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Title:
Argentine Deadline
Series: Phoenix Force
#1
Author: Gar Wilson
Rating: 3 of 5
Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages:
193
Words: 43K
Publish: 1982
When
I reviewed Tower
of Terror in the beginning
of April, I was pretty down on the whole Gold Eagle Mack Bolan
spinoff thing. ToT was boring and the dynamics of the three men who
made up Able Team made me feel like I was holding a dead, cold fish.
Considering that Phoenix Force consisted of five men, and I am the
kind of guy who prefers a group to be smaller (One being the best
number for a group, hahahaha), my expectations for this book were in
the basement. I literally forced myself to start this book just to
get it over with.
And much like the Grinch, something miraculous happened! (No, my heart didn’t get any bigger. The Grinch is a pansy, that is all) The book was half-decent and I enjoyed it from start to finish. Now that’s a Christmas Miracle, in May.
This is an introductory book, so most of the story is taken up with showcasing the five members and their little individual ticks that separate them from the others. In ToT, that bugged the daylights out of me but here, the slower pace of the story worked ok. Part of it was that I liked the guys in Phoenix Force better than I did the guys on Able Team. I can’t point to anything in particular but how Phoenix Force is portrayed just clicked with me. As such, the fact that the rescuing of the hostages happened in the last 20 pages of the book didn’t bother me, not a bit.
By the time I got to the end, I was thinking to myself that I had had a good time reading this and that I was going to search out more Phoenix Force books. I believe there are 50+ and while I don’t think I can stomach that many, I do think I can put a dent in the series and enjoy them. I’m going to do my best anyway. So say hello to Phoenix Force, they’ll be sticking around for a bit.
★★★☆☆
From Grokipedia.com
The Phoenix Force team was assembled by Mack Bolan, with governmental backing, to undertake a high-risk rescue operation in Argentina. [3] Bolan recruited five elite international operatives—British SAS veteran David McCarter, Canadian demolitions expert Gary Manning, Cuban-American underwater specialist Rafael Encizo, French-Israeli veteran Yakov Katzenelenbogen, and Japanese martial arts master Keio Ohara—forming a five-man unit. [3] The men met Bolan for the first time in a round-table briefing where they were quickly oriented to the team's purpose and the urgent mission ahead. [3]Seven scholars, six men and one woman participating in a joint peace-keeping think-tank invited by the Argentine government, had been abducted by the Marxist guerrilla organization Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP). [3] The kidnappers mistakenly believed the academics were wealthy corporate executives and demanded a $7 million ransom, threatening to behead one hostage per day if unpaid. [8] With the hostages' deadline approaching, Phoenix Force was deployed to Argentina to locate and free them. [10]Upon arrival, the team split into individual operations to infiltrate ERP strongholds and gather intelligence on the hostages' location. [3] Each member conducted solo missions featuring intense firefights that highlighted their specialized skills, though some encountered setbacks including injuries during these efforts. [10] McCarter and Manning emerged as a particularly effective combat pair, handling much of the heavy fighting. [3] Through these coordinated and independent actions, the team penetrated ERP defenses, located the captives, and launched a decisive assault that freed the hostages and eliminated the guerrilla captors. [3] The mission's success validated Phoenix Force as a highly capable counter-terrorist unit. [3]
