Post by PMP Webmaster on Jul 20, 2005 12:51:40 GMT -5
So I read this over a couple of evenings. Not too bad, not that good. It's the only Butcher novel I've read, and since it's pretty far along in the series, I have no idea if they improved with age or grew stale.
Butcher is sent off into Soviet-occupied Afghanistan to rescue an Afgani-American nuclear missiles expert who went back to his homeland to visit his dying father. The missile expert himself became ill, and Butcher is sent in to extricate him before the Russians learn of who they have under their noses. He meets up with the Afghan freedom fighters, bags a resistance fighter-cum-prostitute, and shoots some guys. There is explosive chewing gum involved, and a good deal of political chit-chat among the Butcher and his comerades. It's interesting to read, since it's written during the occupation itself and thus has no historical hindsight, so the plight of the Afghani rebels looks a lot bleaker than it became later in the conflict.
The writing was competent, if a little wordy. The author tended to go off on the Butcher's own mental tangents, thinking back over his past at least once or twice a chapter. It got a little tiresome by the end and I just started skipping ahead half a page or so every time he began carrying on about his days in the Mafia, his adopted father Papa Orazio, etc., but overall I'd say for the era in which it was written it was probably no better or worse than other PMPs at the time.
Anyone have experience with the earlier Butcher novels who can let me know if #33 is a cut above, below, or on par?
Butcher is sent off into Soviet-occupied Afghanistan to rescue an Afgani-American nuclear missiles expert who went back to his homeland to visit his dying father. The missile expert himself became ill, and Butcher is sent in to extricate him before the Russians learn of who they have under their noses. He meets up with the Afghan freedom fighters, bags a resistance fighter-cum-prostitute, and shoots some guys. There is explosive chewing gum involved, and a good deal of political chit-chat among the Butcher and his comerades. It's interesting to read, since it's written during the occupation itself and thus has no historical hindsight, so the plight of the Afghani rebels looks a lot bleaker than it became later in the conflict.
The writing was competent, if a little wordy. The author tended to go off on the Butcher's own mental tangents, thinking back over his past at least once or twice a chapter. It got a little tiresome by the end and I just started skipping ahead half a page or so every time he began carrying on about his days in the Mafia, his adopted father Papa Orazio, etc., but overall I'd say for the era in which it was written it was probably no better or worse than other PMPs at the time.
Anyone have experience with the earlier Butcher novels who can let me know if #33 is a cut above, below, or on par?