Paul Edwards (7)

Thirteenth of fourteen JOHN EAGLE EXPEDITOR men’s adventure novels from the 1970s.

This time around, John Eagle is sent out against a mysterious group that has the ability to control the weather around he globe (or at least create torrential downpours, flooding, etc.) The group blackmails each of the major world powers into sending them massive shipments of gold each month. Eagle pursues the boat that collects the first month’s gold shipment in his atomic-powered midget submarine that we’ve seen in previous adventures. As it turns out, the Weatherkill group is actually a wealthy Turkish man (and his employees) with a compound in Yugoslavia. Eagle is forced to team up with a self-described nymphomaniac who works for the KGB to stop the Turk. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Eagle turn down so much sex as he does in this book (not to worry, he and “Julie Anders” -- we may be assured this is not her real name -- do eventually consummate their relationship; he also turned down a delightful Spanish maid at the beginning of the novel).

The John Eagle books always aspired to be a kind of poor man’s James Bond (from the movies, not Fleming’s novels), but they only occasionally hit that mark. This one isn’t quite exciting enough to be a true “James Bond movie,” but it’s fun nevertheless. The villain himself is too hastily sketched out to be a villain of Bondian, epic proportions, and much of the first third of the book is taken up with Eagle receiving training on the operation of the midget sub. Surely there was something more interesting he could have been doing?

If you’re interested in old school men’s adventure novels and are looking for a light read, or have enjoyed some of the other John Eagle Expeditor books, I’d suggest checking this one out. It’s not the best of the batch, but it’s not the worst either.

Review copyright 2009 J. Andrew Byers… (altro)

Sixth in the John Eagle Expeditor men's adventure series from the 1970s.

As with the fifth book, some fascist Germans are established as the villains, though one of them is a hunchbacked thug-assassin (wonder if Dan Brown was inspired by this book?). A German scholar has discerned the location of El Dorado and has provided his colleagues around the globe with tantalizing riddles containing the location. Needless to say, the Germans start killing off the other scholars as they home in on the city's location. Eagle is sent to find the city, which he evenually does wih the aid of one of the scholar's daughters, a local guide who is secretly a resident of El Dorado, and a despicable little street urchin. They locate the ciy but Eagle must prove himself to the city's residents (some of whom think he may be a god), so they put him through some trial combat, which is interrupted by the evil Germans who have by now also found the city. Eagle wins in the end, but, alas, there is no gold in El Dorado.

A perfectly serviceable adventure novels, with some good action sequences and relatively interesting villains. Not stellar though.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers… (altro)

Fifth in the John Eagle Expeditor men's adventure series from the 1970s.

This is the best John Eagle Expeditor book yet. We learn a bit more about Mr. Merlin's past in this one, as well as the fact that he has (had, by the end of the book) a doppelganger he set up in Scotland as his public face, while he lives in seclusion in his Hawaiian volcanic lair. John Eagle is sent to an island off the coast of Ecuador where some Nazis have set up a business providing old, rich men with new testicles. Merlin believes it to be nothing more than a con job, but as Eagle's investigation proves, the process actually works. While on the island he encounters a female Israeli Nazi hunter with a death wish. Together, they end the threat from the island. Eagle also hears tantalizing rumors that there is a secret Nazi village in the titular Valley of the Vultures where Hitler's son may be living and that the Nazis have a group of seven highly trained field operatives collectively known as the Murder Club. As Part One of the novel ends, Eagle is poised to escape from the island.

Part Two begins. Eagle has apparently escaped from the island because he is being paradroped deep in the Ecuadoran jungle on a mission to discover if there really is Hitler's son living in that German village. Along the way, Eagle rescues an Indian woman and is in turn rescued by her when some natives capture him. That's all a bit forced, but I guess the author had to find a way to inject a love interest into the second part of the book, since the German femme fatale was killed in he first half. Eagle eventually gets to a mountaintop overlooking the valley with a sniper rifle and watches a man arrive via helicopter in the village and give a speech. The man -- minus the Hitlerian mustache -- is a dead ringer for his old man, and he's apparently a damn good orator because as the novel ends, Eagle has decided to take him out. And thus ends Part Two.

I have a few qualms about the book, despite my enjoyment of it. I suspect the author may have been running out of wordcount, because both halves of the novel end on cliffhangers, or at least right at the cusp of being finished. It's an interesting technique, but I really did want to see Eagle escape from the island, at least. The ending is made more powerful for stopping where it does, but I had been expecting Eagle to do the deed then be hunted through the mountains by the Murder Club that had been already established as being preeminent boogeymen. Alas, we don't get to see either of those things, and the Murder Club seems to have been introduced as a bit of a red herring.

Most of the John Eagle Expeditor books stick to a formulaic plot structure and similar tone, but there are a few stand-outs and this is one of them. Valley of the Vultures has a very different structure, tone, and ending than the others. It also happens to be my favorite so far. I know that Paul Edwards was a house name used by several authors and I suspect this one was written by a different author than the first four. Highly recommended.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers… (altro)