Pulp; Patriot Games

 

One of my colleagues and I were chatting about Mickey Spillane a few weeks ago and he recommended this book to me. It's a total spoof of the Mike Hammer books. 

Nicky Belane is a down on his luck PI in L.A. who is asked to find the Red Sparrow, find out if a man who hangs out at a local rare book shop is a famous French author who was rumored to have died, catch a wife whose husband suspects she's cheating on him, and help out a man who has been brainwashed by an alien. Somehow they all tied together. The book was pretty hysterical and a super quick read. 

I started reading "Patriot Games" a few months ago as an eBook in Libby and my loan ran out. I literally had ten pages left to go, too. Luckily I had a copy of the book at home in print, so I finally read the last little bit. It was good, I really enjoyed it!

Jack Ryan, his wife Cathy, and their daughter Sally are in London on vacation when Ryan foils an attempted kidnapping of the Prince and Princess of Wales (it takes place in the early 1980s). The Windsors take them in and shower them with appreciation, even knighting Ryan. When the Prince and Princess come to America a few months later, they have dinner with the Ryan family. Another kidnapping attempt from the same faction of the Irish Republican Army ensues, and the group flees on a boat. The Marines, local police, and sailors from the Naval Academy all get involved in the chase and capture of the terrorists. It was really thrilling, and I loved the mental image of Prince Charles driving a boat and firing a gun.