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Fourth in the Penetrator men's adventure series.
This one concerns an almost uniquely '70s plot: a violent group of black separatists blows up a New York City subway station, then extorts millions out of the city government, threatening to blow up as many additional stations as it takes to secure the money they demand. They seem to operate with military precision and meticulous planning, making fools out of the police and city officials. Amusingly, they even demand that one of their ransoms be delivered by a midget. (It's never made clear where the NYPD found the midget to deliver the second ransom, especially since the first ransom's driver was a female undercover cop who was gang-raped and murdered.) As it turns out, the Chinese have show more been supplying weapons and training to the blacks, and have provided them with an extremely lethal biological agent that has the potential to kill millions. The Penetrator saves the day, never fear. He seems to ignore several critical leads early on in his investigation, only visiting them at the last second -- this seems to delay the inevitable resolution and is a bit sloppy on the author's part. The Penetrator is aided by a female government agent (possibly CIA, though she consistently denies this); she provides him with some critical information, but she also has to be rescued a couple times, so she's a mixed bag.
I've read about a half dozen Penetrators thus far and this one was slightly better than average, with an interesting premise, well-realized villains, and a fast paced lot. The Penetrator's shoddy investigation mars what could have been a quickly wrapped up case though.
Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers show less
This one concerns an almost uniquely '70s plot: a violent group of black separatists blows up a New York City subway station, then extorts millions out of the city government, threatening to blow up as many additional stations as it takes to secure the money they demand. They seem to operate with military precision and meticulous planning, making fools out of the police and city officials. Amusingly, they even demand that one of their ransoms be delivered by a midget. (It's never made clear where the NYPD found the midget to deliver the second ransom, especially since the first ransom's driver was a female undercover cop who was gang-raped and murdered.) As it turns out, the Chinese have show more been supplying weapons and training to the blacks, and have provided them with an extremely lethal biological agent that has the potential to kill millions. The Penetrator saves the day, never fear. He seems to ignore several critical leads early on in his investigation, only visiting them at the last second -- this seems to delay the inevitable resolution and is a bit sloppy on the author's part. The Penetrator is aided by a female government agent (possibly CIA, though she consistently denies this); she provides him with some critical information, but she also has to be rescued a couple times, so she's a mixed bag.
I've read about a half dozen Penetrators thus far and this one was slightly better than average, with an interesting premise, well-realized villains, and a fast paced lot. The Penetrator's shoddy investigation mars what could have been a quickly wrapped up case though.
Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers show less
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Chet Cunningham was born in Nebraska on December 9, 1928. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Pacific University. Drafted into the Army, he was a mortar gunner in a heavy weapons company in Korea. After the war, he received a master's degree in journalism at Columbia University. He worked for small newspapers in Michigan and Oregon show more before moving to San Diego in 1960 to work at Convair on various audio-visual projects, including a training film for fighter pilots. He became a full-time writer when he was laid off from his job. He wrote magazine articles while working on his first novel. His first book, Bushwhackers of the Circle K, was published in 1968. He went on to write 450 books including westerns, thrillers, military history, and medical guides. In 1994, he founded the nonprofit San Diego Book Awards as a way to honor published and unpublished local writers. He died of complications from a fall on March 14, 2017 at the age of 88. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
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- Hijacking Manhattan
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