BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> I Can Read for Miles

As you can probably tell from that title, I’ve had THE WHO SELL OUT in my CD player way too many times. This week’s theme is seeing and sight among my piles of paperbacks. We have a very British tale to kicks things off, while the second book is a colorful detective story. Then the third is a return of a certain superspy.

THE OLD ENGLISH PEEP SHOW by Peter Dickinson — Originally published under the title of A PRIDE OF HEROES, this 1969 novel is the second in Dickinson’s James Pibble series — a six-book collection that features a police detective who investigates the most bizarre cases. This story is set in “Old England,” a combination of Disneyland and colonial Williamsburg, where two old WWII vets have created a theme park to entertain tourists. Pibble is called to investigate the apparent suicide of one of their most trusted workers.

However, there are too many clues going against the suicide theory — namely, that the victim did not even leave a note as to why he was taking his own life. So as Pibble investigates, he has to deal with workers who won’t break character and the family who wants no publicity at all, since it will drive away business.

It seems Dickinson is poking fun at the customs and the pomposity of the old guard with their strict lifestyles, but as the story moves on, Pibble makes a few discoveries that might cause his own demise. This is an extremely British mystery with one eye winking at the reader throughout. It’s a lot of fun and actually a very thought-out whodunit, since even when the reader finds out one part of the solution, there is still plenty of time for Pibble to be killed. It’s well worth seeking out, especially if you were ever dragged to places like Plymouth Plantation or Old Sturbridge Village.

ONE FEARFUL YELLOW EYE by John D. MacDonald — The eighth book in the long-running Travis McGee series has its fans … and also a big amount of haters. To me, this 1966 one was not one of the better stories, but it’s not as bad as some people will have you believe.

I’m guessing the hate mainly deals with how it has not aged well, since a central plot point deals with the ingestion of LSD. The drug has been touched upon before in the McGee series, but this time, it’s very dated in terms and use. The central plot deals with Glory Doyle, a lady friend of McGee’s he knew four years ago and seemed to hit rock bottom back then. But now is has been happily married to a doctor who recently passed away.

The problem she calls Travis up for is that all the doctor’s money is gone. We’re talking $600,000 — for the time period, nothing to sneeze at. McGee then travels to Chicago for this investigation for his dear friend. Of course, Glory was not the first wife to this now-deceased doctor, so his children from the first marriage think she is pulling a fast one.

This novel uses the whole LSD angle as a crutch to build a few characters. Sure, it might have seemed very daring at the time, but more than 40 years have passed now, and it shows. There are plenty of other McGee novels to grab before this one.

THE DESTROYER #67: LOOK INTO MY EYES by Richard Sapir — What dangerous force has all of Russia quaking in its boots, to the point that it mobilizes 150 men in a crack special forces squad to take care of the problem? How about a short little Russian Jew named Rabinowitz, who has escaped to the U.S.? He’s not an ordinary man in the least, having the special power of hypnotism; he can just look at someone for a second and have them under his control.

Rabinowitz lived in some little town in Siberia, where the idea of breeding an army of this type was a good idea. Too bad all he wanted was to be left alone and figured a trip to America was the perfect answer. Once there, he makes a living using his power as some sort of catch-all hypnotist to cure people of their ails, while also starting his own crime family so he would have people to protect him when the Russians would come after him.

There, of course, is one thing Rabinowitz did not count on: His name is Remo Williams. This 1986 episode is one of the ones solely written by co-creator Sapir, and from the looks of it, he is having a blast. Both Remo and Chiun meet the Great Wang, but who is the real one is the question, since Chiun falls under a hypnotic spell. The story is packed with action and humor you’ve come to expect from the series — no surprise there. But the humor of imagining this short little man controlling a whole army base by just hypnotism is a new one, especially since he takes the guise of some blood-and-guts type general that would make Patton cry.

The scenes of Chiun under the belief that is finally meeting the grandest master of Sinanju are some of the funniest, since Chiun is completely fooled, no matter how badly he is treated. This is another fine DESTROYER entry, well worth picking up. Nothing in it really dates the story, which is nice, and the action is pitch-perfect for the plot.

Next time: The part of Bruce Grossman will be played by Rod Lott for our next performance. —Bruce Grossman

Buy them at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THE DESTROYER SERIES:
• THE BEST OF THE DESTROYER by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir
• THE DESTROYER #5: DR. QUAKE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #6: DEATH THERAPY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #9: MURDER’S SHIELD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #10: TERROR SQUAD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #11: KILL OR CURE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #13: ACID ROCK by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #14: JUDGMENT DAY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #15: MURDER WARD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #17: LAST WAR DANCE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #18: FUNNY MONEY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #19: HOLY TERROR by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #22: BRAIN DRAIN by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #23: CHILD’S PLAY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #24: KING’S CURSE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #30: MUGGER BLOOD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #32: KILLER CHROMOSOMES by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #38: BAY CITY BLAST by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #39: MISSING LINK by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #46: NEXT OF KIN by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #48: PROFIT MOTIVE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #49: SKIN DEEP by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #52: FOOL’S GOLD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #55: MASTER’S CHALLENGE by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #78: BLUE SMOKE AND MIRRORS by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #89: DARK HORSE by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #104: ANGRY WHITE MAILMEN by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #145: DRAGON BONES by Tim Somheil
• THE NEW DESTROYER: CHOKE HOLD by Warren Murphy and James Mullaney
• THE NEW DESTROYER: DEAD RECKONING by Warren Murphy and James Mullaney
• THE NEW DESTROYER: GUARDIAN ANGEL by Warren Murphy and James Mullaney

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