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INCA DEATH SQUAD
As a way to pass a hundred minutes when you're too tired and sore for much of anything else, you'd be hard pressed to find a better time than pouring yourself a glass of Soca rum and sitting out on the wind-kissed veranda, Inca Death Squad in hand, as the sun sink low over the lush, green rain forest and white-capped turquoise waves crash against the cliffs below. Nick Carter, as always, I raise my glass to you.
OPERATION MOON ROCKET
The most important aspect of any of these books is the adventure, and Operation Moon Rocket has plenty to go around, including a zero-G knife fight in space suits, exploding rockets, remote controlled helicopters, violent poker games, cigar chomping, and lots of sneaking around and punching guys in the face. Carter gets captured a lot, as is par for the course, but he doesn't really behave as stupidly or carelessly as he has in many past books. Everything moves at a brisk clip, and the action rarely lets up. Operation Moon Rocket is a delight, all the way around, even with the idiotic "now I shall leave you alone to contemplate my evil genius" finale.
ASSIGNMENT ISRAEL
All in all, an average Nick Carter book that wins points for trying a couple things differently but loses points for having too much filler and a lack of logic in using the characters properly. Where as Mission to Venice was about as streamlined as a book can be without becoming an outline, Assignment Israel gets lost too often during the first half of the book and lacks any engagingly outlandish supporting characters. Not a bad read, but definitely not the best Nick Carter adventure waiting for you.
MISSION TO VENICE
Mission to Venice delivers exactly what it should: cheap, briskly paced, trashy action with some sex, plenty of violence, and a no-nonsense plot that, while completely free of any sort of complexity, keeps you interested, though considering that you can read the book in just under an hour, I guess sustaining your interest isn't really that big an accomplishment.
MASSACRE IN MILAN
Yes, Nick gets captured and only escapes thanks to stupid luck, apparently the master spy's greatest weapon. Luckily, his captors have that disease where they laugh and say, "Since you are going to die, there is no harm in telling you our plan," then they tell him and leave the room. If any of you out there are aspiring evil geniuses, and I would hope at least a few of you are, remember to never say "Since you are going to die anyway, there is no harm in telling you our plans." Then don't tell them and leave them alone in the room, or with one guard who is asleep or playing solitaire.
RUN SPY RUN
It's straight-forward espionage action, full of plot "twists," violence, and sex. While we're not talking timeless classics here, one thing the books do and do well is excite. They are quick reads and hard to put down, and the closer you get to the end, the more excited and obsessed you become with seeing things out. Yeah, we all know Nick is going to escape, save the world, maybe kill the bad guy (though the bad guy may also escape ... until next time, Mr. Carter), and probably end the story back where he belongs -- between a sexy woman's spread legs. That doesn't mean the trip there can't be full of action and fun.
14 SECONDS TO HELL
14 Seconds to Hell is not a good book for the easily offended, as it is far more extreme in many ways than many other titles. Of course, I reckon none of the Nick Carter books are good for the easily (or even mildly likely to be) offended. Those folks should just stick to, I don't know, whatever secret agent goes around talking about his feelings, empowering women, and how the Cold War could have been ended with hugs and cookies. However, if you aren't the type to be offended by pulp, and lord knows nothing make-believe offends me, because I am able to tell the difference between reality and fiction. Once you get over that, 14 Seconds to Hell is among the more violent, explicit, and interesting Nick Carter books so far, in part because of it's look into the underworld and underbelly of Hong Kong. And yeah, all the sex and killing doesn't hurt, either.
TEMPLE OF FEAR
Temple of Fear is a pretty good read. It's offensive racially and sexually, but not so much that I think most people won't be able to get over it. You just have to remember that it was the height of the Cold War, and this was simply the way people thought. It's an interesting and amusing look back, and if you have nothing better to do than be offended by some long forgotten espionage book, then you have all sorts of other things you should be worried about instead. But politics aside, Temple of Fear delivers fast action, a wildly convoluted and simple to follow plot, sex, and tons of violence. If you want more from a book than that, then you should be reading James Joyce instead of Nick Carter books.
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