First of all, love the title. It's like a sequel to Go Dogs Go!. Cold War literature for the wee ones.

Okay, so here's the problem: someone is bombing airliners. They blow up in mid-air, and it's supposed to look like an accident, but the secret organization AXE knows better. So naturally, they put their best man on the job, Nick Carter. How long until he gets laid? How long until he gets captured?

You know what Nick Carter reminds me of? In Kentucky, where I grew up, Daniel Boone was a local hero. We heard all sorts of stories about him. But later in life, I found out that he was something of a goofball, and the natives used to amuse themselves by capturing Boone, then letting him escape so they could capture him again. Definite shades of Daniel Boone in Nick Carter.

Nick is paired up with a female operative, and shockingly enough, they are between each others thighs in a matter of pages. See, it holds true: one book he has sex with his co-spy, then the next book he has sex with an enemy spy. Then it's off to fight the mad bomber, who they suspect is none other than the dastardly Mr. Judas, a guy who I think might appear in other Nick Carter stories before and after this. Now pay close attention, especially if you have seen either You Only Live Twice or the Austin Powers films. Mr. Judas is a bald man with a scar on his face and a nasally metallic sounding voice. His favorite outfit is a medium gray suit with a turtleneck collar. All the guy needs is a midget henchman who looks just like him but one-eighth his size.

Nick discovers that not only is Judas blowing up planes, but he's blowing up planes carrying important anti-Communist politicians from all over the world. Then he pulls strings to have them replaced by Communist sympathizers. Why? Because he's evil!

Nick and his sidekick kill their way from New York to London, where they are promptly captured. They are stripped, because they always strip them (and fondle the woman). Then Dr. Evi ... err, Mr. Judas does the usual bad guy bit where he explains the entire plan to Nick Carter. At least he doesn't explain it to him then leave the room. But he does start handing Nick Carter back all his weapons, since Nick tricks him into thinking one is a bomb that must be defused every eight hours lest it blow them all up.

Mr. Judas is everything you expect from a cartoony superspy foil. He's evil, bald, and he has a deformed henchman. He's definitely the most Bondlike of all the villains I've seen Carter go up against. And this is the least offensive Killmaster novel so far, though there's still plenty to offend if you are the type. I think it's tamer because it's one of the earlier books in the series. Don't worry though, because tame by Killmaster standards would still have a hard time getting an R rating these days without cutting a lot of the sex and violence.

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.

Labels: Espionage, Series: Nick Carter