Fourth in the John Eagle Expeditor series.

This one slightly breaks the plot formula that was established by the first three books. In the first three, John Eagle is tasked with a mission by his mysterious employer, Mr. Merlin. In this one, John Eagle more or less tells Merlin that he will be going on an operation to avenge his friend's death. Merlin somewhat reluctantly agrees.

You see, Eagle's friend was a young foreign service officer who was assasinated by Islamic terrorists while attending a party at the Saudi ambassador to Libya's home (remember, the US still had an embassy in Libya in the early '70s). That opening scene of the friend and his wife getting dressed and going to attend the party, then being taken hostage by the terrorists was a tough one to read because of how realistically it was portrayed. Sadly, the scenario painted has become almost timeless. I actually really cared about the murder and was happy to see him avenged.

As it turns out, the murder was carried out by a Muslim group called the Fists of Fatima, and they are headquartered in a mountaintop fortress deep in the deserts of southern Libya. Eagle befriends some desert tribesmen along the way and they insist on accompanying him on his mission. Predictably, as I have come to find, nearly all of Eagle's associates are slain. Eagle is more dangerous to be around than Jack Bauer of 24 fame. There are actually some pretty good battle sequences between Eagle and a tribal rival as well as between him and several helicopters full of bad guys. Eagle proceeds to systematically take down the entire fortress complex. Good stuff.

The sex scenes between Eagle and the tribal leader's two daughters were over-the-top (you honestly can't tell me this guy would encourage some stranger to screw his daughters like that), but this is simply the kind of book where you have to suspend your disbelief t a large degree. Entertaining and recommended.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers ( )