Renegade Agent

Renegade Agent, published in 1982, was the 47^th installment of the legendary Executioner men's adventure series, featuring the ultimate commando-vigilante tough guy, Mack Bolan. It's the 9^th installment of Bolan's "New War" against international terrorism and espionage that began in issue #39. Before that, Bolan had been fighting a one-man vigilante holy war against the mafia, who were responsible for killing his family. Now, with the covert backing of the U.S. government and the Stony Man black agency, he is bringing his brutal skills to bear on even more dangerous and depraved enemies around the world.

As the story opens, Bolan, clad in his trademark "blacksuit", is breaking into the offices of a technology company with his tech wizard assistant, "Gadgets" Schwarz. They have come to gather intel from the personal computers of the company's boss, a dude named Charon who is suspected of selling classified info to the Kremlin. With the data they collect, they learn that Charon is also selling state-of-the-art technology to a renegade CIA agent named Edwards, who is running an organization Bolan sums up this way:

An international underground intelligence network ... a "black" CIA, run by men trained by the top legit agencies in the world, serving the needs of the terrorist network. With state-of-the-art technology provided by traitors like Charon.

What a fascinating concept!

After raiding Edwards's Swiss chalet and taking out the whole place in classic Bolan fashion, Mack learns that Edwards has fled to his headquarters in Tripoli, Libya, where his black agency has the backing of Muammar Gaddafi--the leading sponsor of international terrorism in those days. He also learns that an old flame and assistant from his mafia-fighting days is working undercover to infiltrate Edwards' organization, and her cover may be blown. This means Mack has to use disguise and deception rather than brute force to take down Edwards, and his task is made more difficult by a gunshot wound he suffers in the shoulder that limits his use of one arm. There follows more set-piece commando raids on the black CIA's "hardsites" that meet the quota of gory killings and explosions for an Executioner novel.

This was a pretty typical Executioner novel, which means it had some great commando action, black ops intrigue, enemy infiltrations, forgettable characters and internal monologues to justify his vigilante war on evil-doers. Mack is more James Bond than John Rambo in this one, which was a nice change of pace.

I really liked author Steven Krauzer's concept of a "black" CIA or mercenary spy agency, which was no doubt inspired by the real case of Edwin Wilson. Wilson was a rogue CIA agent who sold arms to Libya used by terrorist groups (including 20 tons of C-4 plastic explosive!), recruited retired Green Berets to train Libyan special forces, and was in it strictly for the money. This realistic detail, along with some interesting rants from Bolan, made this a worthwhile read and more than just a mindless men's adventure novel.

Get a copy of Renegade Agent here.

The Domino Vendetta

The Domino Vendetta, published in 1984 by Adam Kennedy, is the sequel to his excellent 1975 novel The Domino Principle, which I previously reviewed here. It continues the saga of everyman Roy Tucker, a working class murder convict who was sprung from prison by a shadowy cabal of powerful men in return for carrying out a high-level assassination.

Vendetta continues where Principle left off,  as Tucker, following the grim ending of the last novel, is still in Costa Rica and under attack by agents of the cabal. Tucker survives the assault, then proceeds to burn down his villa, dump his attackers' car in the ocean and take off on foot, their identity cards and cash in hand. Using those, Tucker flies to Brazil to hide out and figure out what to do next. But the cabal soon finds him and tries to frame him for a murder, which Tucker narrowly escapes.

Meanwhile, everyone involved in the assassination plot is being killed off, including Tucker himself, according to a newspaper report. Tucker decides that he's through running and returns stateside to take the fight to the cabal. The problem is he has no idea where to find them or how to take them on. He turns to the last person alive who can help him, his long-time lawyer and close friend from his Vietnam War days, Robert Applegate. Applegate has gone into hiding, but Tucker manages to track him down and get him to talk.  It turns out that Applegate has some inside information about the conspirators who enlisted Roy for his hit on the American ex-president. The description he provides of the cabal and their agenda sound all-too plausible, even more so today than in 1984:

The group, which calls itself Interworld Alliance, admits that it aspires to a position of high-level international influence, something apolitical, extra-political, a kind of world government outside government that speaks the language of business. Profit and loss, expansion and growth, acquisition, manipulation, and planned obsolescence. Brave New World, Man and Superman, business is business, money talks.

We learn that Interworld's chief military advisor, an American general named Reser, has a devious scheme to get permanent control of Middle Eastern oil. We also learn why Interworld targeted an ex-president for assassination and enlisted Tucker for the hit.

Roy Tucker, being a common man motivated by common emotions, doesn't much care about this larger conspiracy. He simply wants  violent revenge for the wrongs the conspirators have done to him and his loved ones, and in particular, revenge against Reser. Ever the cunning redneck, Tucker prepares a trap to bring the Interworld men to him so that he can get to them. The novel moves quickly toward a dramatic climax, as Tucker makes his way to New York, where Reser is scheduled to address the United Nations and announce his "peace initiative" in the Middle East. Tucker uses his natural ninja cunning to get close to his target, and like the first novel, this one ends with a violent, dark twist.

Vendetta was a worthy sequel to The Domino Principle; though not quite as riveting and a little slow at times, it was a well-written, tightly plotted continuation of the Roy Tucker saga. It fleshes out the events of the first novel, not only with regard to the assassination conspiracy, but Tucker's early life, the events that landed him in prison, his time in Vietnam, and the love of his life, his late wife Thelma. The tough, resourceful, poor country boy convict from West Virginia is a sympathetic character, like a more human and likeable Jason Bourne, on the run from sinister power players but determined to survive and get revenge. This series is definitely worth your time if you enjoy classic assassin/conspiracy thrillers along these lines.

Get a copy of The Domino Vendetta here.