Vultures of the Horn

A charity organization in Ethiopia is raking in money and a variety of corrupt folks including the guy running the charity event make up the "vultures" that are conspiring to scoop the money into their own pockets. Enter Barrabas and his SOBs to deal with the issue as well as their old nemesis Karl Heiss, who conveniently is one of the factions after the money. The SOBs handler, Walker Jessup, gets another role fighting alongside Barrabas in this tale, and provides some funny moments to go along with the usual banter between the members. While I was disappointed that we don't get a face to face encounter between Heiss and Barabbas, I did enjoy the scenes from Heiss's perspective, especially the tension between he and his co-conspirator the event host. The main action scene, diagrammed at the front of the book, takes up a large chunk of the novel, with a number of factions involved and the author gives us every angle and perspective in this battle, which was written very well. One of the more fast paced and action intensive books in the series yet, this title brings a good mix of plot, action and characters, providing yet another quality addition to this excellent series. Some parts I found to be weird, like the crazy punk rocker guy and the plane crash thing that was confusing to me, but then there was the lady with the baby which at first seemed out of place with the rest of the story but then later well you have to read to see what happens. It was another good example of what I like to see happen to main villains, that they get taken out in unique and unusual ways and often with a karma twist. This alone was worth the price of admission. All around a great action book, well done as usual by Alan Philipson.

Set in famine struck Ethiopia this time around and revolving around millions of dollars of donated money to assist the local population. The money has been collected from donations by a corrupt television evangelist who has no intention of doing anything with the cash except putting it into his own pocket. The CIA get wind of what is going on and decide they could do a lot with the cash so bring back into their fold none other than Barrabas's arch enemy namely Karl Heiss to rip of the cash for them but wouldn't you know it he decides that in fact he could make good use of the cash himself and intends to steal it for himself. Add in the Russians the Cubans and also the local governing party currently in power who all decide they too want to get hold of the cash and it is on for young and old. Barrabas and the SOB's fall over themselves to get involved in this one after the report that Karl Heiss is in fact alive and well with Barrabas vowing to take him out this time once and for all. The cash is held by all of the groups at one time or another with a twisting plot intertwined throughout the story add in a few good characters and once again a good read is to be had here. Does Karl Heiss survive this time or is he finally nailed? The way the title finished it could go either way but I am leaning towards coming across this bugger in a future title again down the track let you know.

Once again, another brutal entry with the return of Karl Heiss, and set in one of the most unforgiving places, East Africa. A killer book with a shocking ending.