - the original printings weren’t even numbered. The series hero, Sam Durrell, is a Cajun from Louisiana who left the swamps to attend Yale. It's there that he learned several foreign languages. Later, he served in WW2 in the OSS - which was the real-life precursor to the CIA. When readers first meet Sam in 1955, he’s an operative in the CIA’s espionage division.

Each novel is a single assignment for Sam. He needs to carry out each mission for the CIA, with his adversaries generally being the Soviets, the Chinese, or one of their client states. Many of the books provide the setting in the title: Assignment Bangkok, Assignment Peking, Assignment Budapest, etc. Others are named after the sexy vixens Sam encounters on his adventure: Assignment Helene, Assignment Madeline, Assignment Zorya, etc. Sam meets a lot of different people trying to get his mission off the ground, and they all join forces to succeed. Assignment is like a combination of Nick Carter: Killmaster and Matt Helm. Better than Killmaster, not as good as Helm. 

Edward S. Aarons wrote the first 42 Assigntment installments up until his death. His last book, Assignment Afghan Dragon, was released post-humously in 1976. Then, also in 1976, the 43rd installment, Assignment Sheeba, was released under the by-line of Will B. Aarons - the brother of  Edward. There were six Assignment books under the Will Aarons name released through 1983. There are two important things to know about the Will Aarons installments.

First, series fans generally agree that these books don't possess the same quality. Second, Will Aarons didn't author these books. He hired a ghost writer named Lawrence Hall to write them. This mystery was crowdsourced and solved on the Mystery File website, and you can read the sequence of edits to their article solving this authorship HERE.

But, aside from the Assignment installments, Edward Aarons was able to sprinkle in another 10 unrelated novels through 1962. Some of these were based on screenplays like Hell to Eternity, published in 1960 and reviewed HERE.

Edward Sidney Aarons died from a heart ailment in New Milford, Connecticut in 1975 at the young age of 58. His obituary in the NY Times stated that his Assignment books sold more than 23 million copies and were reprinted in 17 languages. Get his books HERE.

Circle of Secrets

Jon Messmann proved to be a prolific and diverse author throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He created the wildly successful The Trailsman series of adult westerns, contributed installments in the Nick Carter: Killmaster spy series as well as authoring his Handyman and Revenger series of men's action adventure novels. Messmann also wrote horror and stand-alone thrillers, but surprisingly, he also authored gothic romance novels under the pseudonyms Claudette Nicole and Pamela Windsor. After reading a lot of Messmann's work, I decided to try one of his Nicole gothics, Circle of Secrets. It was published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1972.

Kim Morrison and Mary Ellen met and became friends in college. Years later, the two still remain long distance friends and communicate through letters and phone calls. Oddly, Mary Ellen only talks to Kim after midnight and maintains a bit of secrecy concerning her personal life. On their most recent phone call, Mary Ellen seemed distressed, motivating Kim to pack her bags to make a visit. The next day, Kim receives the deed to Mary Ellen's house, a beautiful old plantation home off the coast of Georgia. The property, known as Starset, has been passed down from generation to generation, and apparently Kim is the new owner. But, what's going on with Mary Ellen?

Kim's visit to Georgia is plagued with issues. She receives an ominous telephone call warning her to stay away from Starset. Within a few miles of Starset, someone shoots Kim's tire. Further, there are multiple attempts to murder her using things like rattlesnakes and faulty stairs. Kim discovers that Starset has remained empty for years and there is no sign that Mary Ellen has recently lived in this house. After further investigation, Kim discovers an old gravestone on the property...and Mary Ellen's name is on it. Mary Ellen has been dead for three years! Has Kim been communicating with a ghost this whole time!?!

Circle of Secrets is a more of a murder mystery than a gothic. Traditionally, these gothic novels describe the house in so much detail that they become a character. In those books, most of the suspense and intrigue occur inside the walls of the lavish mansion or castle. Messmann still includes the mansion (and vulnerable woman), but he places most of the mystery outside of the house. Like a toned down detective novel, Kim interviews the minister, coroner and town residents about Mary Ellen's mysterious death. Slowly, the book evolves from the ghostly tease to a flat-out crime-noir mystery. However, Messmann rips the rug out from under the whole thing on the very last pages. It becomes a frustrating open-ended finale where readers can draw their own conclusions on who, or what, is terrorizing Kim. 

If you can purchase a copy of Circle of Secrets on the cheap, then I recommend it. It's a murder mystery cloaked by gothic drapery with great artwork and colors. Additionally, Messmann is such a great writer that even this average read is enhanced by his storytelling magic. 

Buy the brand new edition from Cutting Edge Books HERE.

Drenai Saga #01 - Legend

Former British juvenile delinquent turned bar bouncer, journalist, and author David Gemmell (1948-2006) was a writer of violent men’s adventure stories in a fantasy fiction wrapper. Conventional wisdom says that his finest work is the 1984 novel Legend. So, it seemed like a good place to start.

Like all fantasy novels, there’s a lot of world-building that needs to take place before the plot can truly unfold. Gemmell introduces the readers to the relevant tribes who live distantly with one another and periodically engage in trade and war. As the novel opens, a new war is brewing. Our home team heroes are The Drenai who popularly-elect their rulers. They are about to be invaded from the north by a barbarian tribe called The Nadir under the leadership of a superstitious warlord named Ulric. The Drenai people need to raise and train an army, and time is running out.

Our initial protagonist is Rek the Wanderer. He’s a good-natured former Drenai soldier who travels about on his own while engaging in trade and adventures on the road. He’s good with a sword and a bow, but not a huge fan of indiscriminate killing. While travelling, he meets a female swords-woman named Virae, and they become a pair.

The Drenai have a legend about a warrior named Druss who single-handedly defeated 10,000 enemy warriors in a battle years ago. Druss is long gone - maybe dead or maybe just really old and reclusive. As Ulric’s Nadir army of barbarians comes closer to the populated areas of Drenai, the only hope is finding Druss the Legend and hoping that the old warrior is alive and still has some fight left in him.

You know and I know that Druss isn’t dead. Just look at the book’s cover! Once we finally get to know Druss as a character, this good paperback gets great. I won’t spoil it here, but all the stories you’ve read about once-great heroes coming out of retirement for one last battle apply here. Druss is awesome, and the training and battle scenes are epic, bloody, glorious fun. If the novel has any failing, there just wasn’t enough Druss for me.

Legend is a fantasy novel, but there are no dragons or hobbits. There are psychic albinos who form a warrior priesthood obliged to inject themselves into this forthcoming conflict. Most of the paperback follows Druss, Rek and the Drenai preparing for a battle against Ulric’s giant Army with the book’s climax being the lopsided battle itself. It’s remarkably exciting stuff filled with tactical detail, and the pages will fly by.

Legend is a dense read. There are dozens of important named characters, so I kept my own index to keep track of everybody. The geography of the Drenai World is also relevant, and there’s a useful map available to download from the internet that I consulted frequently. To fully appreciate the greatness of this paperback, the reader has to put in some work. It’s completely worth it, but you want to reserve Legend for a week when you have some time to focus.

Best fantasy-adventure novel ever? I’m no expert on this genre, but it was a damn fine read, and I will probably dip into Gemmell’s other novels detailing the battles of Druss and the people of Drenai. Get a copy HERE

The Land God Gave to Cain

British adventure author Hammond Innes had a very specific writing ritual. He spent six months researching a location and then six months writing a novel that takes place in or around that vicinity. For his mid-career effort, The Land God Gave to Cain (1958), he traveled to Labrador, a cold region in Canada's northeastern region of Newfoundland. Innes visited the area extensively in 1953, but then traveled there again for his novel. Innes stated that on his first journey to Labrador, he traveled nearly 400 miles into the rugged interior, living in primitive railroad construction camps. He used trains, track motors, trucks, float planes, and helicopters to see the full scope of this majestic area. Eventually, he even roughed the area on foot. 

The travels that Innes made into the Labrador interior parallel those that young Ian Ferguson makes in the third act of The Land God Gave to Cain. By having first hand experience in this area prior to the commencement of full rail travel, Innes paints a realistic picture for readers. Innes places Ferguson and readers into the wild, into flatlands brimming with ice and dotted by hundreds of lakes and rivers between forests of muskeg trees. But oddly, the story begins in suburban London with a simple radio broadcast.

Engineer Ian Ferguson has returned home to London after receiving word that his father, James, has died. James lost the use of his legs during WW1. Confined to a chair, James visited the outside world through Ham radio. When Ian arrives at his father's house, he finds James' bedroom filled with maps and notes about Labrador, Canada. After studying the radio log, he finds that his father died upon hearing a radio broadcast from Labrador. What was this mysterious message?

Ian discovers that his father was tracking a small group of scouts in northeastern Canada. These journeymen would relay their coordinates by radio at various outposts and camps. James simply wrote them all down. Using a map, their trek through the wilderness was something James felt a part of, even when faced with paralysis 15,000 miles away. But, the men disappeared and after days of searching, only one made it out of the wilderness, a French-Canadian man named Laroche. He reported that the rest of the party died in a plane crash or succumbed quickly to the elements. But, days after Laroche's account to authorities, James received a radio broadcast from one of the men Laroche claimed was dead. This broadcast was sent in the dead of night from an aircraft radio in the Labrador interior. Was it a distress call from a dead man?

Because of the importance these men, and mission, had with his father, Ian begins to unravel the mystery. But, the Canadian authorities are quick to resist and claim that Laroche is telling the truth and that there are no signs or indications that anyone else survived. Further, they claim it is physically impossible that Ian's father could have received this distress call from the plane's shortwave radio. First, the plane supposedly sank in an unknown lake. Second, the radio's distance would be just a few hundred miles, not thousands of miles halfway across the globe.

With raw determination and a hunch, Ian travels to Labrador to interview Laroche and learn details about the group's crash. From there, Hammond Innes injects loads of mystery, intrigue and history into the novel's second act. Ian's quest for clues leads to a lot of questions. Additionally, Ian learns that his father had a very good reason for being so interested in this area of Canadian wilderness. The novel's third act is a thrilling pursuit to solve the riddle. 

The fact that Innes keeps readers in the dark for two-thirds of the book is clever, but antagonizing at the same time. I loved the mystery and what Innes forced me to do as a reader - follow the same clues provided to Ian and form a hypothesis on what this whole thing actually means. But, on the other hand, I was often angry because the supporting characters were so vague and aloof. I wanted instant gratification. I demanded instant entertainment. But, this was 1958 and Innes forced me to be patient and work for it.

If you love high-adventure novels set in exotic locations, The Land God Gave to Cain is sure to please you. It has a core mystery, a perceptive protagonist, an obstacle to overcome and an appetite for thrilling adventure. Also, it's a frosty novel in the vein of John Broxholme, Desmond Bagley and Alistair MacLean. If that isn't an invitation, I don't know what is. Just read the book. Get it HERE