Friday, August 11, 2017

Big Damn Heroes

Matt Bracken is one of the best (perhaps the best) writers in the subgenre I'd call "libertarian/conservative gun nut post-apocalyptica", and from his first novel, Enemies Foreign and Domestic, his books have gotten better with each volume.



His newest, The Red Cliffs of Zerhoun, is a sequel to Castigo Cay. It's the further adventures of Dan Kilmer, a former USMC scout sniper, who has escaped the collapse of the US by sailing off in his 60' schooner and living the life of a free-trading smuggler in a world where the international economy is gone and most central governments have only sketchy control of their own territory.

Though the book starts off with our wind-powered Han Solo selling off a cargo of black market diesel fuel in an Irish port, it quickly turns into a story about a freelance hostage rescue mission by a team of colorful mercenaries in a story reminiscent of Forsyth at his Dogs of War best.

Normally I have to grade novels in this genre on a curve "Well, for wookie-suiter post-apocalyptica, it's a pretty good adventure novel." Bracken has finally broken the curve. This is a good adventure novel that happens to be in the wookie-suiter post-apocalyptica subgenre. Recommended without reservation.
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