The Revenants #1: Assault on Abbeville - Jack Badelaire

Jack Badelaire has come up with a great concept for his new World War II adventure series: five soldiers, each from a different nation conquered by the Germans, are considered missing in action and presumed dead, but in actuality, they've been recruited by a British spymaster to form an elite commando squad that can be sent on vital but unofficial missions behind enemy lines. The squad consists of men from Poland, France, Norway, Belgium, and Holland. To put it in terms that a lot of guys of a certain age will grasp immediately, THE REVENANTS is BLACKHAWK as written by Alistair Maclean, with a little dash of CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN thrown in.

Badelaire brings that concept to life with considerable skill and excitement in ASSAULT ON ABBEVILLE, the first novel in the series, which finds the Revenants being smuggled into occupied France to make contact with a group of partisans and assassinate a German fighter pilot who's been taking a great toll on British bombing raids. This will not only rid the Luftwaffe of a valuable asset but also damage German morale . . . if all goes as planned. Which, of course, it doesn't.

ASSAULT ON ABBEVILLE is fast-paced and full of action and has an undeniable sense of authenticity. Badelaire is a long-time fan of World War II adventure fiction and it shows in this and his other novels. If you're a fan of the genre, you owe it to yourself to pick up his books.

Renegade's Revenge - Jack Badelaire

I've enjoyed Jack Badelaire's action and war novels, so I was eager to read his first Western. RENEGADE'S REVENGE is a short novel set during the Civil War and its aftermath. Like many families, the Miller brothers are separated by the war, with Caleb fighting for the Union and his twin brother Caleb and their older brother Paul joining up with a band of Confederate guerrillas. Inevitably, in the last days of the war, they find themselves on different sides of the same battle, and the outcome is a tragic one when Caleb Miller is taken prisoner and executed by David's brutal commander.

The war is over soon after that, and David and Paul find themselves back on the family farm making an uneasy truce with each other. David regards what his captain did as murder, not an act of war, and he and Paul decide to sell the farm and track down the captain and the brutal sergeant who actually killed Caleb. They know that doing so will make them outlaws, but they don't care. They're going to avenge Caleb's death no matter what it takes.

It's a classic set-up for a Western revenge novel, and Badelaire handles it beautifully. His prose is crisp and assured and flows very well. He has a nice touch with the characters, creating a tough-minded but sympathetic protagonist in David Miller, a couple of truly despicable villains, and vivid supporting characters including a former Union officer haunted by the past. The frequent action scenes are quite effective and lead up to a satisfying showdown.

RENEGADE'S REVENGE is a top-notch traditional Western that makes me hope it won't be Badelaire's only entry in the genre. I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next. If you're a Western fan, you definitely should give this one a try.

RENEGADE'S REVENGE e-book on Amazon

RENEGADE'S REVENGE paperback on Amazon

Commando: Operation Arrowhead - Jack Badelaire

Last year I read Jack Badelaire's excellent debut novel KILLER INSTINCTS. It's taken me far too long to get around to his World War II series, but I've finally read the first novel in that one and thoroughly enjoyed it.

British soldier Thomas Lynch is the grandfather of the protagonist in KILLER INSTINCTS, but you don't have to have read the earlier book to enjoy this one at all. It's early 1941, and having gone through the humiliation of Dunkirk, Lynch is eager to get back to fighting the Germans. The quickest way is by volunteering for one of the newly formed commando units. Lynch's squad, designated 3 Commando, is landed secretly in occupied France to join up with a French resistance group and help them break the German hold on a small coastal town.

Once the commandos' boots are on French soil, it's well-written action nearly all the way, with just enough black humor and characterization interspersed for punctuation. The violence is pretty graphic, but other than that COMMANDO: OPERATION ARROWHEAD reminds me very much of a gritty, black-and-white Sixties TV series such as COMBAT!, one of my all-time favorites. While Thomas Lynch is the hero, several of the members of the commando squad take the spotlight at times, and they're all fine characters as well. Badelaire's pacing is also excellent. This is one of the fastest-moving books I've read recently. There's enough detail to give the story a strong sense of historical accuracy but never enough to bog it down.

The second novel in the series, as well as a prequel short story, are also available. I already have them on my Kindle and hope to read them soon. If you're a fan of World War II fiction, I highly recommend COMMANDO: OPERATION ARROWHEAD

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Killer Instincts - Jack Badelaire

I'm a regular reader of Jack Badelaire's excellent blog Post-Modern Pulps, so I knew he and I share some of the same tastes in reading material. Because of that I figured there was a good chance I'd enjoy his first novel KILLER INSTINCTS.  What I didn't really expect was that it would turn out to be one of the best books I've read so far this year.

College student William Lynch is vacationing in Paris with his girlfriend when his parents and sister are killed in a mob hit orchestrated by the powerful crime family of a rapist and murderer William's father was prosecuting. Seeking vengeance, William turns to his uncle, who moves in the shadowy circles of mercenaries and professional soldiers of fortune. Unwilling to take up the cause of revenge himself, William's uncle puts him in touch with another "operator" who will train him and help him set up his bloody vendetta.

That's pretty much the entire plot of the book, and since it's narrated by William in a flashback after an opening scene set ten years later, we know he survives. What makes KILLER INSTINCTS work so well is some fine writing that goes deeper into the characterization than is sometimes found in action/adventure fiction. More than half of the book is taken up with William's training in isolated West Texas locations by the enigmatic figure Richard, his uncle's old friend. There are plenty of details about survival and fighting techniques, but Badelaire never lets things turn into a lecture. Even when William and Richard are discussing the philosophy of violence, the dialogue is crisp, fast-moving, and often funny despite the grim circumstances.

The action scenes are also top-notch, well written and easy to follow. More than anything, the character of William carries this book. He's no superhero, and he's complex enough that the reader can't help but root for him.

Even though the plot falls into the urban vigilante category, more than anything else KILLER INSTINCTS reminds me of the early Matt Helm novels by Donald Hamilton. William is a private operator, not a government agent, but I can see some Matt Helm in him. If you're looking for a well-written, involving thriller, you should definitely check this one out.

Hatchet Force Journal #1

Last night I downloaded and immediately read cover-to-cover this first issue of this new e-magazine devoted to the action/adventure genre.  The brainchild of author (and occasional commentor on this blog) Jack Badelaire, this is a fine piece of work.  Highlights are a lengthy essay by Badelaire about societal influences on the explosion of men's adventure paperbacks in the late Sixties and all through the Seventies, an extensive interview with author Mack Maloney (whose work I'm aware of but have never read, something I have to remedy), and an in-depth review of Sam Peckinpah's film BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA (a movie I've never seen, something else I have to tend to).  There are also articles on "The Evolution of Pulp" by Tom Johnson, an authority on that subject and an old friend of mine, and "Movie Adaptations That Beat the Book" by Henry Brown, plus book and TV reviews by various hands, all good.  I had a great time reading HATCHET FORCE JOURNAL, and I hope it's just the first of many issues.  If you're an action/adventure fan, it comes highly recommended by me.