It’s that time of year when I can finally break out the shorts and sit in the sun. Instead of enjoying the beach, though, I’ll be reading on my porch. So let’s have some fun in the sun with three books bringing the idea of bikinis and guns to the forefront, which is how it should be.
KANE’S WAR #6: DEAD HEAT by Nick Stone – That cover screams two words: “Hello, sailor!” Now that I’ve covered the best part of this 1988 novel, let’s get to the meat of the matter: a story populated with overdescriptive passages about the kinds of boats and all their accessories. If they cut out all those passages, the book would have been mercifully shorter.
Ben Kane is some sort of Virgin Islands charter boat captain with his Vietnam pals working for him. I wish I was making this shit up, but I’m not. He’s the kind of low-rent lothario who watched too much McHALE’S NAVY: always on the lookout for a quick buck or a quick something else.
The plot – if that what it’s called – deals with a race being sabotaged, with boats being burned or blown up, or captains having half their faces caved in. When you get to the reason behind all this (hint: KGB), you really won’t give a crap, because this book is all over the place, where people are introduced so much that they jumble into one another.
You won’t be able to keep it straight. I would have been better off watching an old episode of RIPTIDE. This is another case of the cover being more interesting than the prose inside.
MERMAID ON THE ROCKS by Brett Halliday – Even when Mike Shayne takes a break, people still try and give him grief. Robert Terrall – longtime ghostwriter for the series – is back with this 1967 tale, in which Mike takes a much-needed break with a bit of scuba diving. The problem is, someone screwed with his tanks, filling them with nitrous oxide, making him a little loopy, to the point that he is doing somersaults and trying to make it with a mermaid.
We find out the tanks were not originally for him, but the girl from whom he borrowed them. It turns out it’s all about a real estate deal and some mysterious pirate gold that might be buried in the area. The land in question was left to a group of people who are slowly dying off, be it from a burning bed or a poisoning.
This is a fine addition to all the Shayne I’ve read, and keeps you guessing toward the end. There are great sequences in this book to even satisfy even the old-school Shayne fans, but just remember it is one not written by Halliday, which takes a little luster off the read. The cover art kicks ass with that ass.
DOC SAVAGE #19: PIRATE OF THE PACIFIC by Kenneth Robeson – For some reason, pirates seem to be all the rage of summertime. Personally, the last movie I saw in a theater with the word “pirates” in the title was that sorely forgotten masterpiece THE ICE PIRATES.
First off: Hello, stereotypes! This PIRATE adventure was written in 1933, and it shows, as all the Asian characters are portrayed in a way that will make you cringe and chuckle. How stereotyped? Every “L” is replaced by a “R” in their speech.
But let’s not focus on that. This Doc Savage entry is literally nonstop action. You don’t even get a chance to breathe, from the opening of a sub base being dive-bombed to Doc and the boys fighting it out with Mongols. Then there are the cool Doc Savage moments you come to love: a pigeon with a microphone, a mind-blowing escape, Dick Tracy-like wristwatches, a bad guy wanting a bloodless coup. Then it all comes to a head on Shark Head Island.
What’s not to love in this taut little fun fest? The pacing is not pitch-perfect, mind you. But when I think “summer reading,” Doc Savage is tops, and this one is well worth adding to your stack next to your glass of lemonade.
Next time: Gimme an S-P-I-E-S. What’s that spell? –Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• BODIES ARE WHERE YOU FIND THEM by Brett Halliday
• COUNT BACKWARDS TO ZERO by Brett Halliday
• DOC SAVAGE: FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE / THE DEVIL GENGHIS by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE: THE CZAR OF FEAR by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE: THE SPOOK LEGION by Kenneth Robeson
• GUILTY AS HELL by Brett Halliday
• LESTER DENT’S ZEPPELIN TALES by Lester Dent
• NEVER KILL A CLIENT by Brett Halliday
• TARGET: MIKE SHAYNE by Brett Halliday
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