The first Gold Eagle book published from one of my favorite writers, Alan Philipson, and it is everything I hoped it would be. It is no wonder this series was able to last 38 books after a start like this.
With an injured SOB sitting out this mission, Barrabas and his crew are now on a task that seems nearly impossible at the outset. Here we have a location from the start where they know exactly where to go, but the story involves how this team is actually going to pull this off. How do you insert a team into Iran, get to a fortified bunker in the middle of nowhere, and destroy four atomic weapons? You have to read this to find out. A great challenge for the SOBs, and the storytelling is top notch all the way through.
Again the team works together like a well oiled machine, but this is a very dangerous mission, and tragedy hits the team. This book was published the same month as Mack Bolan: Day Of Mourning, and it has that same level of impact.
Great perspectives from both the heroes and the villains throughout, and the ending literally with a bang, I strongly recommend this title, I'm glad I finally decided to read this book after it sitting on my shelf for 33 years!
SOBs : Plains of Fire
Plains of Fire is to The Barrabas Run what Empire Strikes Back was to Star Wars: A New Hope.
I know that’s a comparison many use when they want to convey how much “bigger� and “better� a sequel is, but Plains of Fire isn’t just bigger & better: it’s deeper and heavier. While it still retains the same wit, fun and tone of The Barrabas Run despite having new writer, it also kicks you in the gut a couple of times with steel-toed combat boots. It would be impossible for me to discuss this book without giving away some major events in it, so here’s your SPOILER WARNING. Read the book first if you want to be as shocked as I was when I first read it.
While I won’t name names so that there’s still some mystery in case you do choose to read this review before reading the book, I will say that the fatality of the first SOB team member left me speechless. One of the members is gravely injured in The Barrabas Run and comes very close to dying, and he’s saved by the extreme devotion of his team. The fact that the first book has no team member fatalities makes the ones that occur in this book even more powerful. We’ve grown to know them. We’ve laughed at their antics. We’ve learned what they care about. We’ve watched them employ nerves of steel in hairy situations. And it’s devastating when they make the ultimate sacrifice for their team mates, not to mention the lives of thousands of innocent strangers. The first team member death really surprised and saddened me, since he wasn't one of the lesser-skilled SOBs, as did the second one. By the third team member death, I knew I had read not just SOBs book #2, but a story I’d look back at as being one of the definitive SOBs stories. They got out of the first book pretty much without a scratch. This mission had very high consequences though, and further illustrates what the SOBs are all about. They’re not just in it for the money; they’re in it for each other, as well as stopping tyrants who no one else is able to stand up to.
There are no Shakespearian monologues from the team members who sacrifice themselves. They perish in a very realistic way, two of them cut down in a firefight and taken down by surprise and the third one doing only what was logical, quite possibly the only logical act of his maniacal life which makes it that much more powerful. I did appreciate that the third casualty went out humorously ranting and cussing, embracing his fate since the first two casualties were such so melancholy though.
There are some brutal parts to this book, including the opening chapter. The description of physical torment is quite vivid and not for the squeamish, but it’s not just violence for the sake of violence. The author conveys the power of the human spirit through physical pain and suffering. The animal savagery of the enemy makes it more than just another job for the SOBs too. You really want them to “kick some ass� but this isn’t a typical heroes vs villains story. Time and time again, it’s a bittersweet tale, although by the end I was left with a little more bitter taste than sweet due to the high price the SOBs had to pay in order to complete their mission.
Elements I enjoyed from the first book continue through Plains of Fire, such as the development of the plan, putting it into action, and the ingenuity of coming up with on the spot alternatives when the plan goes to hell. Once again the actual action doesn’t start until about page 140, similar to the Barrabas Run, which I’m fine with because I’m a firm believer in “less is more� and enjoy a slow burn rather than non-stop fireworks.
They don’t take much time to wrap the story up other than a quick epilogue with Barrabas reflecting on the mission, but I’m hoping the ramifications of this game-changing mission will trickle over into the next title. I appreciated the amount of continuity between Plains of Fire and The Barrabas Run as well. There are several mentions of events from the previous book, but for those who haven’t read it, Plains of Fire does a good job of recapping and bringing new readers up to speed.
SOBs continues to be much better than you’d expect from a Harlequin style men’s adventure series. It’s a wonderful blend of early 80’s fun as well as real-world military grit and consequences. It feels like it was written by a soldier, or someone who knows real soldiers very well. While The Barrabas Run was a great world-building start, The Plains of Fire lights the fuze to SOBs and sets off an atomic blast of action, camaraderie...consequences.
