Book Of Justice #3: Death Force

Book Of Justice #3: Death Force, by Jack Arnett

May, 1990  Bantam Books

Surprisingly, this third volume of the obscure Book Of Justice is more over the top than the previous two volumes: “zombis with Uzis” are the threat this time around, and that’s an actual quote from the book. Unfortunately, the same overly-conservative tone that sunk the previous two volumes is back, leading to a read that is more wearying than thrilling. It’s like the desire is there for Death Force to be crazy, but any craziness is constantly stymied by the author’s insistence on explaining every little thing…and stretching scenes way past the breaking point. But at least “main protagonist” William Justice gets laid this time. 

First off, a big thanks to the mysterious TheyStoleFrazier’sBrain, who left a comment on my review of the second volume that Mike Mcuay did not write that book, and indeed only wrote the first and the fourth volumes. Per this commenter, McQuay likely did some rewrites to volumes 2 and 3. This would explain why McQuay was the credited copyright owner of the first volume but not the second or third, which are copyright Justice Enterprises. I’m going to guess this series was McQuay’s, though, and it was his hand that guided it, as Death Force reads the same as the previous two books, indicating a strong editorial hand. 

But let’s also take a moment to focus on the altogether unsettling cover art, which per the copyright page is credited to George Tsui. I mean, what the hell? I’m assuming the guy on the right with the upraised knife is supposed to be Justice, but…I mean, what’s up with that placid expression on his face? He doesn’t so much look like he’s fighting for his life as he does he’s getting his rocks off, like he’s some sort of gay serial killer. I mean, note how he’s cradling his victim’s head – and man, the vacant expression on the victim’s face is another WTF? element. Not to mention how he’s got his hand in Justice’s hair, lending this “murder” an altogether homoerotic aspect! Anyway, it’s a strange cover, something that would be more at home on the cover of a Justin Perry: The Assassin installment. 

And yes, the villains are “zombis” this time, witout the customary “e,” because they are the voodoo type of zombis. And have no fear if you’re unfamiliar with voodoo and Haiti, as “Jack Arnett” will pagefill with abandon to fill you in on both subjects, usually using the Hadji-esque character Sardi for exposition. One of the many characters in the series, Sardi as you’ll recall is the former Indian politician who gave it all up to become the right-hand man of William Justice on the Caribbean island-nation of Haven. 

Luckily the large cast of characters is whittled away this time, but it still irks me that McQuay named the two main series characters with names that start with “J.” I mean, there’s Justice, ostensibly the series protagonist, and also there’s Jenks, Justice’s other right-hand man, a former Federal agent who now does most of the ass-kicking in the series. Indeed, Jenks acts more in the capacity of series hero than Justice does; while Justice is learning about voodoo and having sex on the beach (literally, not the drink), Jenks is blowing away zombis with an automatic shotgun. 

The automatic shotgun mixed with zombies of course made me think of the much-superior action novel Able Team #8: Army Of Devils, and given that Mike McQuay once wrote for Gold Eagle, I wonder if he “borrowed” the setup for his Book Of Justice series. It’s not outside the realm of possibility. But whereas G.H. Frost delivered a fast-moving, gore-filled romp that to this day is one of the best men’s adventure novels I’ve ever read, McQuay and his uncredited/unknown co-writer turn in a slow-moving yarn that’s never willing to go full-bore wild. Which is crazy when you think about it, as they’ve already given us literal zombis armed with Uzis, so why even bother with the charade of writing a “real novel?” 

As those of us who managed to stay awake will recall, The Zaitech Sting featured a subplot in which Justice got a lead on the murder of his wife, several years ago. Something about a car witnessed on the scene outside of Justice’s house, which shortly thereafter exploded, or something. This, we are told yet again, means that Justice is prone to “going crazy,” but hell if it’s once again all show and no tell. As I argued before, with examples, William Justice isn’t even close to being crazy in comparison to his fellow men’s adventure protagonists. But we sure are told he can act nuts, and it’s a struggle for him to maintain calm, etc. Sure. Because once again Justice comes off like a snowflake; indeed, it occurred to me that Justice himself could have been removed from his own series, and Jenks made the protagonist, and it would have made for a better series. 

Anyway, it’s some months later and Justice now has his first actual clue in the mystery of who killed his wife – a car rescued from a junkyard in a small Florida town. Of course, the way these things go, the car itself is destroyed but for a small item in it, which Sardi exposits for us is actually a voodoo trinket. This will ultimately lead us into the main storyline, which concerns a Haitian sadist named Colonel Moreau leading a zombi hit squad on a UN delegation in New York (and I stole “zombi hit squad” from the awesome Sugar Hill trailer, of course). 

But Book Of Justice has more in common with one of today’s overstuffed “thriller” paperbacks in that it can’t just focus on one protagonist, thus we have a lot of hopscotching around a vast platform of characters. There’s Jenks in Florida, following clues – and busting heads when necessary – and there’s Justice in Haiti, where the clues ultimately lead him. Later we’ll have sections focused on Sardi, and also on Kim, the hotstuff Eurasian ass-kicker on the team with her penchant for claiming she’s horny (but never following up on it), and her “small breasts.” (Curiously – for the genre, I mean – “Jack Arnett” has a thing for small breasts, as the sole other female character in the novel also is specifically noted as having them.) 

I don’t know what it is exactly about the series that rubs me the wrong way. There’s just this overly reserved air about it, and I guess it frustrates me because with Death Force the intent was at least there to get a little crazy. But also there’s just this tendency to make everything boring; there’s so much talking among the various characters, and too much description, to the point that forward momentum is constantly lost. So it takes a good long while for anything to happen, with the various characters going to Haiti under various guises to figure out what all this has to do on the assassination of Justice’s wife, years ago. 

Jenks and Kim spend the first quarter working together in Haiti, with Jenks posing as a representative of a Haven business and Kim as his “private secretary.” This entails a lot of sex-focused banter between the two; as we’ll recall, Kim likes to announce to all and sundry that she’s horny, and when someone tries to take her up on it, she balks – like last volume, where Jenks took the bait and Kim told him he didn’t have a rubber, so to forget it! This volume really takes the cake, though. There’s a part where Jenks and Kim are stuck together on a train car filled with comatose zombis, and they clutch one another for warmth and safety…and Kim takes off her shirt, baring her “small breasts,” and implores Jenks to keep her “warm,” and the scene ends with them kissing. The reader can safely assume the two are about to “do the deed,” as we said back in the ‘80s, even if it’s off-page. But folks, when we go back to Jenks and Kim…we learn that they haven’t had sex, and just kissed all night, because Jenks knows Kim has a crush on Justice!! 

At this point I almost chucked the book, disturbing cover art and all, but I perservered. Mainly because, at the same time Jenks is being given blue balls, Justice himself is getting laid – by yet another “small-breasted” and “lithe” beauty, this one a young Haitian native named Marie who is busy teaching Justice all the tricks of the voodoo trade. And it’s a fairly explicit scene as well, which makes it all the more surprising, as otherwise Book Of Justice has been a very chaste series. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Basically this one starts off in one direction before wildly veering in another; those keeping notes will recall that what sets everything in motion is a lead concerning the murder of Justice’s wife. But soon enough that plot is entirely forgotten and instead Justice and team are fighting a Haitian plot in which Uzi-armed zombies (following directions that play on their Walkmans) are to be unleashed on the UN in New York to blow away a bunch of politicians. And somehow cocaine is factored into the plot, but the bigger deal is the Uzi-bearing zombi force. 

And yes, what with those Haitian zombis and their Uzis, it does bring to mind early ‘90s action fare like Marked For Death (certainly my favorite Seagal movie) and Predator II. Unfortunately, Jack Arnett isn’t one for big action setpieces, so there’s nothing on the level of those movies or Army Of Devils; the closest we come is a cool scene where Jenks, armed with a “Jackhammer auto shotgun” (which apparently existed, though 3 of them were only ever produced), blasts apart scads of Uzi-wielding zombies on 42nd Street. 

Curiously, Justice is a detriment to his own series; it occurred to me when I finally finished reading Death Force that Jenks was clearly the proper series protagonist, doing all the things you’d expect an action series protagonist to do. (Except get laid, though to his credit he does try to.) Justice, meanwhile, does nothing in the novel. Indeed, he spends the entire “climax” as a zombi, having been dosed with “zomi-powder” and laying in a comatose state, until finally “unleashing the beast” (ie the insanity that lurks in him) to fight off the zombi nature. Meanwhile, Jenks has blown apart a ton of zombis with an automatic shotgun. 

The helluva it is, there’s a good, fun novel hidden in here. I mean you would think a novel that featured Uzi-toting zombis with Walkmans on their heads would at least be fast-moving. But no matter how much of a dogged reading effort I made, it was like the book just wouldn’t end. On the plus side, I did appreciate how Justice and team didn’t spend the entire novel questioning the reality of voodoo; they accept the existence of zombis pretty quickly. But then, there’s always been a bit of a New Agey vibe to Book Of Justice, possibly given Mike McQuay’s background in science fiction. 

Rather than the fast-paced action novel you’d expect, Death Force instead is a chore of a read, with constant cutting to and from the too-large cast of characters as they slowly advance the plot. The zombi element is delivered so casually and nonchalantly that it loses all impact, and the rampant exposition via Sardi doesn’t help matters. And again the series is too ghoulish; repeating the obsession of the previous volumes with a focus on kids getting killed, this one has the “good voodoo people” digging up the coffin of a recently-dead child and breaking off pieces of his body to create a potent voodoo concoction. Rather than be outraged, Justice and team just make quips. 

It’s also the same “good voodoo” chick who lays Justice. This too is unintentionally humorous, as it seems the author has, uh, inserted the scene so as to add some much-needed T&A to the series. Justice is being shown the voodoo ropes by young, “lithe” and “small-breasted” Haitian babe Marie, who abruptly tells him she wants him, and the two have a fairly explicit conjugation on the beach. Curious, given the complete lack of any sex in the previous two books. And also more curious is that Marie essentally slips into the narrative aether after this, only appearing a few more times – and not contributing much else to the plot. 

I had hopes that she would become some sort of ass-kicking voodoo warrior in the finale, but instead that role is given, apropos of nothing, to Kim. Again displaying the nonchalant approach this series takes to the metaphysical, Kim is plumb possessed by voodoo spirits, leading the charge against Moreau, the villain of the piece – a voodoo priest who can make a double of himself and who is also in charge of the sadistic Haitian secret police. And meanwhile, Justice himself is lying on the ground, “unleashing the beast” and fighting internally to overcome his zombie nature, once again leaving his compatriots to do the actual fighting. 

Also humorously, the entire point of the novel – Justice following leads on his wife’s murder – is virtually ignored for the entire book, only to come up again on the last page. One of the zombis is white, a man once named Walter, and apparently he was the owner of the car that was pulled from the junkyard at novel’s start – the car at the scene of the housefire that took Justice’s wife. Well, those voodoo spirits have struck again and Walter will eventually regain some of his memory, ie some of his memory from life, and thus Justice orders that he be brought back to Haven. In other words, the unwieldy chast of characters will become even more unwieldy; now there’s going to be a zombi on the team. 

But then, there was only one more volume of Book Of Justice to go; in fact, the final pages of Death Force contain an excerpt from it. The myserious TheyStoleFrazier’sBrain stated that this one, like the first volume, was written by Mike McQuay, which doesn’t bode well…at least for me. Back in October I did pick up a copy of McQuay’s standalone sci-fi novel Jitterbug, which has mostly favorable reviews, so maybe I should just read that instead.

Book Of Justice #2: Zaitech Sting

Book Of Justice #2: Zaitech Sting, by Jack Arnett
February, 1990  Bantam Books

Luckily the second volume of Book Of Justice is better than the first. Interestingly this one’s copyright “Justice Enterprises,” whereas the first one was copyright Mike McQuay. I assume though he also wrote this one, as well as the ensuing two volumes: the “about the author” bio at the end of the book presesnts a fictional history for fictional “Jack Arnett,” implying that Arnett was once involved with global intrigue but now lives the life of a beachcomber. His age is given as 42, which I believe would correlate with McQuay’s age – McQuay died just a few years later, of a heart attack, at the young age of 45. (I say “young” because I’m 45 and I sure don’t feel old!...At least most of the time.)

We meet William Justice and his trusty team as they’re plying the waters outside Haven, the island republic Justice heads up. There’s some business about a near-revolution in nearby Cuba and Justice has some background with the man behind the failed revolution, Marto Chavez. Currently Chavez’s people are escaping Cuba on a boat that’s just entered Haven waters. Jusitce, on a yacht that’s secretly loaded with heat-seeker missiles and various other weapons, communicates with the captain piloting the Hind helicopter that’s chasing the refugees. Sardi, Justice’s turban-wearing right-hand man, implores Justice to seek peace. Meanwhile Bob Jenks, the brawny former Federal agent, insists Justice “blow the fuckers out of the sky.”

Instead Justice does what no men’s adventure protagonist should ever do – he bides his time, indecesive. He reaches what he thinks is a détente with the Cuban captain…who only pretends to fly away, but then turns back and opens fire on the ship of refugees. Finally Justice orders the Hind destroyed via those heat-seekers, after which he and his comrades board the refugee boat and gun down the surviving Cuban soldiers in cold blood. Meanwhile the refugees have almost all been massacred; lots of grim stuff here, with mentions of dead kids and even Jenks moved to tears by the sight. A bit too dour, I think, for this particular genre. Oh and throughout Kim, the hotstuff Eurasian babe who acts as the Smurfette of Justice’s main crew, goes around in a hot pink string bikini with a Wild West-style .45 strapped to her shapely thigh, blowing out the brains of surrendering Cuban soldiers with her AR-15.

Meanwhile Chika Stark, a half-Japanese lady who has also come to Haven to seek refuge, has troubles of her own: a pair of sadistic CIA goons corner her in her apartment, kill the teen girl Chika has befriended, and then tell Chika they’ll murder more innocents if Chika doesn’t come quietly with them. Apparently she created something the CIA now wants for American security, and they’re royally pissed that she “sold out” to the Japanese, apparently offering them the device. This brings Justice into the plot; while deep-diving to look at the refugee corpses – more dour stuff that seems like overkill at this point, though presumably it exists to show us how Justice gets “emotionally involved” with the people he tries to save – Justice witnesses the two goons trying to kill Chika when she jumps off their boat in an escape attemtp. Justice breaks the neck of one agent and watches as the other kills himself; we’re only like 40 pages into the book and there’s already been more action than last time.

But then, McQuay clearly wants to shoot higher than “just another men’s adventure series” with Book Of Justice; there are various subplots about politics on Haven (some local rabble-rouser named Caido Lienard wants to run against Justice as boss of the island republic), investment banking, and a muckracking Haven reporter named Stromberg who wants to get the goods on Justice. Unfortunately, rather than coming off like a big suspense series, I just found it all tedious and tiresome. Justice already has a large enough entourage, we don’t need extra stuff about yet more characters. Again, this is why ‘70s men’s adventure novels were so much better – they were just more primal, sticking to their sole lone wolf protagonists. Of course there were exceptions to the rule, but for the most part ‘70s men’s adventure was more streamlined. Zaitech Sting almost needs a Cast Of Characters page for the reader to keep up.

McQuay was a veteran of Gold Eagle and brings that imprint’s distrust of the CIA to this series; after digging up the corpses of the agents he killed (seriously, the first quarter of this novel is almost ghoulish, with several scenes of Justice either looking at or searching through dead bodies), Justice determines they were working for the US government. So he heads to the White House and, amid much televised hulabaloo, reveals the charred, mutilated bodies of the CIA agents to the TV cameras – which happen to be broadcasting the event live. Oh and I forgot to mention, but either McQuay bet on the wrong horse or just decided to set this series in an alternate reality, as it’s revealed that Dan Quayle is President! But then Haven’s already been presented as an island nation with UA status, so technically this series is alternate reality. Oh and to bring it all home – none other than Donald Trump is mentioned on page 53! And to bring it even further home – CNN gets mentioned in a negative light, pushing the fake news that “William Lambert” (aka the name the rest of the world knows William Justice by) is a terrorist, con artist, and general bad guy.

Eventually we meet this novel’s main villain, a Japanese dude named Shirishata who heads up a family-owned business and employs sadistic means to achieve his goals. He wants the “organic computer” Chika has designed, a computer that mixes technology with nature and runs off biochips. He sends his sword-wielding goons after Chika on Haven, resulting in some heroic sacrifice courtesy Chavez. Oh and meanwhile Kim gets friendly with Lienard, the Haven rabble rouser who challenges Justice to become “CEO” of the island republic; they even have a sex scene that’s so off-page we only learn anything even happened via casual dialog. However McQuay will occasionally try to exploit Kim’s ample charms, with her traipsing around Justice’s fortress HQ in skimpy, nipple-revealing clothing, but honestly it comes off like half-assed catering to genre demands, with little of the impression of sleazebaggery I demand in my pulp writers.

The saddest thing about Zaitech Sting is that it has the potential for pulp greatness, but squanders it for a good 170 or so pages (the book runs to a too-long 200 pages)…and then, in the final several pages, we have Justice, Kim, and Jenks fighting actual honest to Zod ninjas in Japan. And it’s straight out of MIA Hunter #4, too: all you’ve gotta do is point your machine gun, depress the trigger, and veritable hordes of the sword-wielding crazies will just fall dead at your feet. Anyway all this happens after Justice has gone through the trouble of finding out who Chika is – this courtesy Kim, who hacks the CIA database (Haven hacking!!) and learns that Chika was working on an “organic computer” via a molecule that could render “biochips” a thing of reality and thus throw the current geo-political-corporate landscape into riot. Now she’s been taken by Shirsihata, who lives in a castle surrounded by armed men and tons of ninjas. The plot finally kicks in gear as Justice and comrades fly over there and HALO jump into Shirishata’s domain.

Even here though McQuay can’t be content to dole out “just another action series;” while the bullets start flying in Japan, we have these interminable cutovers to Haven as the election goes down, “William Lambert” versus Caido Lienard, with Sardi handling it all given Justice’s disinterest in the whole matter. After a passionate speech about the good “Lambert” has done for Haven, Sardi succeeds in winning the election for his boss. Occasionally we’ll cut back over to the good stuff, with Justice running around in “black camous” and wielding an M-16/shotgun combo, blowing away ninjas left and right. McQuay slightly gets into the gore, with descriptions of “brainpains blowing out” and the like. But even here, while they’re getting shot at, Justice and Kim find the opportunity to discuss “all this killing,” and for Justice to allay Kim’s concern that perhaps Lienard might be a better leader for Haven, given his promise of peace. Justice quashes this, though, saying that Haven needs brutal warriors like Kim and Jenks and Justice and the others – the world is out to get Haven, and it needs defenders.

So concerned is McQuay with all this stuff that, when Justice finally confronts main villain Shirishata, who is holding a sword to captive Kim’s throat, McQuay barrels through the denoument in a single, unsatisfying paragraph: Justice goads Shirihata into attacking him, stops the blade in midair with his bare hands, and breaks the bastard’s neck with a single kick. Lame!! From there it’s back to Haven, where a defeated Lienard comes across Justice as he’s breakfasting by the sea and pulls a gun on him – a gun which Justice learned about when Lienard came to the island years ago, and which Justice secretly had broken. (Guns are forbidden on Haven, by the way – except of course for soldiers like Justice and his crew, which is about as New World Order as you can get…) Anyway Justice in his omniscience knows that Lienard was sent here as a mole by the French, his purpose to wrest control of Haven from Justice and turn it over to his evil French masters. Instead Justice offers Lienard a new mission: to become a triple agent, an inside man with the wily French government.

And here mercifully Zaitech Sting ends; impossibly, the next two volumes are even longer, with the final novel in particular appearing to be a veritable doorstop of a book. I think my greatest issue with Book Of Justice is that none of it’s very interesting…the characters are not likable, and Justice still seems more like “Mr. Malibu” than the cold-hearted killer he’s constantly proclaiming himself to be. I mean folks he even gives his followers the occasional pep talk with a hug. Also, given that it’s now the ‘90s, computers have entered the fray, so we get a lot of stuff about Kim hacking the CIA database and delivering all sorts of exposition about it. All of which is to say that Book Of Justice has more in common with the “suspense thrillers” that eventually cluttered bookstore shelves, and less in common with the men’s adventure yarns of the ‘70s and ‘80s, though given the ninjas it’s clear McQuay was trying to merge the two genres.

Book Of Justice #1: Genocide Express

Book Of Justice #1: Genocide Express, by Jack Arnett
November, 1989  Bantam Books

I think I already see why this obscure, late-era men’s adventure series only amounted to four volumes. Not that it’s bad or anything, it just lacks much bite, and its main protagonist would be more at home hanging out in a beach house in Malibu than gallivanting around the world fighting evil. There’s an off-putting New Agey type feel about Genocide Express, but not in the cool Ryder Syvertsen-esque way; rather, we have here a book where the protagonists say things like “What is reality?” and frequently hug one another.

I would’ve never heard of Book Of Justice if not for the series ad in Overload #2. As I wrote in my review of that trucker-action book, it’s commendable of Bantam Books that they were even attempting to launch new men’s adventure series while the genre was so ignobly dying. This first volume even sports a back-cover blurb by none other than Warren Murphy, who claims that Book Of Justice is “something new” in the action-fiction world. Well, it sort of is…but really it’s kind of a take on The Liberty Corps, with a bit of SOBs tossed in. But judging from this first installment it’s not as entertaining as either.

“Jack Arnett,” who even has his own (fake) bio in the back, is really Mike McQuay (who also holds the copyright on the novel), a prolific writer I’ve not yet read, though I do have his time travel novel Memories, which I’ve meant to read for a while. McQuay also turned in some of the Gold Eagle Executioner books, so there’s a bit of that feel here, though to be sure McQuay is clearly going for more of a realistic or perhaps serious vibe – not to mention he’s throttled way back on the action. One will not only not find any of the Gold Eagle-mandated gun-porn in Genocide Express, but one also won’t find much action, either!

The series setup is a little complicated. Basically, William Justice, an American whom the world knows as William Lambert, has just gotten his “island republic” Haven (apparently off the coast of France) inducted into the United Nations. It’s a self-sustaining “corporate nation” comrpised of people who have been deported or kicked out or just plain left their own countries. Operating under the guise of Lambert International, Justice and his core group go around the world under political or entreprenneurial interests, but really their main goal is to combat evil and help the downtrodden. Apparently they have an arrangement with the US State Department, something unexplored here, so in that regard the series is similar in setup to The Liberty Corps, with Justice’s army fighting wars for the US government. But that doesn’t happen this time; it’s all Justice’s ballgame.

As usual with ‘80s men’s adventure novels, the focus is on teamwork instead of the (much preferable, I think) lone wolf ethic of ‘70s men’s adventure novels. Justice has a fairly big entourage, and McQuay doesn’t help the reader out much as he barely describes most of them. Here are the main characters:

William Justice – I don’t believe he’s ever described, so the moussed-up “Just For Men” dude on the cover will suffice. Justice’s schtick is that he gets emotionally invested in the people he wants to help, so that their fight becomes his personal fight. He has a vague backstory of suffering and loss; his wife was killed in a housefire sometime in the past, one started by a bomb. It’s mentioned a few times that Justice is “certifiably crazy” and that his sanity is only a pretense, but come on, people – John Sullivan is insane. Johnny Rock is insane. Philip Magellan is real friggin’ insane. But William Justice is practically Mr. Malibu – a guy who sprinkles wheat germ on his egg whites and periodically embraces his teammates and tells them how much he loves them.

Sardi – Turban and ankh-wearing Indian who is basically Justice’s right-hand man. Has the ability to hypnotize people. Worries that Justice might become too insane someday.

Kim – Hotstuff Vietnamese/French babe with a fondness for throwing knives, watching cartoons while drinking bourbon, and arbitrarily announcing “I’m horny” or “I’m bored – let’s fuck,” to the male members of the team, though she never follows up on it. Also seems to disregard the occasional verb, ie “You stupid,” and the like.

Kiki – Not to be confused with Kim (though I sure as hell did), Kiki is a “Nigerian cowboy” who wears Western clothing and calls people “podner.”

Bob Jenks – Completely-undescribed dude Justice sprung from prison (with the help of the State Dept); Jenks was in prison for murdering a drug dealer in vengeance. Along with Justice he’s the guy Kim makes occasional sexual propositions to – at one point he tries to take her up on it, but she turns him down because he doesn’t have a rubber! (Welcome to the late ‘80s, my friends…)

There are others, including a State Dept contact and another guy who has an eyepatch and a prosthetic hand, who I hoped would feature a chainsaw or gun he could screw onto his arm a la Ash in Army Of Darkness, but he stays back in New York.

McQuay does a fairly good job juggling all these people, but as is typical with the team focus of ‘80s men’s adventure entries, the “main” protagonist is thus mostly lost in the shuffle. Therefore none of these guys were ever as memorable as their ‘70s predecessors. And Justice isn’t very memorable at all, though we’re often told how much of a badass he is and how he lives for the “game” of fighting wars and taking down evil. As mentioned, his main thing is he gets involved in his wars, and he’s especially riled up in this initial adventure, which brings to mind the plot of The Hunter #1.

On the day Haven is being inducted into the UN – a scene which features Justice making a blunt speech to the various heads of state about how they need to watch their asses around Haven(!) – an Ugandan native named David Lule approaches Justice’s apartment in the UN building, his Americanized niece, Alena, in unwilling tow. David Lule wants Justice’s help – like the A-Team, he and his people are there to help the unfortunate – and the Ugandan shows that his body has been inhumanly twisted, his eyes bulging out, by some mysterious plague. He then breaks his own neck in a seizure and dies on the spot.

Justice is all fired up and leaves immediately, first busting Bob Jenks out of protective custody. Not by force or by action, but by computers – again, welcome to the late ‘80s, my friends. Speaking of computers, McQuay wrote sci-fi and there is, I think, a bit of a Neuromancer vibe when an Ugandan nuclear submarine (a gift from the US) shows up in the harbor to take Justice et al to Africa; the crew is populated by apparent stoners, the sub reeks of incense, and the heavyset Captain roars “Prepare to dive, motherfuckers!” over the loudspeaker. All of it reminded me of the stoner Jamaican crew on that space station in Neuromancer.

McQuay adds some dark humor here and there – like when one of Justice’s crew pops open a bottle of champagne right as David Lule’s corpse hits the floor – but to be honest Genocide Express is pretty dour and slow-going. We get lots of detail on how Uganda was raped by Idi Amin and how the country is still rebuilding itself, and it’s all very depressing and to tell the truth a bit more than what is needed for the genre.

You might notice one thing I haven’t mentioned yet – the action. That’s because there is none! Well, not until fairly late in the game, when Justice and team realize that sadistic General Asea of Uganda is plotting something with some KGB agents and even working with Amin himself, Asea turning out to be the tyrant’s cousin. At this point Justice whips out his customary .45 and declares that the Republic of Haven is going to war.

But talk about The A-Team…I had bad flashbacks to that show, as the initial action scenes see a bunch of bullets flying but not a single person getting shot. It’s all Justice’s team, split up for various pursuits, running afoul of Asea’s soldiers, engaging them in brief firefights, and running and ducking. The novel is a very bloodless affair, akin to the PG-13 dreck with generic photoshopped covers that fills the Thriller sections of bookstores today. Personally when I read these books I want rivers of blood, with exploding organs and brains blown out in chunky sprays of gore, with men puking their guts out as they shit their pants and die. But that’s just me.

It only goes on to get even more unintentionally humorous, and friggin’ fast, when McQuay expands on his New Agey vibe. First Justice suffers nightmarish visions of the people who were tortured in the hotel he’s staying in, which years before was the torture palace of Idi Amin. Then later Justice, Sardi, and Alena Lule head into the jungle to find Alena’s home village, from which the mysterious Mama Alice operates – David Lule told Justice to find Alice, who heads up a sort of Christian-voodoo cult.

“Paint me!” Justice screams as he goes native in the jungle, having a similarly reborn-into-savagery Alena whip out her lipstick and paint up his face and chest! Then they meet Mama Alice, who has like a thousand jungle warriors at her disposal; Justice is the prophecized “Windbringer,” and Justice casually informs his crew that he has already been in “spiritual conversation” with Mama Alice(!). There follows an eye-rolling sequence in which Mama Alice commands Justice to “Dance! Dance!” in front of her warriors in a Golden Bough-esque ritual, the desired effect of which is for Justice to become one with the jungle people. Does it work? Of course it does.

Meanwhile Bob Jenks and Kim try to infiltrate the Ugandan army, a scene which sees the unforgettable moment of white guy Jenks using shoe polish to give himself blackface! The two are quickly caught and summarily beaten – it’s the late ‘80s so there’s zero lurid stuff with a nude and/or exploited Kim, as there would have been (and naturally so) in a ‘70s men’s adventure novel. The two are sprung by one of those KGB agents, who turn out to be the good guys. Oh and Idi Amin is here, and there are also two Europeans who a few years before massacred a bunch of Ugandans so they could resttle the area to pursue their own twisted interests (one of ‘ems named Merkle, which I thought was particularly ironic).

There are even Libyan soldiers afoot, and at length McQuay decides they are the main threat. They are working with Merkle and the other European, as well as General Asea and Amin; the sadists are mixing that body-destroying plague into locally-produced Joke Cola, which is eagerly quaffed by the jungle natives. Now Justice is real fired up, leading us, finally, into an action sequence, in which he takes a commandeered personnel carrier on an assault of the Joke factory. Violence is, again, bloodless, with the most graphic detail being when Kim cuts a Libyan soldier “in two” with an Uzi burst.

McQuay has gone so long without action that he just barrels on through this one and keeps going; learning that a train bearing the plague is headed for the capital of Uganda (ie the “Genocide Express” of the title), Justice commandeers a helicopter and gives chase. Still the action is almost in outline detail, with none of the juicy gore or jetting bloodsprays I demand in action pulp. But McQuay at least delivers his villains memorable ends. For one, Idi Amin is torn apart by the natives (off-page, though), and Justice forces General Asea to drink a can of that body-deforming Joke Cola!

For his good deeds Justice is gifted the nuclear sub by a grateful president of Uganda, along with its joint-smoking captain. Justice has also bullied the US President into confirming Haven’s membership in the UN, something which was in jeopardy throughout the novel. And that’s that. I can’t say the book was terrible – McQuay shows a sensitivity for character that is unexpected in the genre, so there’s that, but the problem is his characters are pretty boring. And so, ultimately, is Genocide Express.