Sea of Savages

A thin plot, cartoonish villains and Phoenix Force investigating a heist with bullets. There should be a lot to dislike in this story but surprisingly I enjoyed it once I got past the repetitive re-introduction of the main characters and how they all like to tote different weapons on their jaunts. A straight A to B adventure with no surprises or insights and delivered with a lot of bullets.

I've been reading this series for over 30 years. Going through the series again I'm trying the approach of someone who has never read the series before. Saying that, I thought this was a very well written book. I really liked the character Mahmud. I thought his back story was absolutely heartbreaking. And I really liked the friendship between David and Him. Good action scenes. Likes that the force had to go though some different groups of bad guys to find Trio. I give this book a solid 8 stars.

This one is not a bad read I found it interesting with the return of TRIO and the plot fairly convincing as I could see that what they knocked off was a prize worth going for and the way it was done was excellent. Further the way this prize is recovered is very well written. I also liked the Mahmud character who is sort of like a secondary character who doesn't feature all that much in the title but when he does look out, a couple of excellent scenes here with him. The actions scenes are not only up there with previous stuff by this author but surpass this level, some good reading in these scenes. The epilogue was also terrific even though it was only 2/3 of a page because you are not sure about something and you are thinking "hey what happened to ...." as you finish the last page then you turn over the page and there is the epilogue it sets up further titles involving TRIO beautifully. Why only a six star rating with this review as above? Simply I have had a gutful of Katz using his prosethis to rip out an adversaries throat/arteries/etc. in close combat, and whilst ONLY occurring three times in this tile where one of our team's weapons is knocked out of his hands I now find myself cringing and thinking "Oh no not again" when it occurs (see I am fixated on this now as I actually counted how many times it happened in this title which wasn't until the last few pages and I know I will for all the future titles <sigh> ). 2 stars were deducted but a good read.

The lads of Phoenix Force are on the trail of TRIO again, that laughably inept, overdressed and under-gunned group from a previous book. "The elaborate props and costumes used and worn by TRIO's overlords might have seemed ludicrous". Boy howdy. The plot here is paper thin and won't bear even the slightest examination since it isn't up to the standards of the Wishbone children's books. The villains are either cartoonishly silly or forgettable. They are there to provide targets for Phoenix Force and they do that very well. The action is better than usual for this series lately and the butterfingered boys from Stony Man mostly manage to hang onto their firearms this time around. Unfortunately the action scenes are hampered by the author's insistence on having the good guys deliver terrible puns and one-liners after nearly every kill. Groans will be uttered. One very nicely done supporting character, Mahmud, makes a good low powered ally and adds some nice backstory to McCarter. He alone lifts this book from four to five stars.

Far better then the Thuggees novel. I had not read book 17 which involved the Trio - Japanese/Chinese/Mongol crime group alliance. The acton was very good. Loads of shootouts although I can't imagine how safe one can be holding up a dead body while .44s hit the body. I would think Manning would have been hit with bullets going through the body. I loved the character Mahmoud which was David's friend prior to David joining FP. The story about bundling drugs inside dead baby's was just chilling to read The character Ferris really didn't go anywhere. Ok an American who killed fellow officers all for some ancient Columbian trinkets but he seemed after chapter one just an onlooker who really didn't do much. I did enjoy his perception of the ceremony honoring the thieves of the antques by the Trio. I really didn't think the book needed the Phillipino secret police. I think just the intelligence group and the torturer would have sufficed. You had the secret police, Trio, Phillipino communist group, the secret intelligence and the Trio's mercenaries. Too many groups. A very fun novel and yes deserving of an 8.

Ah, "Sea of Savages", this book holds a great deal of nostalgia for me. The first one I bought. The story was adequate, but it is more of a memory than a standout work. Great memories, has it been 14 years?

This was an enjoyable TRIO book. I loved all the puns the Force used throughout the book. Especially the James Bond puns. Overall, action galore.