tIf there's one moment that sums up the entirety of Ghost, it's when our 'hero' kills Osama Bin Laden and cuts off his head for proof. Rather than being the cathartic finale of the novel, this is instead almost an aside to the main plot, which is the rescue of an entire army of kidnapped college girls. This minor plot element is an indicator of just what you're getting into with this novel.tAnyway, Ghost tells the story of Mike, an ex-Navy Seal who has the remarkable talent to fall over both nubile young women and terrorists as he travels the world . Mike is both the novel's main character and basically its only character, with everyone else being either an interchangeable sex object or some variant on cliché US military one-notes. This is a shame for many reasons, most of which are due to just how spectacularly unlikable Mike manages to be throughout this. Mike is supposed to be 'dark', a personal malaise that mostly manifests in a mix of an inexplicably inability to treat women as anything other than as sex objects and his love of rough, violent sex. 'Dark' would imply some desire to change or self-loathing, two things that Mike isn't interested is or seemingly capable of. Rather, Mike's 'darkness' is basically an excuse of a character trait that allows him to act like a jerk while seemingly characterful. In short, Mike isn't 'dark', he's a violent sexual predator with a good reputation who frequently demonstrates such a stunning lack of basic empathy that it's hard not to think of him as suffering from a borderline psychological problem.tStill, Mike's 'darkness' is only one of his more defining character traits. Mike's other defining trait is his astonishing breadth of knowledge. Mike is something of a know it all. If you're at all familiar with Ringo's novels (in particular The Last Centurion) you'll know he has a weakness for this sort of central character trait and like a few of his other characters, Mike manages to make a hash of this. In brief, while Mike often betrays a wide breadth of knowledge and insight, it's often wrong in real world context.tSo in short, Mike's a poor main character, matching with rest of this dreadful novel.tSo let's get into the basics of this novel. Ghost is actually three linked novellas, each revolving around one of the Mike's encounters with islamic terrorists. This should be your first warning sign. Mike's so one-dimensional that he really can't carry a longer narrative (Kildar, the sequel demonstrates this in spectacular style) and the novel really doesn't try, instead hurling him into a trio of paper-thin plots that read more like the porn movie synopsises than heroic narratives.tThis is the point where the spoilers begin. If you still plan to read this after everything I've said, go for it.(view spoiler)[tSo plot one begins with Mike having taken a medical discharge from the Seals and headed of to college to further his education. The immediate question here is: why? Mike opens the book with an extend rant about the iniquities of the college system, decrying the clueless liberals there who know nothing about the world around them, specifically Mike that is more familiar with the Middle East than the professors trying to teach him.tSo basically Mike's opening is that he knows more about the world than those people who make a living studying it. This'd be an interesting character trait, if it was true and if his justification wasn't simply that he's been there for combat. The idea that somehow this makes Mike an expert is a little laughable on the face of it and even more so given how nakedly anti-intellectual Mike is about all this. His naked superiority and smug egotism is ridiculous in the extreme.tOf course Mike being something of a sociopath, he is, of course, out stalking one of his classmates. Again, unsurprisingly, he is doing this for their own good. What? Oh, okay, let's try and follow Mike's logic here. He discovered that a number of the girls at his college have a habit of walking alone at night, which puts them at risk of attack by some psycho. Mike's solution to this? Stalk them himself, so that he can blow off some steam with his fantasies of what he would do if he were to grab them. Yeah, that doesn't sound like how a serial killer gets started, not at all.tStill, this is useful, as it means he witnesses his latest cause being snatched from the roadside. Giving chase, he finds a group of terrorists who are, weirdly, drugging this girl and sticking her in a box to go with the other girls in boxes they already have. So he kills them.tThis immediately brings up one of the book's weirdest elements, the scenes from the terrorists' perspectives. Basically, every time Mike confronts a bad guy in a one-on-one situation, we get a quick sketch of these mooks' motivations and history. Then Mike kills them. There's really no explainable reason for this that I can think of. There's little or no character to these short, thre to four paragraph long moments. Is Ringo mourning their mistaken philosophies, their wasted lives? Is it some attempt to give a sense of three-dimensionality to the world? These theories might make more sense if the book was at any point thoughtful, but it's soft-core notion of the War on Terror put that aside. The only explanation I can imagine for these bits is that Ringo needed to pad out the word count.tSo, Mike rescues the girl from the bad guy. We all know what comes now. A romantic lead! A brave ally! No, you forget that this is Mike and he's 'dark'. So instead he has to bite down on the urge to assault her and instead begs her not to tell the cops who he is, because he's afraid he'll be tried for murder. I love the logic here. Can anyone imagine a prosecutor actually taking this to trial? 'yes, I'd like you to convict this man for the murder of the terrorists trying to kidnap these innocent college girls,'. It boggles the mind that this is even this guy's concern. The reasoning seems to be that liberal prosecutors object to terrorists being killed, so they'd try this. Which makes sense.tStill, Mike uncovers some evidence that the terrorists were planning to take the boxes to a plane that's about to take off, so he hurries off and hitches a lift on a plane about to take off from a Florida airport, bound for Syria. He ends up hiding in its wheelhouse, hitching a lift across the Atlantic. Arriving in Syria, he ends up at a chemical weapon factory that's been turned into a rape factory.tYeah, you read that right, rape factory. The terrorists' plan is to kidnap one hundred American girls, gang rape them to death one at a time and stream this live on the internet, with all of the victims of course stripped naked and tied up to watch. I'll be nice: this is simply the most bizarrely weird terrorist plot I've ever heard of, in fiction or reality. It's so mind-destroyingly ridiculous that any vague hope I had that this was a 'serious' novel died of shock. Look, I get that terrorist plots are inherently logic-less, but this is simply moronic.tIt also illustrates one of the worst problems with this novel: John Ringo really has no comprehension of the Middle East or the complex interplay of forces within. Here's a fun learning experience: look up Bashar al-Assad (you know, the despot of Syria) and Osama bin Laden. One thing you'll quickly find is that al-Assad is a Shia muslim, while bin Laden is a Sunni. Those of you who've paid more attention to what happened in Iraq than Ringo will know that Sunnis and Shias do not get on. This is especially true of the Sunni perversion that is Al-Qaeda (you know, the group led by Osama bin Laden?) who hate Shia Islam with a passion. So the idea that the two of them would co-operate on anything like this is absurd.tCongratulations, you now know more about the Middle East than John Ringo.tSo, this is about the point where bin Laden gets killed. After killing all the observers (because of course both al-Assad and bin Laden are watching the rape factory), Mike goes to rescue the girls. Of course, he can't get through this without being his usual stunningly empathetic self. His request to the girl who was being raped when he rescued her? 'Please don't become a lesbian because of this,'. No concern for her, no recognition that she'd probably like to not talk about sex, just the narcissistic desire to sleep with her one day.tThere are deliberately written Mary Sues who have more empathy than this sociopath.tSo anyway, Mike recruits three of the girls to help him fight off the understandably upset Syrian soldiers trying to get into the rape factory. Because Mike literally cannot communicate with a woman without putting her down, he names the trio Bambi, Thumper and Flower, because Mike can't be bothered to remember their names. This is all kinds of ugly when you stop and think about it. Mike's literally dehumanizing and recreating three almost rape-victims for no other reason than his own laziness.tSo after a barely memorable firefight, Mike and the girls get rescued by the troops sent in by the US President (a thinly veiled expy of President George Bush). Before that, possibly the most believable part of the plot happens: Mike gets shot. While it only redeems the book in a unhealthily cathartic way, it's still nice to see some sense of realism to this. Mike isn't one of those characters that can waltz through a battle without anything happening to him. It's just a shame what happens next.tSo, anyway, we find in the epilogue that Mike's role in the whole affair has been hidden, but he's been given the reward for killing bin Laden. He's been treated for his injuries and eventually finds his way back to his college, where he meets up with the girls he rescues. And sleeps with almost all of them. This is described as a sort of therapeutic thing, with some of the girls involved wanting just have someone to hold. A lot, however, just sleep with him. In short, Mike ends his first adventure with a few new scars, a couple of million dollars and more women than Bond ever got. Talk about wish fulfilment.tSo there we are, at the end of of the first part of this less than stellar book, probably the most individually memorable part of the novel, but not for any particularly good reason. The actual meat of the story, the action, is forgettably bland. The main character's sole memorable feature is his borderline sociopathy. There's a rampant barrage of disturbing sexual content. The plot's moronic.tIt gets worse.tNext up we have the relative high point of this novel, part two. Mike, now a millionaire, has properly retired, buying a boat and puttering around on the florida keys. There, he meets two college girls who are both down for the holidays, takes them off in his boat and teaches them about BDSM. After a few days of sexual excess, Mike finds out he's the closest to another terrorist attack and breaks it up, but not before the nuke they're smuggling gets set up. Mike barely escapes the blast, ending up in hospital again.tOh sorry, you thought I was going to go into the minutiae of the plot? That was the minutiae of the plot. Part two of this book is basically an primer for the nature of dominant/ submissive relationships, mixed with some erotica, finished off with a crudely welded on sequence pinched from True Lies.tThis third of the book is probably the most tolerable. There's consent to sexual shenanigans, which is nice, and it's the only part of the book which actually manages to be funny (there's a squirm-inducingly funny phone conversation between one of the girls and her mother where she finds out far too much about her parents' love life), but it's still not very good. Why?tIt's boring. Incredibly so.tBasically, you get treated to a long series of sexual escapades between Mike and his two female friends. This'd be fun, if it wasn't for the fact that Mike's still involved. Every time he speaks or does something, you're reminded that he spent the start of this book stalking women and being a borderline rapist. Reading about him getting laid is about as interesting as reading about watching paint dry.tStill, then we get to the bit with the terrorists. This a tiny fraction of the narrative and, as a result, horrifically underdeveloped. Basically, some terrorists have managed to get a nuke onto one of the islands of the Florida Keys before the US government found out about it (yeah, basically it's the bit before the bridge scene in True Lies). As Mike is so conveniently nearby, he's asked to deal with the problem. Which he does, after another firefight that is, frankly more forgettable than the one in part one (it involves a boat, I think?). Mike gets injured again, but this time the terrorists manage to put the nuke on a timer and Mike only just manages to escape, ending up with radiation poisoning, so it's back to hospital. After a while, he gets out and goes back to Florida, meeting the girls again in the bar where they'd first met, where they've apparently been waiting for him.tSo basically, part two is an erotica with some terrorist shooting on the side. Neither part of the plot are hugely interesting or satisfying, with a chunk of the 'plot' feeling like it's been stolen from a far better movie. Still, it's an improvement on part three.tPart three of Ghost is where Mike foils a terrorist plot to nuke Paris, via a brothel. A quick assessment is that it's a more european take on The Peacemaker, a forgettable George Clooney, Nicole Kidman vehicle about nuclear smuggling. It's also where any lingering belief you might have in Mike's inherent decency is shot to pieces. He also causes a few diplomatic incidents, because, well, he's Mike.tSo anyway, we start with Mike in a Russian brothel, admiring the underage girls there. Yeah, really. This is not the worst thing he's going to do, just as an fyi. Still, before he can do anything offensive, some woman comes up to him and, knowing that he's rich, asks if he wants to buy a nuke.tAh, Mike. The character who can fall over the plot while searching for tail. You'll note that this is the third time this book's relied on him being in the right place at the right time. All three of the plots run on it and, well, it's kinda dumb. It's also bad writing.tSo anyway, understandably, he says yes. He gets taken to the military base where the Russian soldiers who've stolen it are based, only to find that the nuke's already been taken by a bunch of terrorists. So not only has Mike managed to find the only brothel that's selling nukes, he's also found the only one with a hot line to the local terrorists.tAnyway, Mike contacts his allies back in the US who, for some insane reason, ask him to start looking for the thing. You have to love this. There's a missing nuke floating round Europe and Mike gets handed the job of finding it. It's not like there's a whole bunch of intelligence agencies whose job this is.tMike flies down to Bosnia following a lead, which of course leads to a shoot out with some terrorists in a warehouse. By now, you might be assuming that, like almost every fight Mike's gotten into, he's going to get shot again. Nope, this time he manages to get away without a scratch. Which is not a good thing.tWarning: this part is where this book gets truly repulsive.tMike's response to not getting shot is to get stressed out and want to relieve his tension. So he nips over to the brothel nearby and hires a girl. He then proceeds to rape his underage prostitute. This is not some sort of hyperbole. Mike literally beats this girl when she tries to get out of his grip and the narrative makes it clear that she is utterly unaroused when he enters her. He enjoys this.tThis is basically the point where this book broke me. Mike is a repulsively unlikeable character to start with, but one of the things he's clear on at the start of this is that he doesn't like rapists. He gets rape, he enjoys the fantasy (to his shame), but he's not a rapist. Until he is, for what is frankly an embarrassingly tiny and crass reason. Look Mike isn't a character, he's a ravening ball of godawful primal instincts given permission to do what ever he wants with the knowledge that because he shoots terrorists, he can do whatever he likes. He's an adolescent fantasy without any functional grasp of human morality attached.tSo, the rest of the plot, for what good it'll do. Mike uses the information gained in the warehouse to track the nuke to Paris, where it's found in a van outside a stadium where the Pope is about to hold a rally (by the way, if you would be at all surprised to find that the French government's response is cowardly and inept, I think you've missed most of this book). The bomb's rigged to a remote, so Mike tootles off to Amsterdam to find the controller, who, despite being an islamic fundamentalist, he finds in a strip club.tMike tortures him a bit, and takes the controller. Mike, being awesome, figures out that the terrorist lied to him during torture (making the torture pointless, which is kind of awesome, if this had been a parody) and, using their shared love of a specific piece of music, works out which of the two controls disarms the nuke, saving Paris. Mike returns to his hotel to find the prostitute he raped (that he subsequently bought from her pimp and dragged with him) has hooked up with a sugar daddy and is set for life. Which makes his rape.... good? Yeah, let's go with that. 'Good'. Mike then wanders off in search of more sex.t(As for the diplomatic incidents, he gets banned from the Netherlands for torture and Paris for turning the nuke off on a hunch. Kinda understandable really) (hide spoiler)]
A REPORT FROM ROBOT PLANETTO: X-1 Prime, Supreme Overlord of Robot Matrix, Grand Endeavor Cmdr.FROM: Scientific Analyst SLJLK92349UO, Earth Invasion Exploratory UnitCC: Prince BOB, Holy Prior of the Negativ LegionCC: Queen Kardeater of the Insectoid EmpireBCC: Shadowagent markmondayATTACHMENT 1: John Ringo, former Test Subject ATTACHMENT 2: the novel Ghost by John RingoSUBJECT: Earth___________________________________Target: John Ringo acquired by Shadowpuppet A. Coulter using Tactic 7-B3: Invitation to Wild Sex Party at Dennis Miller’s Mansion. Target: Ghost acquired via Amazon for $0.01 + $3.99 shipping & handling.Subject A: John Ringo is former Specialist in 82nd Airborne Division of U.S. Army. Post discharge, subject became author of several series in several genres and occasional guest commentator on Fox News Channel (itself a Shadowagency of Robot Matrix). Subject A is currently non-organic due to extensive exploratory nature of Scientific Analysis. [Shadowpuppet “John Ringo-1” has replaced organic target on Earth; no adverse reactions from Subject A’s peer or familial groupings have been noted regarding replacement.]Subject B: Ghost is “Action/Adventure Genre Novel” and features exploits of government operative Mike _____, code name ‘Ghost’. Subject B is perhaps less-than-typical example of genre, due to extremely low technical ability of writing overall, including: flaccid narrative; profusion of racial/ gender/ political stereotypes; two-dimensional characterization; risible dialogue; incessant and misguided references to Sparta, Robert Frost, and "Goth" music; tedious preponderance of both military-grade weapons detail-pornography and graphic sexual pornography. Despite inferior quality of novel, it offers range of absorbing topics on Earth life to consider; in particular, Earth gender dynamics per author. Subject B: Ghost has tri-parte structure and so this report will analyze each section sequentially.Part One: Winter BornNarrative in Part One details attempts of Middle Eastern nation Syria to engage in terrorist acts towards United States of America. Plans include kidnapping of 50 young American college women, torture/ rape/ murder of women, and broadcasting of activities to American public. While stalking single young woman on college campus that they both attend (apparently typical pasttime for protagonist), Operative Ghost witnesses kidnapping, follows and then successfully engages kidnappers, secretly boards plane containing previously captured college women, and eventually destroys entire operation (his actions also include elimination of Osama bin Laden and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad).Although narrative itself is trite and poorly written, there is much to be evaluated regarding mindset of reactionary Red-Blooded American Male aka RBA Male towards the female of the species (and, to a lesser degree, RBA Male’s nationalism and feelings towards educational institutions). In sum, protagonist and author appear to view female of species as worthy of protection and as target for sexual attention, but having little value in most other regards and suitable primarily for mockery. General and inherent stupidity of females who act as politicians, news reporters, and students is reported with extreme frequency. During rescue attempts, protagonist often engages in “cheeky banter” and “casual playfulness” with abused women, in particular by pointedly staring at parts of their naked forms that he finds sexually appealing, and by openly and repeatedly mocking their limited minds and thoughtless absorption into useless liberal edifices such as college. Throughout his rescue, Ghost suggests detainees reward him post-rescue with sexual activities including “blow-jobs” and encourages detainees to not hold terrorist actions against all RBA Males by "turning lesbian"; overcome by gratitude, detainees promise to engage in such rewards and reject all forms of liberalism. It should also be noted that author does include several examples of “useful” women: specifically those women who are members of college ROTC, are able to handle weapons, follow directions, and promise to reward protagonist with “blow-jobs” post-release. Irony of situation of protagonist - who self-defines by stating “I am a Rapist” (in thought but not yet deed) and who spends spare time stalking nubile students whom he despises - now being placed in role of rescuer, where he is sole source of succor to those he stalked and despised, is only slightly noted by protagonist and author. Perhaps irony (and ironic wish fulfillment inherent in situation) is implicit within story itself.Throughout novel, author engages in striking form of character development for support players: prior to elimination by Ghost, each terrorist is given short history - including country of origin, level of education, level of antipathy towards Americans, personal thoughts and goals, etc. This is unusual tactic and purpose is unknown. Is this to provide a dossier to readers on wide range of potential terrorists and their personal background, perhaps to inspire reader suspicion towards all individuals hailing from countries in Middle East as potential terrorists? Unknown. Author also places epithet “Raghead” into mouths of many characters (including protagonist, U.S. President, others) and describes Middle Eastern countries as automatically dirty and filled with trash. “Liberals” are also given similar treatment; most notable is sequence where liberal American commentators blame predicament on kidnap victims themselves. Perhaps this is seen as typical “Liberal” behavior by author? If so, assertion is incorrect; Robot Matrix has noted Tactic Blame the Victim is also frequently used by “Reactionary” human demographic and associated institutions. Despite ongoing contempt displayed towards Middle East and Liberals, author and protagonist neglect to discuss positive elements of U.S. and instead appear content to solely describe negative attributes. Result is that author and protagonist appear to be apolitical and ignorant of various successes of many American institutions, both liberal and conservative. A curious kind of "patriot" in that genuine patriotism appears to be absent. This tunnel-vision and mindless vitriol bodes well for our Grand Endeavor; such individuals are often easiest for Robot Matrix to manipulate through well-tested “Knee-Jerk” Propaganda Campaigns and diverse Shadowpuppet Politicians and Media Commentators.Part Two: Thunder IslandIt should first be noted that section title is one of this Scientific Analyst’s favorite Earth songs, from classic “Easy Listening” era.Narrative in second section is highly unusual. First two-thirds are concerned with Ghost’s new life as multi-millionaire living on yacht in Bahamas (due to reward from American President), his encounter with and subsequent seduction of two female college students (ages 18 and 19), large amount of water-vehicle detail-pornography, regular appraisal of Ghost’s apparently pleasingly muscular form by two teenagers, and introduction of students into rigorous and time-consuming world of sadomasochistic role play. There are many sexual encounters explicitly detailed throughout many pages. There is much discussion of “boundaries”, “safe words” and “safe sounds” (the latter due to gags), and “the high of complete submission”. There is discussion between Ghost and students’ mothers; both turn out to be “swingers” and “bottoms”, and both eventually encourage Ghost’s attentions – even consenting to request for daughters’ birth certificates. Dialogue in these sequences is of such amusingly unrealistic, artificial, and juvenile nature that at first this Scientific Analyst thought it may all be highly comic and stylized dream sequence. When this proved incorrect, this Scientific Analyst concluded that author had never actually experienced dialogue with teenagers, perhaps never engaged in “Flirting Ritual”, clearly had no skill in introducing individuals to sadomasochism, and may have generally experienced very poor results from prior sexual encounters resulting in awkwardly described fantasy sexual scenarios. Intensive questioning of Subject A: John Ringo on topic did not prove conclusive.Remaining narrative in Part Two is concerned with sudden need for Ghost to disarm nuclear device that happens to be in vicinity of his pleasure-yacht, at request of American government. This activity – which interrupts sado-masochistic role play – proceeds at swift pace, with more military-grade weapons detail-pornography and more dossiers on individuals who will be shortly slain by Ghost. This Scientific Analyst must admit to skimming these rather monotonous pages.Part Three: The Dark SideThird section of novel’s narrative concerns buying and transporting of nuclear military device in and through Eastern Europe and Russia by Chechen terrorists, and successful mission for Ghost where he thwarts detonation of weapon in Paris (target: the Pope) and captures Middle Eastern terrorist responsible in Holland. There are also passages detailing rape of female minor in Eastern Europe by novel’s hero and various consensual sexual situations in Holland by novel’s hero and his colleague. “Action/Adventure” portions of section were typical in their low-level writing skills, inability to sustain tension, and use of rote generalizations towards various individuals, institutions, and countries – in particular women, and France in general. If this Scientific Analyst were capable of human feelings e.g. “boredom” and human reactions e.g. “yawning”, such activities would have no doubt occurred. It may even be said that if this Scientific Analyst were human, s/he may have chosen to simply engage in self-pleasure while imagining his/her own personalized sado-masochistic fantasy – possibly involving Subject A: John Ringo – rather than being tricked into reading intense depiction of nonconsensual sex with minor that is shoehorned within puerile, unimaginative “Action/Adventure”.It is important to focus briefly on lengthy and highly graphic sequence where Ghost rents, abuses, rapes, spoons and naps with, abuses again, rapes again, spoons and naps with again, and then rapes a third time an inexperienced 15-year old Eastern European whore with "very large breasts that were still high and full". Emphasis placed on fear, crying, and internal dryness of victim. At one point, novel’s hero punches purchased teenager in kidneys – her subsequent pain and surprise thus allowing him to make sudden anal entry. An unusual hero indeed! Protagonist suffers some slight feelings of guilt, post rape and torture. Immediate action is to toss on victim's back amount worth half-year’s wage, upon which she replies "Is okay. Not like, much hurt, much… bad memory.” She got to the end of the quick count and looked at him again, curiously. “But for this, is okay. Would do again.” To which Ghost replies, "Yeah. But then you’d be acting. It wouldn’t be the same.” Later, Ghost feels more twinges of conscience and takes victim away from brothel, promising freedom and happier life. In Paris, victim finds older man as new associate and, after writing thank-you note to Ghost for her extraction, promptly leaves narrative. Important to note Qualifying Nature of various character reactions. Author clearly enjoys describing brutal rape (and protagonist Ghost enjoys repeatedly pointing out to victim that he is raping her, in order to better enjoy victim's emotional discomfort/ psychological trauma)... and also makes clear that victim's rape has lasting positive results through subsequent rescue of victim from squalid life in brothel. She has suffered, but is better off due to rape. And so Ghost’s conscience is allowed to rest, appeased. And so low-level human reader is also allowed to breathe sigh of relief and proceed through remainder of novel, guilt-free.If such heroes are typical of RBA Male fantasies (and if such authors, and such readers who enjoy such novels, are also typical of human population), Robot Matrix should have no difficulty in drafting RBA Males to our cause of total subjugation of all Earth species/resources. Objectives of Robot Matrix and fellow Axis members' upcoming Grand Endeavor on Earth appear to be in line with RBA Male’s own personal goals/ideals. This Scientific Analyst recommends: (1) quickly acquiring valuable RBA Male assets; (2) activating Shadowagent markmonday; and (3) approving immediate escalation of Grand Endeavor/ Robot Matrix-Insectoid Empire-Negativ Legion activities. If this Scientific Analyst’s evaluation of RBA Male demographic is correct, our Grand Endeavor will soon find many natural allies on this planet Earth.
What do You think about Ghost (2006)?
Well, the author wrote his own review which I will quote: "It is not PC. It is not PG-13. It is not understated. It is a raw, bawdy, kinky, violent, over-the-top story of an ex-SEAL who is approaching life, love and the pursuit of bad-guys with no-holds-barred. James Bond without the bedroom door closing. Dirk Pitt meets Harold Robbins. Jean Auel writes a Mack Bolan book. With details. Kinky, kinky details.Since I had not previously been known for this sort of writing, I felt it germane to emplace a warning. Herewith: Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here. Ghost has no brakes and no limits. The sex is as explosive as the nukes. You’ve been warned.John RingoChattanooga, TNJune 2005"I'd read plenty of his Sci-Fi space operas before this and they were very exciting. This takes the excitement to a whole different level. I burned right through this whole series. You can get it free (legally) at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/18...
—glitrbug
This book got one of my favorite Kirkus reviews ever, especially the last sentence:Mindless, misogynistic military slaughterfest, a change of scene from the author’s usual military SF beat (When the Devil Dances, 2001, etc.).A middle-aged ex-SEAL with creaky joints, a bad back and a wrecked marriage, Mike Harmon retired on 50% disability and opted to return to college. But when Mike-codename: Ghost-observes a young co-ed being expertly snatched off the street, he investigates, and discovers a warehouse from which Islamic terrorists are shipping kidnapped girls off to the Middle East. Mike frees two girls and kills many opponents. As another consignment of girls leaves, Mike hops into the plane’s wheel well and ends up inside a terrorist base in Syria, where the bad guys are preparing to rape, torture and kill the girls in front of a video camera on the theory that this will induce the U.S. to withdraw from the Middle East. Fortunately, Mike has a GPS phone, so he calls in. Decisive President Cliff orders a SEAL team to the rescue. But girls are already dying, so Mike goes in himself, kills bin Laden and what seems like half the Syrian army. Despite being shot full of holes, Mike hangs in until the SEALs arrive. For his bravery, he receives a monetary reward and later gets to indulge his sexual fetishes (bondage, dominance) with a couple of co-eds in Florida. In the Bahamas, he kills many terrorists, gets shot full of holes and receives much money. In Eastern Europe, he indulges his taste for rape, kills many terrorists, etc. Disturbing and disgusting. An incentive to never read books again. Copyright Kirkus 2005 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
—Jeffrey
Some stupid, hormone-infused teenager must have written this book. Because that's the only way I can explain all the hot naked chicks in this story. Why'd they have to be naked? I mean yes, of course I want them to be naked. But is there really any reason for them to be naked? Not really.This book tells the story of some fucked-up terrorist organization that kidnaps several hot college chicks. They strip the girls naked, and chain them to a few rows of benches in a hot, sweaty room.The terrorists make a video, showing the hot chained up girls. Telling the United States government to go fuck themselves. "We gots all yer womens, motherfuckers. Suck a dick! Yeah! Fuck America!"Enter Michael 'The Ghost' Harmon. He's a retired special forces guy, who gets his nickname 'The Ghost' because he's a sneaky motherfucker. You'll never see him coming.Ghost witnesses one of the kidnappings, and trails the van all the way to the terrorist hideout. He hangs out in the vents of the warehouse, biding his time, just like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. "So this is what a TV dinner feels like..."It's the Ghost against probably 50 or more bad guys. He takes them out one by one. Saves the naked girls, and gets a sloppy blowjob for a reward.It's a very simple story. Not very much depth to it. Like I said, It's like a fucking pimpled-faced teenager wrote it. It's just trashy fun, with no substance. And I loved it.
—Glenn Conley
