Route of the Red Gold

Route of the Red Gold, published in 1967, is a lesser known novel by the great crime fiction writer Dan J. Marlowe. Here Marlowe, no doubt capitalizing on the 1960s spy craze, brings some Cold War intrigue and James Bond flavor to his usual hard-hitting, hard-boiled writing.

Red Gold concerns the mission of Roy Weston, a Yale grad and US Marine captain assigned by the CIA to investigate a suspected Communist banker in the Virgin Islands. Weston has spent time on the island training troops and already has contacts there; his expertise in combat swimming, infiltration and spycraft also prove very useful.

Weston doesn’t know exactly who his target is, but one suspect is a lush named Menard who soon becomes his regular drinking buddy. Another is a rich old man named Carrington, who lives in a secure coastal compound, complete with vicious bodyguards, guard dogs, a beautiful daughter named Joan and a drunken wife named Sophie—both of whom have the hots for Captain Roy.

Lots of drinking, romance and intrigue soon ensue, as Roy infiltrates Menard’s office, Carrrington’s estate and Joan’s bedroom. He also has to make regular dead drops to his CIA handlers and avoid the wrath of his military superior for his suspicious nocturnal antics. All this while training marines by day in demanding commando skills. This guy has nothing but energy.

There’s a decent amount of action, involving Roy swimming long distances at night, picking locks, cracking safes, and getting in two or three serious fights. The characters are well-drawn, the spycraft is believable, and the climax is violent and exciting. Roy Weston doesn’t have a lot of personality, but he’s as tough, competent, energetic and smooth with the ladies as James Bond or Matt Helm, and that’s all this story needs.

This was a good read; there’s no grand dramas about saving the world, just realistic human scale operations to take down a Communist spy ring in America’s backyard. Marlowe’s writing is efficient, informed and engaging as usual. What’s not to like?

Get a copy of Route of the Red Gold here.

Exit Wound

Exit Wound is another entertaining installment of the adventures of Nick Stone. As usual, the book starts with a flashback to an earlier mission when Stone was an SAS operator—this time in Berlin just before the fall of the Iron Curtain. As usual, some of the characters in the flashback will figure in his new mission, including both close friends and deadly enemies. The new mission starts off with a nice hook, as Nick and his old mates are about to raid a warehouse in Dubai where a fortune in gold taken from Saddam's Iraq is lying gathering dust. But thing go badly sideways, and soon Nick is on the hunt for the villains who crossed him and his mates.

Next the action shifts to Iran, where Nick is trying to track down the lead villain. As usual for this series, he befriends a local, a very helpful and enthusiastic fellow who is also an aviation nerd who can help Nick track down the villain's plane. This is very convenient, and it leads to another set piece mission where Nick stakes out and attacks the villain's gang at their airport lair. This time Stone doesn’t do his usual meticulous preparation, but goes straight at the gangsters with no plan and no weapon but a steel bar scavenged from a waste ground. Huh?

Things get even crazier during the climactic sequence, as Nick and his newfound Russian ladyfriend head deep into the Russia hinterlands to track down the villains at a restricted military proving ground. Again, Stone has no plan, no weapon, no map and no idea where the villains are in a zone the size of Wales, but he plows ahead anyway, breaking into the restricted area on an old motorcycle with the Russian gal in the sidecar, chainsawing (!) several chain link fences and riding a hundred miles to find the bad guys. The climax was exciting but predictable, as was the aftermath, when Nick does his usual Santa Claus act to rain money and gifts upon everyone who helped him or was harmed during the mission.

I give this three stars because it was a fast-paced (for this series), entertaining story, full of McNab’s trademark gritty details and the always interesting protagonist, Stone. But I gotta say, this was probably the most unrealistic and pulpy novel in the series so far, moving it closer to James Bond or Mack Bolan territory than the usually believable Stone stories. Stone’s rash attacks on much better-armed villains seemed out of character to me, as did his friendly relationship with his new boss, Julian, and his over the top charity toward everyone involved. Stone is still a brutal killer, but I prefer the more realistic and self-absorbed Stone of the earlier books to this pulpy avenger. The series has also gotten rather formulaic, with the opening flashbacks, local helpers and convenient jackpots at the end in every book. Seems like there were more twists and surprises in the past. Exit Wound was still an entertaining read, but not one of my favorites.

Get a copy of Exit Wound here.