Lionel Derrick

My first venture back into the messed up world of men’s adventure fiction was a bit of a disappointment. This tale of a Vietnam vet with a bad back taking on the mafia is fast paced and action packed but also hard to follow. There are loads of lesser characters and I soon got confused as to who was who. It also suffers from the common problem of being full of incident but lacking in any real tension. All in all, it left me unpenetrated.

The last Penetrator novel brings the series to a definite end, but also leaves things open for a series return that never happened. A fitting finale for one of the better adventure series.

It's Old Home week for the Penetrator as he battles an old enemy with the help of several recurring characters from the series. I ends in a foreign country where every hand is against him. The series definitely gained some steam before it finally closed up shop.

Quite possibly the best of the Penetrator series. Rather than go on a dedicated mission, Hardin stumbles onto a PLO plot, is captured and battles from within the enemy camp to defeat a world crisis. This is like a classic Bruce Willis action film.