MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY # 10

 

MEN’S ADVENTURE Quarterly Issue # 10

The Vietnam Issue

Edited by Robert Deis & Bill Cunningham

Subtropic Productions, LLC.

167 pgs

 

When this issue arrived in the mail, we found our thoughts traveling back in time. This July, 2024, will mark 56 years since this reviewer came home from Vietnam as a U.S. Army soldier. We were twenty-one at the time. Honestly, it seems like it was another person who experienced those twelve months that war-torn foreign land.  

Since returning, we’ve never read a single book about Vietnam; fiction or non. It just wasn’t something we wanted to remember all that much. Oh, we saw a few movies, but for the most part, they were just make-believe to us. When young American country boys went off to fight in the Civil War, they compared it to going off to the circus to see an elephant. That’s what eight million of my generation did in those short years between late 50s and early 70s. We went off to see the elephant. Thousands of my brothers never came home and that’s something we’ve never forgotten.  

Okay, so back to this review. As ever we tip our hats to editors Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham who have once again put together a great package filled with both gritty, typical men’s action/adventure stories accompanied by truly gorgeous artwork. Their zeal of preserving the Men’s Adventure Mags of a by-gone day is praiseworthy. Each of their issues provides its readers with a glimpse into a literary genre that evolved from the pulp mags and paved the way to today’s modern thrillers.

As for the Vietnam theme, it was a bit hard to read some of those stories while at the same time smile at the memories of some of the great guys we served with. Hell, even the section on the beautiful Raquel Welch and her 67 Christmas tour with Bob Hope echoes in our heart. We were part of that 100,000 military audience they entertained in Long Binh during that junket. It was truly something else. As is this issue. Thanks, Bob and Bill.

THE CASE OF THE JILTED JULIET

 

THE CASE OF THE JILTED JULIET

A North Hollywood Detective Myster Club

By Mike Mains

Mystery Adventure Detective Books

204 pgs

 

This is one of a series of young adult books featuring Jeffrey Jones and his pal, Pablo Gomez as high school students who solve mysteries. In this book, they learn of a thirty year tragedy that occurred during the performance of Shakespear’s Romeo and Juliet by the school drama club. Supposedly the young lady playing Juliet had committed suicide after having been jilted by her boyfriend. It is claimed that her ghost is said to haunt the school every so often and her scream can be heard at midnight. 

When Jeffrey and Paul discover a plastic bloody finger prop left in a copy of the play, it so unnerves the library staff and other teachers, their curiosity is aroused. Bit by bit, the more they learn about the girl’s death, the they begin to suspect the young lady was  murdered. By luck and serendipity, they uncover several vital clues that were somehow missed during the initial investigation. Clues that begin to point not only to foul play but the fact that the murderer was someone involved with the school and the circle students who knew the deceased.

Mike Mains has a nice easy style and his characters are fully developed with their own unique quirks and typical teenage foibles. He’s also ardent in regard to themes of faith, religion and the afterlife. We found that off putting at times, but never so much as to detract from the interactions of his young cast. In the end, “The Case of the Jilted Juliet” was a fun read and we give it major thumbs up.

LEVON'S RANGE

 

LEVON’S RANGE

A Vigilante Justice Thriller # 11

By Chuck Dixon

Rough Edge Press

183 pgs

 

Chuck Dixon’s eleventh Levon Cade book picks up a few months after the climax of his last. Cade has moved his family to Idaho and bought himself a mid-size ranch where he hopes to raise horses with his daughters, Uncle Fern and tag-along vet pal, Wes. All seems to be going fine, their Holman alias working well enough until one morning when they awaken to discover their five horses have been stolen.

With the aid of a recently hired cowboy named Ray, Cade goes into the surrounding high country in the search of the thieves. What he is unaware of is an old nemesis is hot on his trail, working for a vicious cartel with a score to settle. Once again, Chuck Dixon amps up the thrills with his lean economic narrative, propelling the action like classic pulp pacing. The hallmark of his Cade series, action galore from start to finish.

BONSAI

 

BONSAI

By Sandy Nicolson

Available @ Amazon

294 pgs

 

It’s the mid-1970s and on the outskirts of Salinas, California, sets an old gas station that long ago ran out of gas. Owned and operated by a South Korean immigrant known as Bonsai, the place remains open due Bonsai’s skills as a mechanic. He can pretty much fix any broken down engine built before the 90s and not attached to some kind of computer. The station also runs a small convenience store with the usual assortment of dry goods and soda for the luckless driver who wanders off the interstate in the middle of the night.

The mystery attached to the place is Bonsai’s daughter, Lily who’s origin is unknown by any of the locals.  

One day Bonsai ran the garage with his uncle, the previous owner. Then his uncled died and for a while it was only Bonsai. And then there was Bonsai and a precious, beautiful baby girl he said was his daughter, Lily. End of story, or as much as he would ever reveal to anyone. Even Lily.

The fact that he loved her more than anything in the world and did his best to provide for her, to keep her safe and happy, could not diminish her need to know about her mother. Still, Bonsai was as stubborn as his daughter. Finally, Lily left for college, became a lawyer and went to work for a prestige firm in San Francisco. Thus establishing her own life, she had nothing further to do with the stoic, impenetrable wall that was her father.

For a first novel, writer Sandy Nicolson displays and uncanny gift for memorable characters and unusual circumstances. Though none of the players in the story of Bonsai and Lily is what one would call exceptional, they remain absolutely fascinating. The riddle that has haunted them for thirty years slowly begins to unravel as the book moves to its climax and the answers to mystery are both beautiful and tragic. People, even imperfect people, can sometimes find love. If they are wise, they will hold on and never let go. Bravo, Sandy Nicolson, “Bonsai” as a truly wonderful surprise.

INTO THE NIGHT

 

INTO THE NIGHT

By Cornell Woolrich & Lawrence Block

Hard Case Crime

240 pgs.

 

Madeline is an introspective young woman caught in the depths of depression. Toying with a loaded revolver, she contemplates taking her life. Then, when setting the gun down on a desk causes it to fire accidentally, the bullet goes out the window and hits an innocent bystander. In shock, Madeline rushes to the fallen body of the young woman she has shot and cradles her tenderly as she dies.  

Fleeing the scene before the police arrive, Madeline then becomes obsessed with learning more about dead woman name Starr. With facts gathered surreptitiously from Starr’s mother, she discovers that Starr had once been happily. Then she’d suffered a broken heart due to some unspeakable act of her husband. Finding notes left behind by the deceased, Madeline comes to the conclusion that Starr had wanted to murder the man and decides in her twisted sense of obligation to fulfill Starr’s wish. But first she has to return to the city and find her target. 

Thus begins a grim, suspenseful odyssey original conceived by writer Cornell Woolrich, a master of the genre. When he died before the story could be completed, the manuscript collected dust for several decades until crime writer Lawrence Block agreed to take on the task of finishing it. That he does so brilliantly is evidence in the grim, noire styling that is uniform throughout the prose. The myriad characters Madeline encounters along her path to murder are all dour, soulless people caught up in a rat race they have personally chosen for themselves. The world “Into the Night” inhibits is one of hopelessness and ruin with death the only decent escape. It is a place both Cornell and Block are all too familiar with.

BUSTED BOOTLEG

 

BUSTED BOOTLEG

A Red Jackal Mystery

By Jonathan W. Sweet

A Brick Pickle Pulp

152 pgs

 

Of all the New Pulp avengers now battling from various publishers, one of our personal favorites is Jonathan W. Sweet’s Red Jackal. It is as if Sweet mixed up old classic pulp heroes with comic characters. Where as the Jackal is a whole lot like both Bruce Wayne, aka, Batman and Britt Reid, aka the Green Hornet. He’s actually Blake Randolph, a big city publisher and handsome man-about-town. Whereas his crime fighting methods are based on ancient Egyptian skills he learned while traveling abroad.

In this adventure, Red Jackal takes on several Minnesota based criminal gangs who are trying to fix college football games. As ever aided by his brother, Daniel, his chauffeur Geoffrey and police Lt. MacDaniels, Randolph has his hands full in this face paced actioner. Kudos to writer Sweet, who, although his main characters are fictitious, sets them against real Minnesota history, to include famous criminal personas.

In all a really fun read that is packaged along with a bonus short story at the back, “The Hell Bus.” We also what to give a worth shout out to the folks responsible for this entry interior illustrations. They were quite effective in adding to the drama.

LEVON'S PREY

 

LEVON’S PREY

Levon Cade Book # 10

By Chuck Dixon

Rough Edge Press

164 pgs

 

This being the tenth of twelve books, we can with a sigh announce that we are finally getting caught up with Chuck Dixon’s fantastic series. In “Levon’s Prey,” he learns almost too late that his destroying a child sex slave ring has somehow been connected to him by a corrupt politician. A seedy lowlife investigator hunts down Cade’s family and threatens their lives. Having no other recourse, Levon, after saving a friend caught in the crossfire of his personal battles, goes hunting after the hunters. It’s a typical Dixon twist and the book, like all other Levon Cade thrillers, is packed with action.

Only two more for this happy reviewer to get to. And of course we’re all keeping tabs on the new Levon Cade movie that just went into actual production. Oh yeah, for Levon and his legion of fans, things are really, really good.

DEATH COMES TOO LATE

 

DEATH COMES TOO LATE

By Charles Ardai

Hard Case Crime

399 pgs

 

What we have here is a collection of crime short stories by writer/editor Charles Ardai. Twenty in all and each is a gem. Though somewhat depressing in large part, there is no denying Ardai’s writing chops. He knows how to spin a tale. How to hook the reader and pull along all the way to the place where the trapdoor opens up beneath him. And there are a good deal of these O’Henry type moment in this grand collection. 

There is plenty of suspense, pathos, humor and tragedy all woven together in this cornucopia of what we call life. Ironically our two favorite tales are the end pieces. “The Home Front” is a story about life in the US during World War Two and the last yarn “The Investigation of Things” is a dandy little murder mystery that takes place in a Chinese monastery. All in all, “Death Comes Too Late” is a really nice package you’ll want to unwrap again and again.