The Hitman #01 - Chicago Deathwinds

Norman Winski's 'The Hitman' was a three book series released in 1984 through the Pinnacle publishing house. It's not to be confused with the 1970s series of the same name by Kirby Carr. The series debuted with “Chicago Deathwinds” and introduces us to Dirk Spencer, described as “a hard, mean, cool and sophisticated” vigilante that doesn't embody the traditional definition of hitman - someone paid to kill someone. In this series, Spencer isn't paid anything. He already has more money than Tony Stark and kills the bad guys as a hobby.

For validity, Winski tells us that Spencer is the son of a wealthy entrepreneur and a West Point graduate. He served in Vietnam as a fighting officer and single-handily took out an entire North Vietnamese patrol. Since service, he's personified the rich playboy – yacht, plane, helicopter, penthouse, Lamborghini and the sexual prowess of a bucking stallion. It's only when he learns that his African-American friend has been murdered that he assumes the moniker of “The Hitman”.

In an ode to pulp fiction, Spencer plays the vengeful nighttime warrior while maintaining his daytime activities as spoiled rich kid. He can't let anyone into the inner circle, including the women he loves and his own father. Winski does a great job building in that inner turmoil, brimming over in an emotional argument between Spencer and a best friend. It's this part of the story-line that's honestly the most engaging. The rest is totally bonkers.

Winski writes Spencer as a pulp hero. He's the “Doc Savage” of vigilantes with the absolute best ability to fight, fly, drive and screw. In 184 pages we learn that Spencer is at peak performance and skill-level for everything. He flies his helicopter and planes with Blue Angels talent, races like Mario Andretti and handles guns and missiles like Ironman. He's always able to overcome impossible odds while maintaining a spoiled kid's mentality. In one humorous scene he can't get the bad guy (a racist ultra right-wing nominee for President) so he takes out all of his frustration by ravaging two high-dollar hookers for three hours. So, what's the problem?

Winski could have slimmed this to 140 pages but pads the story with a dull narrative. It takes a strenuous amount of effort to fully digest 7-10 pages of gun descriptions or setting up the time, location, scenery and what Spencer is clothed in. There's a sloth-like pace in the West Virginia portion of the story and I had to take constant breaks...for days. It's permeated with bad dialogue, a cookie-cutter villain and a ridiculous hero that can't be this perfect. There's much better books out there. “The Hitman” is not the shit man.

The Hitman #03 - Nevada Nightmare

After reading Norman Winski's debut 'The Hitman' novel, “Chicago Deathwinds”, I decided this series wasn't worth a wooden nickel. So, like many completely disposable pieces of literature, I'm right back to Winski and 'The (S)Hitman' all over again. Why? I wish I had an answer for this and other perplexing questions like, “Daddy, what's wind really?” Sometimes, Paperback Warriors can't provide all of the answers.

“Nevada Nightmare” is the third and final book in the 1984 series 'The Hitman'. It's not to be confused with Kirby Carr's 1970s series of the same name. I assume poor sales for Pinnacle combined with the decline of the genre in the 80s lead to the killshot for our protagonist Dirk Spencer. While I critically dissected, bashed and wiped the filth from “Chicago Deathwinds”,  in retrospect I'd have to ask myself if it was really that bad.

“Nevada Nightmare” is an improvement on the series debut, staying more in the pocket with action and plot instead of wasting pages and pages on guns, clothing and location. Winski jerks the curtain with a stage consisting of “Cult Leader Psychopath”, “Damsel in Distress” and “Dirk!” and writes the script with “bang goes cult member 1, 2, 3, etc.”. Look, I'm not buying 'The Hitman' for the photos. Like Ralph Hayes, Dan Schmidt, whoever is writing William W. Johnstone and Jerry Bruckheimer...I just want a lot of man-boom. It's here. 

Book number two, “L.A. Massacre”, is still MIA from my libraries, but apparently it wasn't anything special. In “Nevada Nightmare”, Dirk reflects on the events of “Chicago Deathwinds” and says nothing about his excursion to Hollywood. Key characters from the series like Tad (Chicago Tribune journalist) and Valerie (reporter, moist hole) are featured in this installment set in the mountains of Nevada. A religious cult psycho named Zarathustra has rose to prominence, built a mountain fortress (called Shangri-la) and recruited 900 clergy men and women to follow his radical extremist footsteps. This lunatic uses cassette tapes to lure his people into trance-like states where he can deem them “Moonchild” before bedding them in his posh penthouse. Dirk gets involved when Zarathustra kidnaps his friend Tad and his daughter Melody. The mission: bang Valerie on autopilot above the Sierras, infiltrate the cult, rescue Tad and Melody, flea to to flea-market obscurity. 

Oddly, pages 81-83 are step by step instructions on creating napalm. We become curious protegees while watching Dirk make a bomb with aluminum foil, a hairspray bottle and some soap flakes (and more ingredients that I won't provide here). Today's publishing world would never permit this bomb-making tutorial to make print (and probably report the author to authorities), but in 1984 I guess we were all just busy hoping the Cubs would get there. While Winski provides the step-by-step on something like this, I cringed reading, “The .357 Magnum spit 9mm slugs”. Amazing. Equally baffling is Dirk's ability to drive at high-speed on an icy road with a bimbo straddling the driver's seat because she just can't live without Dirk's junk. 

At the end of the day, Dirk is The Hitman. The guy with all the money, tail and a three-book series dedicated to his “wetwork”. 

Able Team #02 - The Hostaged Island

It's no secret that I really disliked Tower of Terror, the 1982 debut of the long-running Able Team series. I discussed it on the podcast and you can also read my review here. After reading the far superior Phoenix Force debut, I was interested in reading another Able Team installment in hopes for a triumphant rebound. I chose the series second installment, The Hostaged Island, published in 1982 by Gold Eagle. It was authored by L.R. Payne and Norman Winski.

The book's opening chapters are reminiscent of the old 80s action-flick Invasion USA. Hundreds of psychotic, horny and heavily armed bikers “invade” Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles. The deal is that they will start raping and dismembering the island’s residents if they don't receive a nuclear submarine loaded with twenty-million in gold. Of course the government doesn't negotiate with bikers, so fearless Stony Farm director Hal Brognola assigns Able Team to locate and destroy the marauders.

Like many of the Mack Bolan Universe books, The Hostaged Island doesn't concentrate solely on the heroic trio. Thankfully, the authors create civilian heroes who work behind the scenes attempting to fight the enemy or simply survive. This was the best element of the series debut and one that allows readers to experience first-hand atrocities. Much of the book follows Catalina Island resident Greg and his pregnant wife Ann as they move from house to house hoping to avoid the bikers. Since most of the island is being held hostage in a local gym, Greg and Ann's story was enhanced by a “ghost town” or post-apocalyptic vibe.

Of course Lyons, Blancanales and Schwarz are the stars and they really make the most of their stage work. Unlike the debut, I really liked that all three heroes worked together through pages and pages of high-octane action. From a precarious raft landing on the beach to sniping off the bad guys from a tower, the authors spared no bullets in the good versus evil traditional concept. I felt the characters really worked as a team and finally were able to strut their stuff without all of the interviews and planning that bogged down the debut installment.

If you want balls to the wall, over-the-top zany action, The Hostaged Island delivers it in spades. This was just a real pleasure to read and rejuvenated me on the potential for more and greater gems within this long-running series. Highly recommended! 

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Marc Dean: Mercenary #01 - Thirteen for the Kill

British author Peter Leslie (1922-2007) authored five novels in the television tie-in paperback series 'Man from U.N.C.L.E.' as well as 12 books starring popular action hero Mack Bolan. In 1981, Leslie was hired to author a series of action-adventures for Signet with a mercenary theme. Using house name Peter Buck, Leslie wrote all nine installments of the ‘Marc Dean: Mercenary' series beginning with the debut, “Thirteen for the Kill”.

The novel begins with a crew of 40 armed mercenaries attempting to beach a small warship on a West African coast. Due to the violent storm, tide and rip-current, 20 of them perish and all of the weapons sink. Thankfully, series hero Marc Dean survives to lead the men into the jungle. After this opening segment, a flashback scene helps explain these confusing events.

The small town of Gabotomi lies where Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria meet. It's only a few hundred square miles, but it has been infiltrated by a terrorist group calling themselves the Nya Nyerere. Their goal is to create an independent territory free of all three countries. The group is Soviet trained, non-Muslim and heavily-armed on a cliff-dwelling surrounded by dense forest and a scorching desert on each side. Diplomatically, no one really cares that this band of Nomad savages have proclaimed their independence. But peacekeepers have discovered that the area sits on a fortune of diamonds, a resource they can utilize to bring peace to all three nations: divvy up the loot and divide it three (or four) ways. The Nya Nyerere are an obstacle that must be removed, so the bureaucrats meet behind closed doors and come up with a solution – hiring Marc Dean to destroy the Nya Nyerere.

Leslie writes Dean like 'Doc Savage'. He's the most athletic guy on the planet, a sharpshooter, martial arts master and a Vietnam vet. He is also a Yale graduate and plays the harpsichord masterfully. In fact, he's written in the vein of Norman Winski's 'Hitman' character, just less arrogant. He even makes love like Hitman with sex descriptions like “entering deep into her like a sword wound”. It's over-the-top silliness...but is it any good?

Not really.

I enjoy Peter Leslie's literary work on Mack Bolan titles, but “Thirteen for the Kill” was a painful reading adventure that seemed off-kilter and uneven in its presentation. There's 60-pages of Dean and company robbing an armory to gain new firearms. But, this comes after reading about the entire arms negotiation that secured the first weapons...you know the ones that sank in the ocean on page one. There's firefights galore with plenty of gunporn thrown around, but none of it was terribly interesting. The last assault on the terrorist compound involved blowing up a bridge to cut off aid from Nya Nyerere sympathizers. This exciting premise is just botched with a boring jungle fire that alters the whole mission.

Maybe this series just had some early missteps before finding a rhythm, but I'm not tapping any more shoulders to experience the dance again. While this isn't a dismal Hall of Shame contender, its pretty darn close. “Thirteen for the Kill” was an unlucky number for me.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Killsquad #02 - Mission Revenge

Along with plenty of Bolan affiliated action, Dan Schmidt wrote two military team-based series' – 'Eagle Force' and this one, 'Killsquad'. It launched in 1986 with the debut “Counter Attack”, eventually running through nine total installments on the Avon publishing label. This novel, “Mission Revenge”, is the second of the series picking up just 18 days since the events of “Counter Attack”.

The Hangman John Smith is recuperating with his half-dozen killers after the shake-downs in Algeria and Syria. While the World Strike Force is running the show, Killsquad is ultimately a trickle down effect with Smith commanding his team. As the series promises, we know “Mission Revenge” is just another assignment for Killsquad. The reader wants fireworks and Schmidt concocts a familiar story to set the tone.

Eli St. Judas is called The Preacher. He's a TV evangelist taking money from the poor and gullible and building his New Order Church regime in West Virginia. Coincidentally, this same set-up was used by Rich Rainey for his “The Protector #2: The Porn Tapes” using a vile character named The Reverend. Or by Norman Winski for his “Hitman #3: Nevada Nightmare”. Turns out placing a crooked, perverted preacher on the pulpit is a sermon action-adventure readers love to hear. The Preacher has built a mountain fortress in West Virginia and hired an ex-Green Beret team called Charlie Company to protect it (similar to Schmidt's use of Eagle Force vs Phantom Plague in “Eagle Force #3: Flight 666”). We know Charlie Company is going to fight Killsquad...but how much of The Reverend plowing his Queen from behind do we need before we get to the inevitable confrontation? Sadly, this one takes a great deal of patience.

Sometimes this author swings for the fences and lands the perfect combination of action and dialogue. With “Mission Revenge” it just all falls flat. There's a side-story of Russian soldiers being kidnapped and held for ransom...but by this point no one cares. Sure, it is Killsquad invading the religious compound to capture The Preacher but it's just a failed plot that's redundant and more convoluted than its own good. It's a hard pass from me. I carried that cross so you wouldn't have to. 'Killsquad' may not get a resurrection from me anytime soon. Stay away!