A Friendly Place To Die

“A Friendly Place To Die” by Michael P. Faur, Jr.  In this 1966 thriller from Signet, we meet Cord, a young soldier captured during the Korean War and sentenced to die in China. He escapes with the help of a Chinese major, but wounded by farmer later. Monks from a monastery find him and nurse him back to health, then over the next 12 years educates and trains him in Gung Fu. During this time he has vowed vengeance on the Chinese officer who murdered his buddies captured with him during the war. With the death of his Master also comes news of Mao Ling’s presence in America. He is there to assassinate Fidel Castro at the U.N. General Assembly. He helped to escape from China, and given an address of people who can help him locate the assassin, and fulfill his vow. But nothing is as it seems. The Chinese agents have infiltrated deeper than suspected, and perhaps Cord was supposed to fail from the beginning. Will he figure it out in time, before he is killed? There is even a suspicion that he may be the infiltrator. There is a lot of good action, and plenty of twists in this action thriller. Cord makes a good spy, and capable in escapes and fights. I was not able to discover any information about the author, or find other books by him, which makes me wonder if this is a pseudonym? 

 

A Dangerous Stage

Protection For Hire #2: "A Dangerous Stage" by Camy Tang.

Tessa Lancaster has a history. Half Japanese, she was an enforcer for her uncle’s yakuza until she went to prison for someone else’s crime. There she was led to the Lord, and wants to change her life when she’s released. Working part time for a women’s abuse shelter, she takes on jobs as bodyguard when they come available. She is highly trained in martial arts and MMA. In the second novel in the Protection For Hire series, a contestant on a singing contest hires her when his daughter mistakenly discovers the contest is rigged. Gangsters want their secret back, and her dead. When they discover Tessa is their bodyguard, they hire a female Thai assassin to take her out. Who – or what – is the Double Zodiac?

Protection For Hire by Camy Tang

Protection For Hire

After finding the Lord, Tessa is trying to build a new life after serving seven years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. Once an enforcer for her yakuza mob boss uncle, as a Christian she knows she must turn away from that life. But finding a job, as an ex-con isn’t happening, and the police still want to harass her for her past. While volunteering at Wings Shelter for abused women, she meets Elizabeth St. Amant who is running from her abusive husband. Elizabeth hires Tessa as her bodyguard, and things get rough when it appears that her husband now wants her dead, and Tessa will defend Elizabeth with all her martial arts skills. But why does he want her dead? The answer may be bigger than Tessa can imagine, and reach into the very past she’s trying so hard to forget.

The Girl Factory #3

The Girl Factory #3: “The Man-Made Woman” by Robert Franklin Murphy. Wu Cho knows the secret of cloning, and Li’ Kahn wants the knowledge, for she is a clone herself, and the half-sister of Su Lin Kelly, and also trained at Shan Tal. In order to obtain the information, Wu Cho hires Li’ Kahn to capture Dham D’hab, the Holy Lama of a Tibetan village. But Su-Lin Kelly is determined to stop her, knowing that one of them must die. This was the final story in the series, and again had a neat plot, and good action. However, all the crazy sex came at distracting moments, and wasn’t necessary to the story. I still think this would have been a better series, if written straight, instead of aimed at young boys just reaching their puberty. As it was, the series is a fun read.

Assignment: Burma Girl

Sam Durell #14: “Assignment Burma Girl” by Edward S. Aarons. Emmett Claye and Paul Hartford had fought side by side against the Japanese in the jungle of Burma twenty years before, but it was always thought that Emmett had died there. Emmett and his sister, Eva, came from the hills of coal miners, and were poor, but eventually Eva inherited a hundred million dollars from their uncle, now she wants to find the grave of Emmett. She forces her husband Paul Hartford to go into the jungle to find the grave, though she really believes her brother is still alive. When Paul disappears in the jungle, General McFee send Durell to find him, and if possible kill Major Mong, the rebel terror controlling the jungle of Burma. This was another great assignment for Durell, and one of torture and killing, and traitors. A fun read.

King's Mate

The Girl Factory #2: “King’s Mate” by Robert Franklin Murphy. Su Lin Kelly is asked to find a missing Russian biologist who appears to have been kidnapped upon arrival to the US. She discovers that he wasn’t kidnapped, instead disappeared on his own. He’s been invited to a chess tournament on the island of Caligua, where world champion chess players are gathering to play the ruler, Prince Komoroff. In each preliminary game against each other contestants who win collect one hundred thousand dollars until the last two standing faces off, and the final winner of the contest will win one million dollars. But Su Lin finds out those defeated players are summarily murdered, but everyone told they had left the island. Su Lin, Joe Zen and Mala are on the island and must rescue the Russian. Okay, this is the same plot as Bruce Lee’s “Enter The Dragon, but with chess instead of a karate tournament. Still it was a fun plot, and plenty of action, only disappointing in all the erotica and unnecessary sex that distracted from the plot. A shame, the books would have been better if played straight, but I guess the publisher was aiming at boys just entering puberty.  Cut twenty pages out, and you would really have a good book. As it is, it’s a fun read.