BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Mob Rules

If you listen to fools, then the mob rules, as Dio once sang. But the mob of this column, of course, is the Italian kind — you know, the Mafia. This time out, all three books have that common bond of going up against that fun little group known as La Cosa Nostra. Also, they all fit the category of one man against the mob.

THE SHARPSHOOTER #11: TRIGGERMAN by Bruno Rossi — Imagine my shock when I started reading this 1975 book only to find out that the author was not the famed scientist Bruno Rossi. And here I was thinking of maybe bringing a bit of culture and sophistication to this column! All kidding aside, anyone who gets the two confused is a lost cause, especially since this Rossi was a pseudonym for Peter McCurtain, whose output consisted of a large amount of SOLDIER OF FORTUNE titles and THE MARKSMEN series.

This is another entry with the often-used men’s adventure plot of a man’s family getting killed by the mob, then the man makes it his life’s goal to even the score through countless adventures with what seems like no consequences. Our hero is a total one-note wonder named Johnny Rock — how original. We are given absolutely no background info on this guy. Thankfully, the last 10 pages of this novel were ads for other books in the series, with synopses that give his whole history.

Rock, as he calls himself, goes up against recent parolee Rick Tattilo and anything Tattilo throws his way. This book is so paper-thin with plot that most readers will be dumfounded by its sheer stupidity. We are talking blowing-up-a-whole-building-without-giving-it-a-second-thought stupidity. The book took all of an hour to get through and to be honest, I’ve already forgotten most of it. But what do you expect from such generic storytelling?

THE LIQUIDATOR #3: THE COCAINE CONNECTION by R.L. Brent — So let’s see: On the back cover, I’m told that this 1974 book is better than Mickey Spillane, Ross MacDonald, Jack Higgins and James M. Cain. Now, that is a bold statement, and no, this book never surpasses those gentlemen. Its definitely in a class above most of the dreck in this genre, but that is not saying much.

Again, we are given no background to our hero, Jake Brand. But there is one thing we do know: He would make most of his comrades wet themselves. He is in the mold of Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson circa DEATH WISH: shoot first, then maybe ask a question later. This is made clear as a bell at the start, when he takes care of a drug-peddling pimp, leading him to finding a large source of the coke distribution.

The story is a step up from the usual man-vs.-mob story, but not by much. Brand is such a cold bastard in his fight, as he lets a mob stooge burn up in his car instead of killing him to put him out of his misery. Brand takes over the job this stooge was on: that of a money payoff in some remote town withering on the vine since a new highway has taken hold. Brand comes up with the idea of pretending to be the new courier to exact his plot.

To go further into the generic plot would not surprise anyone. It’s another case of “been there, read that.” Still, it’s well-written enough that I’ll seek out more of this series, since Brand is interesting enough and a total badass to boot.

THE REVENGER #6: A PROMISE FOR DEATH by Jon Messmann — What happens when you take a Mack Bolan backstory and then rip off a huge plot point from a movie. You get 1975′s A PROMISE FOR DEATH, the sixth book in the REVENGER series.

Here is another case of our hero — Vietnam vet Ben Martin — having his family gunned down by the mob and swearing vengeance on all who have done him wrong. Well, that seems to have happened in the first five books of this series. But this time, things are a bit different. Ben works for a bakery owner whose daughter is brutally raped in the opening chapter. After the cops try their hardest questioning the subjects — who all seem to have alibis — Ben takes it upon himself since the bakery owner almost does the unthinkable: asking his cousin for help.

The baker’s cousin turns out to be the local mob boss, from whom the baker has kept his distance for years. In one chapter, Ben systematically kills all the men involved with the rape. It turns out they were paid by the boss for the simple reason that he knew Ben would exact revenge. See, the boss has his own problems and needs Ben’s help.

Now here’s a big sequence ripped off from a 1971 Oscar-winning film: Ben has to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a mob boss by going off the roof like a commando, bursting through the windows with guns a-blazing. Now where have I’ve seen that before? Hmmm. Well, you know, that Ben is one bad motherf– shut yo’ mouth! I’m just talking about Ben!

But this is not the end. Oh, no! We still have Ben taking out two crime bosses before one of the most telegraphed scenes in book history happens — I saw this sequence 30 pages into the whole thing. Messmann kept my attention with the story, but only when he was not ripping off a cinematic classic. He planted a seed that was so obvious, Stevie Wonder could have seen it. Again, this is a case of a book that took no time to read and probably no time to come up with.

Next time: Werewolves of London! (Not really, but expect a Halloween motif.) —Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF PETER MCCURTAIN:
• SOLDIER OF FORTUNE: BODY COUNT by Peter McCurtain

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