The Invisibles

Mark Hood #13: “The Invisibles” by James Dark (James E. M MacDonnell). Mark Hood is sent to a small Caribbean island where he encounters voodoo and murder. Intertrust believes someone on the island may be building a nuclear bomb. What he finds is Shango, the power behind the island voodoo, and possessor of a heat-exchanger unit powered by nuclear fission. This machine can create hurricanes, and Shango wants to blackmail the world with his power. This is a nice entry, with some good karate to take care of the bad guys. A fun read over all.

Throne of Satan

Mark Hood #7: “Throne of Satan” by James Dark (James E. MacDonnell). The story starts off as a case has come to a close. Mark Hood and Tommy Tremayne have stopped Borja, a scientists, from stockpiling nuclear bomb material on an island. Hood transfers the material to a waiting ship while Tremayne remains with Bprja on another boat. Borja escapes and captures Tommy, then a submarine appears and picks them up, and they are taken to a volcanic island called Dominica. Hood soon finds a planted clue and heads for the island with Murimoto, his Japanese karate trainer. They are captured and taken before the giant Dominat; a man standing at least seven feet tall, with the build and strength of Hercules, and the genius of Einstein. Dominat has created scientific gadgets and machines that make him a literal superman, plus he has a huge missile in the volcano aimed at America. It’s evident that he wants to take over the world. This was one of the best of the Mark Hood stories, and it was good to see Murimoto in action instead of Hood this time. Unfortunately, several of the Mark Hood stories have dealt with the same plot, just a variance of each.

Assignment Tokyo

Mark Hood: #4 “Assignment Tokyo” by James Dark (James E. MacDonnell) was a little slow, but a good story. There is one sex scene, but it isn’t descriptive and not as hardcore as most Aggressor novels. Odd, he enters the karate tournament in Tokyo as a cover, and his opponent is the Japanese champion, and they fight for two hours before Hood is beaten. But then throughout the book everyone he meets is tougher than him.

The Hong Kong Incident

Mark Hood: #3 “Hong Kong Incident” by James Dark (James E. MacDonnell). Karate spy Mark Hood is in Hong Kong, supposedly for a Grand Prix race, but it’s merely a cover to assist a Chinese scientist to defect. As a hurricane bears down on Hong Kong, the enemy is also after the defector, and the story runs nonstop from the first page.

There is really no plot, and no super villain – except maybe the hurricane. The defector is killed immediately, before telling Hood some terrible secret, and there is a bar incident and prostitutes, then a battle ship chasing a submarine. The whole story takes place in a 24-hour period. No sex this time around, and very little to do with karate, except to wonder what his master would do in certain situations. This was an easy read and fast-paced at 60,000 words, but not very exciting.

Come Die With Me

Mark Hood #1: “Come Die With Me” by James Dark (James MacDonnell). Herr Gauss, a wanna be Hitler, steals three boats with tritium torpedoes, clean nuclear bombs; has the power but no radiation. Intertrust agent, Mark Hood is sent to Nassau to stop the mad man from destroying the world. This is the first in the Mark Hood series, and so far one of the best I’ve read. Gauss has plans of blackmailing the world while bringing the Nazis back to power. Hood is up against a variety of tough opponents, and a couple very sexy women. There’s quite a bit of karate in this one.

The Bamboo Bomb

Mark Hood #2: “The Bamboo Bomb” by James Dark (James E. MacDonnell). Rumors of an atomic bomb force Intertrust to send Mark Hood to the Malay Archipelago in the Java Seas, where the bomb might be detonated. He sets himself up in Singapore as a no good bum who might be willing to kill for money. He’s approached by someone who does want a person assassinated, then he’s taken to Krakatoa by the powers behind the bomb to witness the detonation and asked to let the world know, but Mark has orders to destroy the bomb if it exist; if it doesn’t he is supposed to prove to the world they don’t have the bomb. Either way, he could end up dead. It’s a good story, but too many minor characters get him where he’s going, and then are forgotten. Plus, a master of karate, he’s up against a man considered a professor in the martial art. We expect a big fight between Mark and the deadly foe, but the finish is a let down. Still, it’s a fun read.