Dangerous Aliance

United Nations’ sanctions are crippling North Korea. China has turned her back on her malevolent partner. The North Korean military machine is crumbling, unable to function. Oil reserves are minimal and the government seeks new alliances.

Cargo and tourist ships are disappearing along the Somali and Kenyan coastline at an alarming rate. Speeches abound, but inaction emboldens Al-Shabab to seek their next prize: Kenya. The terror organization controls land but requires weapons.

Bedlam Bravo team leader Colonel Trevor Franklin (Ret.) leads the small international team into East Africa. Tempers flare as the team is embroiled in a political quagmire. The axis must be stopped to avert an international crisis but at what cost?

Dangerous Alliance (International Thriller)

By Randall Krzek

Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN # 978-1730912412

409 Pages

Price $18.99 (Paperback)

Price $4.99 (Kindle)

Rating 4-Stars

While a North Korean politico is attempting to trade weapons for oil with Somalia pirates, England has put together the Bedlam Bravo team to ride ships hoping to stop pirates from capturing ships and holding them for ransom. But there is a lot more going on in this international intrigue than meets the eye.

The author’s writing style captures the reader from the first page to the final end when everything comes together nicely. My only complaint, and it’s a minor one, for its length the story was slow and easy to put down when I should have been reading. For over 400 pages you need a lot of action to keep the reader interested. The viewpoint switches too often, breaking up sequences that should have been followed through. There’s nothing wrong with switching viewpoints, though I wasn’t all that interested in the pirates’ viewpoint, and felt the over all story slowed when viewpoints jumped around. There’s not enough action early on. Oh, the Bedlam Team trains in maneuvers of taking hostages from terrorists on ships to help with their real job in the future with pirates, but the training seems too pat, and we know the real thing is never as easy as the training. Training is a necessity, but you must train for every scenario to be efficient in any given task, and people get killed when real bullets are flying. However, the intrigue cannot be overlooked, and I highly recommend this international thriller.

Tom Johnson

Author of ASSIGNMENT NINA FONTAYNE

King Kong Vs. Tarzan

The year was 1933. Filmmaker Carl Denham had captured the stupendous monster he had dubbed “King” Kong. But that was only the beginning. Denham was determined to get the dethroned ruler of Skull Mountain Island back to America, and cash in on the greatest wild animal capture in human history.

The saga of how Kong was taken in chains from his Indian Ocean kingdom to New York City has never been told. In order for the cargo freighter Wanderer to make the long transit to the Atlantic, she is forced to circumnavigate Africa––jungle home of the legendary Tarzan of the Apes!

Here is the long-anticipated clash between the Monarch of Skull Island and Lord of the Jungle.

When the largest anthropoid who ever lived encounters the savage superman raised by the great apes, will they make peace––or war?

King Kong Vs. Tarzan (Epic Adventure)

 “The Wild Adventures of King Kong”

By Will Murray

Altus Press www.altuspress.com

ISBN #978-1618272812

Price $24.95

488 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“An Epic Adventure For Modern Times.”

We are familiar with the capture of King Kong on Skull Island, and his eventual death in New York, but in this tale, the author details Kong’s journey from Skull Island, and how he was kept sedated for much of the trip, until problems arose, and the giant monarch of Skull Island escapes onto the African continent. Traveling from Skull Island, Captain Englehorn warns Carl Denham that the passage through the Suez Canal might not be a good idea, and he turns his ship, the Wanderer towards the African coast where they hope to find more food and supplies for the voyage and avoid official scrutiny of their cargo.

They reach the African coast before the storm sinks the ship, but Kong soon awakens and breaks loose. Now he’s afoot in Tarzan’t domain, and the Jungle Lord doesn’t like the damage he is causing. It’s truly a wild adventure, as Tarzan, To-Yat’s ape tribe, and Jack Driscoll and his ships crew all chase after the mighty Kong.

The reader is in for a treat. Will Murray’s writing is smooth and fast paced, and his characters come alive. Kong is magnificent, and Tarzan is at his best in this story. Tarzan’s constant companions, little Nkima, the monkey, Jad-bal-ja, his golden lion, and Tantor the elephants are around for the action. An epic tale for the modern times, and highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of JUR: A STORY OF PRE-DAWN EARTH

Lost In Tanganyika

In 1862, William and Elizabeth Darmon escape from Zanzibar, crossing hostile territory to Lake Victoria. Pursued by ruthless slavers, they flee to Niam Niam country in Darkest Africa. There, William is forced on a desperate mission to save his wife from cannibals. Upon his return, he discovers evidence that she has been sold as a slave to the Arab Rashid family in Hayil across the Red Sea. His chase ends in a disaster beyond imagination, with redemption dependent upon solving Emir Talal's demise.

Lost In Tanganyika (Adventure)

By Thomas Thorpe

Black Rose Writing www.blackrosewriting.com

ISBN #978-161296464

Price $16.95

224 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

An African Adventure.”

Lieutenant Colonel Hamerton puts a British couple, William and Elizabeth Darmon on House Arrest after they unknowingly commit an offense against local customs in East Africa. Forced into imprisonment for a year, they seek a way to escape and reach the Nile River returning them to Egypt, and then back home. With their guards missing, and the heavy rains causing flooding, they attempt a trip by boat via the river, but the boat is destroyed and they are left afoot, and must travel across an unfriendly land. Their journey through Tanganyika is a hazardous one, and filled with danger and loss before it’s all over.

This is historical Africa in the 1860s. They will be faced with slavery, separation, cannibalism, and warring tribes, while the land itself offers no sure protection. Africa is still untamed, and civilization far away. It will take all they have to survive, even with the help of their new friend, Nyayoo.

I believe this is an on-going series, but LOST IN TANGANYIKA can be read as a stand-alone adventure. Although sometimes reading like a travelogue and descriptive encyclopedia entry of Africa, I found the story quite readable, with excitement, suspense, and enough thrills to keep me turning the pages. Highly recommended for adventure lovers.

Tom Johnson

Author of SAVAGE LAND OF JUR

Double Trouble

Double Trouble (Action/Adventure)

By Jerry Gill

Ann Darrow Publishing

ISBN #978-150258829

Price $12.54

416 Pages

Rating 4-Stars

“Old Style Fun & Adventure.”

This actually contains the first two novels in the Vic Challenger series, “Time Doesn’t Matter” and “Mongol”. The first story has Victoria Custer and her brother, Barney visiting Lord & Lady Greystoke’s ranch in Africa, where Tarzan allows Vic to hunt water buffalo and other game. The natives and white men are all in awe of Vic, and Tarzan tells them that the girl is a capable hunter. One day when Vic is out hunting, slavers capture her. Barney, Tarzan and his Waziri take the trail to rescue her and kill the Arab slavers. Amidst this early tale, Vic dreams about Nu and Nat-ul, a couple in love 100,000 years ago during the Stone Age. We learn their story, and how they influence Victoria Custer in 1919. In truth, Vic and Nat-ul seem to be attached, and Vic may be Nat-ul reincarnated. With this knowledge Vic feels she must find her lost lover, Nu, son of Nu, chief of the Nu people, dwellers in caves.

The story is episodic, with Vic falling into traps, escaping, fighting against great odds, and always showing the strength and fearlessness of the stone-age tribe of Nu. The author’s writing style captures that of Edgar Rice Burroughs. And, indeed, we have the cameo of Tarzan at his African ranch, and chapter titles like “Back To The Stone Age”, etc. In this story, Vic meets Ann Darrow who tells her about her adventure on Skull Island.  She also meets an “Indiana” Jones. Victoria obtains a job with a big newspaper to supply stories and photographs of her adventures, using the byline of Vic Challenger, her homage to Professor Challenger from The Lost World.

In “Mongol”, the second, and weakest, novel in the book, it reads a bit like a travelogue, with some episodic adventures. Lin Li, her pharmacist friend, joins Vic and they meet Evelyn Chan, the niece of Charlie Chan in San Francisco. She is a private detective involved in a murder mystery. The mystery follows them on board The Red Dragon, a ship heading for Hawaii before the mystery is solved. As they enter China, heading for Mongolia, they pick up a guide and learn about food and travel through the desert. They run across a band of Red Beards and have a shoot out, then giant worms come out of the ground and attacks everyone. Then they discover an underground city with space aliens, and rooms filled with gold, jewels, and silver. Escaping seconds before being killed, they return to their guide’s home to find Mongol warriors killing all the people. Alone, Vic, Lin, and their guide take on the Mongol horde in a fierce fight defeating them just as the Cavalry shows up.

Overall, this is a fun series so far, but the author needs to have better structure to the novel, instead of short episodic adventures, it needed a real plot the reader could follow. And with the travelogue in the second novel, the action slowed down a bit too much. For me, the story of Nu and Nat-ul, which took up a good portion of the first novel, was the best portion of the two books. The writing definitely captured Edgar Rice Burroughs in that segment. I like the character of Victoria Custer and Lin Li, although a lot of the dialogue was wooden in the second book. However, it is written in the old pulp style, and I think readers of adventure heroes like Doc Savage and Indiana Jones will enjoy it. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

ECHOES Magazine

A Dark Redemption

A Dark Redemption (Detective Murder Mystery)

By Stav Sherez

ISBN #978-1609451172

Europa Editions

Price $17.00

345 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Gritty and Real.”

A young East African student from the university is found murdered in a London apartment. She had been raped and viciously mutilated, her dying words videotaped. Jack Carrigan, Detective-inspector of the Criminal Investigation Division, is assigned the case with an assistant, Detective-constable Geneva Miller. With their team of investigators assembled, Carrigan and Miller trace the girl’s background and studies as far as possible, though records are mysteriously blocked at the university, and there appears to be interference from both the African embassy and British Foreign Affairs. Who was the murdered girl, and why was she killed in such a brutal manner?

There is a back story concerning Jack Carrigan and two close friends who, twenty years previous had graduated from college together, and decided to vacation in East Africa before entering promising careers. Jack Carrigan was a musician on his way to the top already with an album. But something happened during that trip to Uganda that summer, and we get small hints throughout the story, but nothing concrete until the very end. Jack never continued his music career, but became a criminal investigator instead. Did that vacation have something to do with the murder of this girl?

A novel as powerful as this comes along rarely in the mystery field. The plot is gritty, real, and with strong characters moving the story from beginning to end. There is deep emotion driving the murderer, and the reader follows the investigators as they uncover clues and suspects. The story doesn’t bog down with the backstory, as we are only fed small bits occasionally, not all at once.  A thrilling mystery you will not want to put down.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories