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Fiction, Reviews

‘The Wild South’ and ‘Hell for Leather,’ by Alan Lee

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Johnny remembered a story from the Bible when the lame and the sick gathered around a pool where an angel would stir the surface and whoever reached the water first would be healed. Except it never seemed to work. The casino felt like that, desperate people huddled and hoping for a miracle, day after day.

I’ve been raving about Alan Lee’s Mackenzie August/Sinatra novels, telling you how much fun they are. But those books didn’t prepare me for his Atlanta Burning series, two books released to date. This new series raises the stakes, takes it to a whole new level. I call it genuinely epic. Think of a fusion of the classic Western story with a Mad Max postapocalyptic thriller. With a Christian element artfully woven in. The first book is The Wild South.

This is the setting: Atlanta in the present, or maybe a few years into the future. The place has become a dystopia. Police defunding has resulted in rampant crime, the authorities helpless. In response, the government has instituted radical, controversional new rules – bounties will be placed on the worst criminals at large, and licensed bounty hunters will be permitted arrest them. Licenses aren’t hard to get. Every sane person can tell the results will be horrific.

Our hero, Johnathan “Johnny Sugar” Young, is not much interested in all that. He’s a Georgia celebrity, thanks to his college football career, in which he led his team to two Sugar Bowls, even though he quit before graduation and never even tried out for professional ball. He was a cop for a while and even took FBI training – but he quit that too. Today he’s a professional gambler, playing high stakes poker at an Atlanta casino.

He lives in the upper story of a commercial building he owns. His roommate is Kunga, a former criminal who once stabbed him with a knife, but then was born again and changed his ways. He’s now Johnny’s best friend.

Because the police only respond to emergencies nowadays, Johnny has to call in a private crime scene investigator when his property is robbed. The investigator turns out to be Bella Adams, the love of Johnny’s life, whom he hasn’t seen in years. She’s still mad at him for leaving college (and her). She tells him she’s a licensed bounty hunter, and has plans to go after her chunk of the reward money when the season opens. She knows Johnny’s skills, both as a cop and a gunman (he’s a natural), and she asks him to become her partner. Learning she has lost her apartment, he invites her to move in with him and Kunga. Thus begins an awkward but increasingly affectionate partnership.

It’s quite a ride. There’s violence here, of course, but there’s also increasing personal insight, and prophecy, and acts of heroism, and a remarkable final showdown unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I couldn’t wait to download the second book, Hell For Leather

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Fiction, Reviews

‘American Woman,’ by Alan Lee

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Alas, this is the last Sinatra book to date. I’ll have to wait for more now. “Sinatra,” you may recall, is the code name of Manny Martinez, Puerto Rican-American super-patriot and US Marshal. Handsome enough to be a supermodel, omnicompetent and void of self-doubt, he’s a parody of the James Bond/Jason Bourne stereotype, but also a vivid character in his own right, endearing and amusing. From time to time he’s summoned for super-secret assignments by a super-secret government agency. Most of the time he brings his partner along, the sweet, innocent Mormon girl, Noelle Beck. Their relationship is fun and flirty and a little poignant. And never more so than in the book under consideration, American Woman (number 6 in the series).

The assignment this time is a spur-of-the-moment thing. The DEA has learned of a very hush-hush meeting coming up in the Florida Keys, arranged by a couple aspiring South American cocaine lords. The purpose of the meeting is to demonstrate a new form of cocaine, to raise capital for a full-scale operation. Two potential investors have been identified, and they look enough like Manny and Nicole that they can stand in for them, once the originals have been safely detained.

Manny, of course, was born to play the role of drug lord, while Beck is a little hesitant about portraying a criminal’s bimbo. Except that a sudden revelation on their arrival forces them to radically alter that scenario, with highly amusing results.

The whole Manny-Beck dynamic started out as mostly comic (as I recall), but as the series proceeds, the characters deepen and the stories acquire depth and tragedy. Manny suffered a great loss in the last book, and in American Woman it’s Beck’s turn.

American Woman was both highly entertaining and touching (though author Lee’s ear for grammar sometimes fails). Cautions are in order for rough language and sexual (though not explicit) situations.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Desert Eagle,’ by Alan Lee

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I’ll be sad when I finally catch up on the Manny Martinez (code name “Sinatra”) books. I’m sure there’ll be another entry in the Mackenzie August constellation of series soon, but I always miss them when there isn’t one waiting for me.

Manny Martinez, you may recall, is a Puerto Rican-born US Marshal. He is ridiculously handsome, has excellent taste in clothes, cars, and drinks, and loves America excessively. From time to time he is summoned for extra duty by a secretive government agency, and he and his innocent Mormon partner Noelle Beck fly off to have James Bond-style adventures.

In Desert Eagle, the job is supposed to be simple, though far from their usual stomping grounds. They’re supposed to fly to Abu Dhabi and pick up an American academic who, according to intelligence, has been targeted by Houthi terrorists for kidnap and execution.

Needless to say, it wouldn’t be an adventure if everything went to plan. The academic is snatched from under their noses, and soon Manny and Noelle are headed across the desert, assisted only begrudgingly by the Abu Dhabi government. Fortunately, they are able to join forces with an old pair of allies/rivals – independent agents Bronwen and Junior (Manny and Bronwen have major sexual chemistry, which is always a hoot).

Heroics ensue.

Desert Eagle, like all its predecessors, was lots of fun. The ending was bittersweet, though.

I recommend it, of course, with cautions for language and mature situations.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Martinez,’ by Alan Lee

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I’ve been relishing Alan Lee’s bracing thriller series starring US Marshal/secret agent Manny Martinez, a native of Puerto Rico but the most patriotic man in America. Manny generally saunters through his stories like a James Bond with better hair (and more scars). The stakes are high, but the tone is light, mostly because Manny refuses (as Stonewall Jackson put it) to take counsel of his fears.

But Martinez, the fourth book in the series, has a different tone. Manny is still Manny, but this time he’ll take a trip into his own past, brought into confrontation with his dark origins.

One day in the Marshals’ office, Manny recognizes a prisoner being interviewed. In a moment, that prisoner murders a marshal, wounds Manny, and makes a clean escape. The prisoner was not the man they thought they’d arrested. He was Manny’s own (probable) half-brother, Julian. When they were boys, they’d been inseparable partners in crime. Manny had been (we learn) the heir apparent to the main crime family in Puerto Rico. But he decided he didn’t want that life, and escaped to the US. Julian felt deeply betrayed. He rose to become one of the top assassins in the world, and now he’s decided the time has come to get his revenge on Manny. But not right away. First he’ll kill everyone Manny loves. In the end, he lures Manny home to P.R. for a final showdown.

Martinez was not as much fun as the previous Manny Martinez (code name Sinatra) novels, but it was exciting and gripping, and the great theme is mercy. I recommend it. Cautions for violence and language.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Paradise Royale,’ by Alan Lee

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“You are enjoying this. Unbelievable.”

“Beck, look around. We’re in Jamaica. Our enemy is crafty and clever. She’s a beautiful former MI6 agent and chasing her has led us around the globe. This isn’t boring. This isn’t dull. We could be chasing some drug addict who skipped bail. We could be transferring prisoners, but we’re not. Ay, what else do you want out of your career?”

I can’t believe I delayed reading Alan Lee’s “Sinatra” books. Manny Martinez, code name Sinatra, US Marshal and part-time secret agent, is an over-the-top character who perfectly fits into the over-the-top world of movie-inspired thrillers. He’s unbelievable, but he’s got the ego to carry off implausibility. James Bond is never far from the reader’s mind here, and the author leans into the similarities, with tongue in cheek.

In Paradise Royale, Manny and his female partner, Beck, are assigned to intercept a defense department computer genius who’s absconding with secrets to sell to our enemies. The interception isn’t all that difficult, but a complication arises – a stunningly beautiful, rogue British Intelligence agent and her pleasant but deadly male associate. They neatly intercept the defector and carry him off. Manny, never dismayed, immediately commandeers a private jet to chase the fugitives to Jamaica, where the prisoner gets snatched back and forth like a basketball as the two rival teams grow increasingly impressed with one another. Especially Manny and Bronwen, the Englishwoman. She is Manny’s equal, just as good-looking and just as resourceful as he is. Even as they deceive and entrap one another, they fall into increasing mutual infatuation. (This is a very sexy novel, though nothing explicit happens.)

Generally, as you know, I don’t care for kick-butt female action heroines, but I liked Bronwen a lot. I hope she comes back, even though Manny (in a later book) proposes to Beck.

I can’t think of anything bad to say about Paradise Royale, except to caution you about occasional bad language. Hollywood hasn’t told an action story this much fun in many, many years.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Wild Card,’ by Alan Lee

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Since I’ve become a fan of author Alan Lee, I’ve decided to read his “Sinatra” books as well as his delightful Mac August novels. “Sinatra” is the code name of Mac’s best friend, Manny Martinez, a US Marshal who is also on call as a super-secret government agent (because why not?). Manny is an off-the-wall character, a genuine original – though, oddly, he’s kind of based on James Bond. Only in this case Bond is a Puerto Rican American (and super-patriot). He’s implausibly handsome and has impeccable fashion style. Basically, he does all the things Bond does, but in a very American and semi-parodical manner.

In Wild Card, Manny and his partner Noelle Beck (a sweet, wholesome Mormon girl) are given the case of Benjamin Curtis, governor of Maryland and brother to the vice president. Curtis has a gambling habit, and is deeply in debt to sinister people. So their job is to go to the casino, take him in hand, and get him out. Only, when they get hold of him, he explains that the situation is worse than anyone knows. The people he owes money to are more dangerous than organized crime, and killing the governor will be the least of their retaliations if they don’t get paid the millions they’re owed. Implausibly (but plausibility matters little in these stories), Manny finds himself taking the governor’s place at the poker table, first at the casino, and later on an offshore yacht. The fact that Manny has never played poker before is only a minor road bump compared to other challenges Manny and Beck will face, from international assassins to frenzied sharks.

It’s over the top, but great fun – more like a Bond movie than a Bond novel. It’s impossible (I think) to resist Manny as he strolls into the jaws of death with perfect confidence, knowing he’s the smartest, the best looking, the deadliest, and the Most American person around, and Americans always win.

I loved Wild Card. Recommended. Cautions for language and violence.

Fiction, Reviews

‘To Have Everything,’ by Alan Lee

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The heavens were purpling when I reached Washington, DC. The sun had disappeared beyond the simple Federal-style architecture found in Georgetown as I drove through, and beyond into Spring Valley, a spacious, secluded neighborhood inside the city with grand estates and private yards. If you were rich, you couldn’t live here. These residents looked down on the rich. These residents blew their nose with the rich.

I think I’ve now caught up with Alan Lee’s delightful Mackenzie August series, about an upbeat Raleigh, NC private eye who lives in a house with several family and friends, because he believes in community. I haven’t read all of the Manny Martinez books, though, so there’s always that.

To Have Everything features two main plot threads. First there’s a rich old woman who wants Mack to surveille her three grandchildren. She wants to leave extra money to the one who’s most responsible, but Mack suspects she’s already made her mind up – possibly very badly.

Then there’s the problem with Sheriff Stackhouse, Mack’s father’s girlfriend. She’s running for mayor, and a shoo-in – if she lives. Unfortunately, people keep trying to kill her (which Mack, of course, has to stop). Mack has contacts (some surprisingly friendly) in organized crime, but nobody seems to know who put out the contract. Mack will have to get proactive. Fortunately, as he confidently asserts, he can handle anything.

Lots of fun, as usual. I think To Have Everything was one of my favorites in the series. My only quibble is that (possibly due to an autocorrect mistake) the word “diffusion” keeps appearing where what’s wanted is “defusing” (as in a bomb).

Otherwise, great. Cautions for language and violence.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Old Guns,’ by Alan Lee

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[W]hat bothered me about Islam was that the Quran and its rules seemed to undo all the new covenant changes bought by Christ on the cross. The Quran took its followers back to the Old Testament.

What bothered me about Christianity was, I sucked at it. I kept shooting people.

I’m catching up on a couple books I missed in Alan Lee’s Mackenzie August series, about an upbeat Roanoke, VA private eye.

I’ve often expressed (tediously, no doubt) my idea that the average fictional male PI character is a masculine wish fulfillment figure. What man juggling a marriage, a mortgage, and rambunctious kids does not, now and then, imagine how nice it would be to live like Philip Marlowe or Travis McGee, having adventures, seeing a series of attractive women, no responsibilities except to one’s personal code?

Mackenzie August is a different kind of fantasy figure altogether. He’s the man we aspire to be. Big, buff, brave. Women hit on him all the time, but he brushes them aside easily, because he’s married to a gorgeous woman who’s all he ever wants. He lives, not alone, but in an extended family, featuring his wife, his toddler son (who doesn’t seem to ever age), his father and his girlfriend (who’s the county sheriff), his buddy, the hyper-patriotic US Marshal Manny Martinez, and (now and then), Manny’s partner Noelle.

Mack August does not agonize over futility. He is optimistic and happy. For him, being a detective is a calling, a way to help people.

In Old Guns, Mack begins to suspect that his generous nature is being taken advantage of. A woman accountant who has hired him before asks him to take her son Elijah as an apprentice. Elijah already has a license (which he got without studying), but it’s been confiscated, because he didn’t know the rules of surveillance and was arrested for breaking and entering. Mack is not interested at all, until the boy’s father, an illegal gun dealer, makes the same appeal, offering Mack a lot of money plus a bazooka, a weapon Mack has always wanted.

Elijah is a nightmare to work with. He’s lazy, he’s unmotivated, he’s always on his phone and he thinks he can lie because objective truth doesn’t exist. But gradually, Mack begins to care about the kid, who’s been dismally raised and desperately needs a male role model.

Then people start trying to kill Elijah. It turns out there’s a hit out on him, at an exorbitant price that’s bringing top assassins in from all over the world. What could this feckless kid have done to deserve that? And can Mack keep him alive long enough to find out?

Old Guns was, like all the Mack August books, a lot of fun. Not exactly a Christian novel, but Christian-adjacent, and full of interesting characters and plenty of action. Highly recommended, with cautions for language.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Common Tragedy,’ by Alan Lee

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I never hesitate about buying one of Alan Lee’s Mackenzie August books (though apparently I’ve missed a couple in the series. I’ll have to remedy that). Common Tragedy is 15th in sequence. Mack August stands in the hardboiled tradition, but he’s taken Robert B. Parker’s sunnier approach and turned the dial up to “cheery.” If Raymond Chandler is “Noir,” Alan Lee has to be described as “Blanc.” Mack August is a big, strong, happy man who loves his life, loves his wife and kid, and enjoys company so much that he lives in a house with his father, his father’s girlfriend (the sheriff), his US Marshal friend Mannie Rodriguez and Mannie’s girlfriend Noelle, his own wife, and his dog, and they take an “it takes a village” approach to raising the kid.

They live in a house in a nice neighborhood, complete with a Home Owner’s Association. One evening, the HOA president hosts a meeting/picnic for the board in his yard, next door to Vickie Plemmons, the past president, a woman with a drinking problem and a rebellious, drug addict daughter. When Vickie disappears inside her house and doesn’t return, a neighbor woman goes inside to check on her. She finds Vickie and her daughter both dead of drug overdose.

It looks like a double suicide. The police want it to be a double suicide. But Mack is dubious. For one thing, it’s unclear how the drugs were administered. Working without a client, just out of a sense of community obligation, Mack starts asking questions. And it’s clear that a lot of his neighbors have things to hide.

Mack’s work is both hindered and helped by another neighbor, a crime podcaster, who has been secretly filming and recording his neighbors for some time, and soon starts racking up followers for his viral podcast.

On top of that, it turns out that Mannie’s girlfriend Noelle is pregnant, and she’s reluctant to tell Manny about it.

Common Tragedy is a fast-moving, amusing, and tragic story with a deeper message. I think the author may be a Christian, though his characters don’t always act like it. Highly recommended, with cautions, mostly for language.

Fiction, Reviews

‘The Supremacy License,’ by Alan Lee

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(Back from Høstfest in Minot. No incidents to report, and my book sales were excellent. Remind me to tell you someday about being a “Høstfest VIP,” which isn’t as good as it sounds.)

I have complained more than once about novels that seem intended to compete with mindless Hollywood thrillers – stories where the hero races from one violent confrontation to another, shrugging off “flesh wounds,” shaking his head and recovering immediately from head trauma, crashing cars and blowing up buildings rapidly enough to prevent the reader from pondering the improbability of the whole frothy concoction.

However, it’s possible for the Hollywood thriller novel to work as light entertainment – if the author has writing skill and a sense of humor. Those qualities won me over almost immediately as I read The Supremacy License.

Our main character is Manny Martinez, code name “Sinatra,” whom I knew previously from author Lee’s Mackenzie August novels (which I also like very much). Manny is an improbable character, a former gang member, drug addict and convict who has cleaned his life up to become the most gung-ho, super-American US Marshal ever. He has devils he wrestles with, but his friendship with Mack, his job, and his love of country keep him on the straight path. He is also, we are reminded, devastatingly attractive to women and a deadly fighter.

As the story opens, Manny is summoned to a meeting with high-level FBI agents. They offer him a job – not full time but sort of on-call – as a special agent for a super-secret domestic black ops group. He would be helping to eliminate criminals so dangerous the government can’t even acknowledge their existence. His partner, oddly, would be Noelle Beck, a demure Mormon data analyst who harbors a secret crush on him.

Manny’s all in from the word go. Anything he can do to serve the USA he’ll do, and the more dangerous the better. His first job is one for which he’s uniquely qualified – to arrest or kill a powerful Honduran terrorist who happens to be his former girlfriend.

Two things made The Supremacy License a lot of fun – Manny’s personality, a blend of tongue-in-cheek arrogance and genuine moral nobility, plus his complete, reckless fearlessness in action. I liked Manny a lot, and I look forward to following his further preposterous adventures. Well done.