Paul Edwards (7)

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. show more 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 show less

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 show more 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 show less

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 show more 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 show less

Second in a little known men's adventure series from the 1970s.

John Eagle is the first "Expeditor," a semi-official U.S. government agent in a program established by an eccentric, crippled billionaire with extremely high-level connections who calls himself "Mr. Merlin" and lives in a hollowed-out volcano in Hawaii. Great gig if you can get it.

John Eagle is the product of a Scotsman and an aristocratic Englishwomen though Eagle was raised by Apaches in the Southwestern U.S. and is recruited show more as a James Bond-like secret agent.

His second mission is to venture into Siberia to figure out why the Soviets have kidnapped a bunch of insane Western scientists from asylums. As it turns out, the Soviets have discovered a way to preserve human brains in vats. It's not clear why they kidnap *insane* scientists though, and they never really do anything interesting with the brains. It's as though Paul Edwards introduced a wacky idea and pulled back rather than dialing it up; frankly, the book would have been stronger if the Soviets' brains-in-vats played a more integral role in the book.

Eagle infiltrates Siberia in a private sub owned by Mr. Merlin (it's implied that the crew are old Nazi u-boat men) along with a dog and two Siberian natives. Inevitably, he and the female Soviet scientist in charge of the project -- who also wants to defect -- have a fling.

As with the first, the book was actually pretty entertaining, as long as you read it for what it is: a knock-off version of James Bond from the movies in the early '70s. If that's your cup of tea, it's a fun ride. We even get an entire chapter toward the beginning of the book that shows us inside Eagle's head, and is surprisingly introspective, which I enjoyed.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers show less