TO LIVE AND SPY IN BERLIN

 

TO LIVE AND SPY IN BERLIN

By Max Allan Collins with Matthew V. Clemens

Wolfpack Publishing

221 pgs

With this third installment of the John Sand series, Collins and Clemens put forth a proposition many past mystery writers have tackled; can marriage still be romantic and sexy? Following the events that were detailed in “Come Spy With Me” and “Live Fast, Spy Hard,” former British Agent John Sand and his Texas Oil Heiress wife, Stacey, have together joined the new international spy organization called GUILE created by U.S. President John Kennedy and run by former British Spy Chief Sir Lord Malcolm Marbury; known affectionately as Double M.

As we rejoin the Sands, the major issue between them is whether or not Stacey becoming an operative was a good idea or not. A series of lethal encounters with a team of professional assassins has John rethinking his decision. At the same time certain intelligence comes to the surface that former Nazis who escaped capture at the end of World War II may be active in Berlin, after having disappeared for several decades in certain South American countries. Bomb making uranium has been stolen and the likelihood of these renegade Nazis creating their own atomic bomb is a threat that cannot be ignored.

As in the first two entries, Collins and Clemens cleverly work in actual historical settings throughout the thriller, weaving their fiction skillfully around real people and the volatile political atmosphere of the early 1960s. Yet despite this outer layer of narrative, it is the relationship between John and Stacey that is truly captivating. It was impossible not to recall other literary and cinematic spouses from the past. From Nick and Nora Charles, to televisions Hart to Hart and McMillan & Wife, married duos sharing outlandish adventures worked remarkably well in the past and they are very much the pedigree of this thrill-a-minute new series.

As always, Collins and Clemens offer up a whole lot more than any back cover blurb can properly define. This series is brilliant in all its many aspects. If you’re a spy junkie like us, its time you met the Sands.

HOUR OF THE ROBOT

 

HOUR OF THE ROBOT

By Paul R. McNamee

Mystique Press

185 pgs

This sci-fi actioner begins when an advance scout ship from an alien empire arrives in orbit around the Earth with the intent gathering data for an invasion. As it turns out, one of the three members of the crew rebels at the idea of conquest and sabotages the mission at the same time stranding himself here. Seven years later, this castaway has become a superhero to the people of the great city Palas simply referred to as the Alien. His secret lair is managed by an intelligent robot of his own design called Robot.

Writer McNamee clearly spins his tale from the iconic comic book mythos of the twentieth century. Whereas the Alien is another version of Superman, in the nearby dark brooding metropolis of Crowsport (re-Gotham) a masked crimefigther named the Protector has taken to cleaning up the street aided by his firecracker of a lovely sidekick, a young lady called Understudy.

But what are heroes without villains? And in this case, we immediately learn of brilliant genius called Mr. Medina and a cruel, thuggish mob boss called Dufresne. Together they are forever hatching various get rich schemes to acquire wealth and power. It appears the forces are good and evil are equally balance until the Alien uncovers clues of a mysterious third party’s involvement. This unknown element could prove the most dangerous threat the planet has ever encountered unless Alien and the Protector then discover its identity and goals.

“Hour of the Robot” is a terrific first novel and a fun read.  McNamee’s prose is succinct in its brevity detailing the action clearly throughout without wasting so much as a single word. He tells you his story without fancy trappings while at the same time drawing forth really wonderful personalities from his cast of characters. Though based on all too familiar themes, “Hour of the Robot” is really something fresh and exciting and a bravo first novel of a very skillful storyteller.  Honestly, we want more. Lots more.

 

FIVE DECEMBERS

 

FIVE DECEMBERS

By James Kestrel

Hard Case Crime

427 pgs

“Five Decembers” is one of the greatest books we have ever read. It is destined to be a classic of American fiction for so, so many reasons.

It is late Nov. in Honolulu, 1941. Tensions between the U.S. and Japan are reaching a crescendo and the ghosts of war are once again manifesting themselves. World War I veteran, Detective Joe McGrady is called to investigate the brutal murder of a young couple; their bodies having been discovered in a rickety shack up in the hills of a dairy farm. The boy was American, the girl Japanese and their remains the grisly signature of a sadistic monster. No sooner than McGrady begin his investigation when he learns the male victim was the nephew of an Admiral in command of the island’s pacific fleet. Via this connection, the evidence suggests the killer was in fact a trained spy and since fled Hawaii for Hong Kong.

At the Admiral’s request, McGrady agrees to take up the chase and is soon packed and saying farewell to Molly, a young college student he’d recently become involved with. His hope is to catch the killer, turn him over to the British authorities and then be home in only a few weeks. What McGrady fails to anticipate is the attack on Pearl Harbor, the following week, Dec.7^th that finds him wrongly incarcerated in a Hong Kong jail cell. Unable to convince the Brits of his identity and purpose, he helplessly witnesses the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong and is subsequently captured as a prisoner of war and brought to Japan.

What happens next to McGrady is truly mesmerizing, as Kestrel paints a setting few Americans have ever seen, let alone imagined; Japan during the war years. He masterfully depicts characters from all walks of life attempting to cope with the living nightmare that had seemingly swallowed all reality. The author captures people insightfully, his characters brokenly human regardless of race and all of them somehow significant to the entire story of McGrady’s personal odyssey. That he survives to return back to Honolulu is a heart-wrenching narrative and only the precursor for the book’s final third in which McGrady, like a dog with a bone, picks up his old case and once again begins his hunt for killer who had eluded all those years earlier.

“Five Decembers” is a gripping, taught, magnificent saga unlike anything we’ve ever read in our life. No understatement there. It is a work of power, brilliant plotting, heart and grace showing all the nobility of mankind as well as the depths of evil into which it can sink. Loves won and lost, enemies and allies encountered and a finale that will have you transfixed by its sheer, overwhelming beauty. What else can I say except, thank you, James Kestrel, for writing this book.