Review: The Bullet Garden - Stephen Hunter

Years ago, I read Stephen Hunter’s novel HOT SPRINGS, the first book in his Earl Swagger series. I thought it was one of the best books I’d read in a long time, so I read the sequel PALE HORSE COMING, and loved it, too, although I thought it wasn’t quite as good as HOT SPRINGS. When the third book in the series, HAVANA, came out, I read it, of course, and it was okay, but not nearly as good as the first two. And after that, I never read anything else by Hunter, although I’ve always intended to and I actually own most of his books.

But then I noticed that there’s a fourth Earl Swagger novel called THE BULLET GARDEN, and it’s a prequel to the others, taking place during World War II, so I had to give it a try. THE BULLET GARDEN is set during summer 1944, after D-Day but well before the Battle of the Bulge. The American forces have gotten bogged down in the hedgerows of Normandy because a mysterious German sniper—or snipers—seems to be able to see in the dark and is eliminating American officers and NCOs, destroying morale and making it impossible for the Americans to advance. Gererals Eisenhower and Bradley want somebody to figure out what’s going on with the sniper and put a stop to it, and who better to do that than Earl Swagger, a Marine sergeant who has already made quite a reputation for himself fighting in the Pacific.

All this is established fairly quickly, and the rest of the novel follows Earl as he’s flown to England, made a major in the relatively new OSS, and launches an investigation into the sniper problem while trying to navigate the tricky back channels of politics and espionage, an area which is not one of Earl’s natural talents.

Hunter’s reputation is that of a guy who writes really well about guns and shooting. This is absolutely correct. His action scenes are very realistic and have an undeniable air of authenticity. THE BULLET GARDEN is full of great characters and scenes and bits of dialogue.

But the plot is incredibly slow to develop and muddled by page after page of description and background that’s well-written but doesn’t really do anything except show off Hunter’s prose. I’m no fan of stripped-down modern writing. I don’t mind some telling instead of showing. A lot of modern thrillers devoid of description and oh-so-careful never to mention the weather or use a speech tag other than “said”—and as few of those as possible—strike me as bland and all sounding alike. But dang, Hunter really goes overboard in the other direction in this book. It’s just too blasted wordy. Then he adds an unpleasant subplot that may be necessary for the overall story arc but really comes across as anticlimactic. There are also several cameos by real-life writers that skirt right up to the edge of being too cutesy but don't quite go over it.

Despite all that, as I said above there are some great scenes, some thrilling, some heartbreaking, that I suspect will stay with me. I still love Earl Swagger as a character and he’s in fine form in this novel. There’s enough real suspense that at times I was flipping the pages, in a hurry to find out what was going to happen. If you’ve read the first three books in this series, by all means you should read THE BULLET GARDEN, too. It’s available on Amazon in e-book, audio, hardcover, and paperback editions. But like HAVANA, it’s just okay.

Also, this novel isn’t just a prequel to the other Earl Swagger books, but it's also a prequel to Hunter’s first novel, THE MASTER SNIPER, published more than forty years ago. I happen to have a copy of that one. I think I’ll have to read it soon.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Adventure, November 1943

This is a pulp that I own and read recently. The cover is by Maurice Bower, an artist I’m not familiar with who did quite a few covers for ADVENTURE during this period. It’s an okay cover, not one of my favorites by any means, but it promises excitement inside and that’s what it was supposed to do.

The first thing I noticed about this issue is that it has a story by Georges Surdez in it. Surdez is always good. But when I opened it up, the story by him is actually the first installment of a two-part serial set in World War II. Boo! I don’t own the issue with the second part, and it doesn’t appear to be online, so I wound up skipping this one. I also skipped the final installment of “The Fleet in the Forest”, a five-part historical serial about the War of 1812 by Carl D. Lane. It was published as a novel. Maybe I’ll read it one of these days, as I find the War of 1812 interesting.

The next thing I noticed is that there are three non-Western short stories by authors best remembered for their Westerns. “Collision Hazard” by L.L. Foreman is one of several stories in this issue set during World War II. It’s a tale of naval action centered around a tugboat, not the usual vessel you’d think of in a story like this. But it’s an excellent yarn, very tense and well-written. Foreman was one of the best Western pulpsters and he demonstrates his skill here, too. “Message to Manakas” is by Hal G. Evarts Jr. (son of the early Western novelist Hal G. Evarts Sr.) and is another World War II yarn about a soldier of Greek descent being infiltrated into Crete to deliver a message to the leader of the Greek underground. It’s well-written but maybe not quite as exciting as it should have been. “Break-Through” by Robert E. Mahaffey, one of the regulars in various Popular Publications Western pulps, is a short-short about a couple of GIs driving a truck in North Africa. It has a twist ending that I didn’t see coming, and that makes it effective.

“Gray Is For Apple” is another short story set during the war, a nice little yarn about an Australian soldier in the New Guinea campaign who’s a fantastic marksman despite a handicap he has to overcome. The author, Christian Folkard, was an Australian journalist and war correspondent who published only three stories in the pulps, in 1943 and ’44. This is the first of that trio, and it’s a good one.

The novelette “One Little Slip” is a Northern by H.S.M. Kemp, who wrote plenty of them for various pulps. It’s a cleverly plotted tale in which a Mountie solves a murder. I liked it quite a bit.

The other novelette in this issue is “Red Justice” by William Du Bois. It’s part of a series about an army officer named Captain John Carter (Really? That’s the name you want to use?) who battles the Seminole Indians during the 1830s. There’s a lot of back-story from the other entries in the series, I didn’t care for the protagonist, and the writing never resonated with me. I read it, but I didn’t care for it.

There’s also an article by Hugh B. Cave about PT boats that’s actually an excerpt from his non-fiction book on the subject LONG WERE THE NIGHTS. Cave’s work is always worth reading, and I’ve been interested in PT boats ever since being a fan of McHALE’S NAVY in its original run 60 years ago, so I read and enjoyed this article even though I usually skip the non-fiction content in fiction magazines.

So this issue of ADVENTURE is a really mixed bag. None of the stories are outstanding, but the ones by Foreman, Evarts, Mahaffey, Folkard, and Kemp are all okay, entertaining yarns without being all that special. Don’t rush to your shelves for this one, but if it’s handy you might find it worth reading.

One more note: in the back of this issue and others of the era is a column called “Lost Trails”, where readers can write in, in hopes of reconnecting with friends or relatives they’ve lost track of. Most of these notes are fairly bland, if vaguely poignant, but one in this issue caught my eye: “Louis Sixt, probably known as Bob Six, last heard of Gananoque, Ont., and Vancouver, B.C. Age about 26, height 4’ 10”, weight 135 lbs., gray eyes, back-brushed straight brown hair. Scrapper, gambler, seafaring man. Anyone having knowledge of his whereabouts please write his brother Paul Sixt c/o Adventure.” What a great description! And now I want to write a series of pulp yarns about a scrappy little guy named Bob Six knocking around and having adventures all over the world. I’ll probably never do it, of course, but it’s fun to think about. Just out of curiosity, I tried to look up Louis Sixt and his brother Paul, but I couldn’t find out anything about them. Maybe one of their descendants will read this and email me one of these days. Stranger things have happened, as the saying goes.

Luciano's Luck - Jack Higgins

Years ago I read and enjoyed quite a few books by Jack Higgins, but then he started writing a series about a character I didn’t care for (Sean Dillon) and I got out of the habit of reading his books. Plus his writing seemed not as good, much like Alistair Maclean in the later stages of his career.

But I found myself in the mood to read one of his books, and I’m a sucker for books about gangsters, so I gave LUCIANO’S LUCK a try. The plot is an intriguing one: During World War II, a British intelligence agent arranges for Lucky Luciano to be released temporarily from prison so that they can parachute into Sicily and try to make an alliance with the capo of the Mafia there to assist the allies in their upcoming invasion of the island. So it’s a gangster book and a World War II book. Right up my alley.

And I enjoyed it, too, although it’s not without its faults. It was published originally in 1981, about the time Higgins’ books started to get not quite as good. This one is still pretty well-written. The main problem I have with it is that the plot takes a long time to really get going. The mission in Sicily doesn’t actually begin until the book is half over. Before that there’s a lot of assembling the team stuff, including the introduction of a lot of supporting characters and several Nazi bad guys. That results in not much action, which continues even after the scene switches to Sicily.

Ah, but the last 50 or so pages! That last section is a whirlwind of action with unexpected plot twists that really had me galloping along to find out what was going to happen. If the whole book had been like that, LUCIANO’S LUCK would be a classic, and also exhausting. As far as I’m concerned, it redeems the book overall and makes me glad I read it. I think I need to go back and catch up on some of the earlier Jack Higgins books I haven’t read. I have quite a few of them. Meanwhile, if you want to give LUCIANO’S LUCK a try, it’s still available in both e-book and paperback editions.

Commando: Raging Metal - Brent Towns

August 1942.
Raging metal burned hot under the scorching desert sun. But a grudge between two Aussie tank commanders boiled even hotter. Sergeant Bob Andrews hated Sergeant Simon Meredith, but when Bob's tank was knocked for six and he saw Meredith leave him high and dry -- his rage exploded fivefold. The coward had abandoned Bob to die, or worse -- be captured by the Jerries! And Bob wasn't a forgiving man!

(This is a great example of how Brent Towns mixes action, great characters, and history in these COMMANDO yarns. He clearly did a lot of research for this one but never slows the story down for infodumps. I've written some about the tank war in North Africa, and I really enjoyed this story.)

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.

Hitler's Time Machine - Robert F. Dorr

Robert F. Dorr is one of the leading military historians in the business and the author of numerous volumes of non-fiction. I'm particularly fond of HELL HAWKS, an excellent account of the air war in Europe during World War II. Before that he wrote scores of stories for the men's adventure magazines, often but not always with military themes.

So it's not surprising that Dorr's first full-length novel also has the Second World War as its backdrop, but I might not have predicted that it would also be science fiction. HITLER'S TIME MACHINE is part of the sub-genre known as Alternate History. Actually, it fits even better into what I think of as Secret History. Dorr doesn't actually alter historical events so much as tell us the truth about what was really going on.

What you didn't know is that during the war, American and German scientists were in a deadly race to see which side could develop a working time machine and turn it into a weapon first. Along the way there are journeys into the past, assassination attempts on famous historical figures, miscalculations that result in unintended consequences (the so-called Philadelphia Experiment), and commando raids that change the course of the war.

As always, Dorr's research is impeccable. Many of the events in this novel actually happened; Dorr just gives them a different spin than what we're used to. His characters are a mix of fictional and historical, and he does a fine job making us care about them, especially Barbara Stafford, the young scientist who heads up the American time travel project. The action scenes are excellent, and so is the speculation about the nature of time travel and its effect on history. Like Chuck Dixon in the Bad Times series, Dorr comes up with some angles that haven't been done to death.

HITLER'S TIME MACHINE manages to be both a fine war novel and a top-notch science fiction yarn. If you're a fan of either, I highly recommend that you check it out.

Now Available: Hitler's Time Machine - Robert F. Dorr

“This war will never end as long as both sides have time machines,” Barbara warned, “because one side will always be able to travel back and checkmate the other.”

To Adolf Hitler, the device called Die Glocke, or The Bell, is the wonder weapon that will win World War II for Nazi Germany, enabling the Reich to dominate the world. Others see the time machine differently, among them Franklin D. Roosevelt and Heinrich Himmler.

This dramatic story of the race to develop a time machine on both sides is the first novel by Robert F. Dorr, a non-fiction author of popular history books like "Mission to Berlin" and "Fighting Hitler's Jets." In Dorr's first fiction, the top American scientist is a young woman who has never held a job, and the top Nazi scientist is an SS madman in Hitler's inner circle. The outcome of the war may be decided by a commando raid in the tradition of "The Guns of Navarone."

Or maybe not.

(Robert F. Dorr is one of the top military historians in the business and a fine writer. I'm looking forward to reading his debut novel.)

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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