River of Flesh

An excellent book from Robin Hardy, his second in the series. I enjoyed this even more than Show No Mercy. A prologue shows a flashback to the Vietnam days much like those found in book one. This sets the stage for the main villain as well as a side character named Scott who plays a role later in the story. The first half of the novel deals with the SOBs getting rounded up from their lives in civilian life, and then we see an interesting story develop that kind of reminded me of an Indiana Jones kind of movie with stolen artifacts and adventures in Thailand, an odd character named Raoul working with Erika Dykstra, the artifact smuggler. There is a connection between this and the second half of the book that deals with Kon, the main villain and a defoliated section of forest in Cambodia. Kon is one of the most nasty villains I have read, and his scheme is terrifyingly deadly. The SOBs mission shifts to Cambodia to investigate the dying jungle, and dealing with the Khmer Rouge that rules that area. The adventures here are very intense with the dangerous elements of both nature and an evil regime. Great action throughout the whole book, I was on the edge of my seat for several of the great scenes, and the tension builds to the final pages. Great stuff, I am looking forward to the next adventure after seven books thus far, I am still hooked on this series.

This time around we come across another of Nile Barrabas's enemies from the Vietnam War days namely a Khmer Rouge General Kon who let me tell you is one sick puppy indeed. The said General is currently in Cambodia and running amok slaughtering the peasants left right and centre. In his spare time he is ransacking temples and pillaging any antiquities he can find to flog off on the back market. Still with time to burn he is trying with the help of captured scientists to create the most deadly biological weapon ever created. The SOB's mission this time is to go to Cambodia and gather samples of the said biological weapon for examination and to take the General down. Pretty fast paced action in this title as the SOB's try to locate the General and take him down where a Trans Am and a Porsche are utilised add in a speedboat and a good selection of characters introduced and this is a fine read with many exciting passages. Loved the General's daughter at the end you really have to read this one just to find out what happens to her (gruesome) as are a lot of the descriptions in this title on what has been done to the local Cambodian peasants. Good read in the series.

Another brutal entry with some icky scenes of carnage, compliments of above mentioned biochemical agent. Dead-on title, too. Overall, pretty exciting book.