Tech War

One word could describe this title "BORING". Top secret material has been stolen from the US and is being transported to Sri Lanka from where it will be forwarded to Russia. So Able Team are dispatched to Sri Lanka to meet the shipment and either take control of it or destroy it. Okay but they arrive days before the material being transported and basically have a holiday on the beach whilst waiting for the arrival. Toss in a couple of half arsed sections with attacks by a motley collection of clowns and some personal problems the team go through after eating the local tucker. Well we have read some pretty ordinary stuff but the material has arrived and is being inspected from its cargo container in a warehouse. Bugger me after the infiltration/walk into the warehouse a couple of pictures are taken to show the stolen material Gadgets walks across the rafters and drops a satchel charge into the container Lyons fires a couple of shots from the shotgun and Pol drops a couple of phosphorous grenades and we take a couple of more pictures of the destroyed stolen material and walk out. End of title? Only problem this last section takes up all of three pages at the end of the title. This is not a title to recommend for reading in this series.

Able Team goes to Sri Lanka to intercept a stolen shipment of American technology before it can be sold to the soviets. They have a Sri Lankan officer along as liason but may when they discover their secret mission is not so secret they may not be able to trust him. With the villain's goons out to stop Able they are more defensive than offensive in this story. That's not necessarily a bad thing but the action is a bit slow to develop here with only a single shot from Lyons' Colt Python prior to chapter 12. Even when the action catches up to Able Team it remains kind of sparse. And the final assault of Able to destroy the stolen tech is light on bang and not much of a climax. The story itself is good and the author paces things well despite the lack of things going boom. Able is handled well and for once the three are all pretty well used in the story. The supporting officer is interesting and there is some real fun had with the Able members as fish out of water in the strange country. This is good enough to rate 8 stars. With more action it would have been 9.

One of my favorite Gold Eagle covers, this book is really good, one of the better novels in this series.

Not the best from Able. It was passable material.

Oh, oh oh... Able Team in Sri Lanka, taking on Tamil Tiger death squads, with hits on the local cuisine? The scene with Ironman in the bathroom, his stomach on fire, then having his modified for silence Colt Government model ready to whack the Koreans coming to kill him? Or Gadgets' trip to the Sri Lanka markets...And the scene with the Elephant House Beer and Lyons sneaking up on Gadgets on the beach... This was my absolute favorite case for Able Team. I wish they'd go international like this some more. :( Heck with being limited to the US... we could use Able Team as a more agressive version of the Navy SEALs Red Cell. Diplomatic nightmares, but getting the job done, rough and ready, rootin' tootin'! MAKE ABLE INTERNATIONAL AGAIN! 'KIN-A!