Operation Flashpoint

Drake - The Man With Nobody's Face #4

by Dan J. Marlowe, Robert McGinnis (Illustrator)

I had lived so long on the wrong side of the law I felt out of place as a special undercover agent for Uncle Sam. But I had no choice. One of the top brass in U.S. Intelligence had my number. So we made a deal - his silence for my services in tracking down and infiltrating a gang of Mid-Eastern terrorists. Besides, I had a personal interest in this job. They had stole $75,000 from me. So there I was - Earl Drake, bank robber and safecracker, playing on the side of the angels to outwit a bunch of fanatic Turks who were using their embassy for cover. I started with a Turkish delight. Talia. I conned her into leading me from the bedroom to their inner sanctum. I wished I hadn’t. One look at the cold, bulbous eyes in the mound of flesh seated on the cushioned sofa before me told me I had stepped in the path of a rattlesnake. And if I couldn’t charm it, I was a dead Drake.

Genres: Pulp

175 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

aka Albert Avellano, Jaime Sandaval, Gar Wilson (house name)

Dan J. Marlowe was a middle-aged businessman who, in the personal turmoil after the death of his wife of many years, decided to abandon his old life. He started writing, and his first novel was published when he was 45.

Marlowe's most famous book and his best-known character arrived from Fawcett Gold Medal Books in 1962 ("The Name of the Game Is Death").

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marlowe's Drake series is always an easy, fun read. This is the fourth book in the series, following "The Name of the Game is Death," "Endless Hour," and "Operation Fireball." Although the first books in the series feature Drake as the toughest and most hardboiled of all criminals, by the time the fourth book rolled out, Drake was occasionally enlisted as a tough guy super agent. Although in the late sixties and early seventies, just about everyone tried their hand at creating their version of Fleming's 007, few were as successful at it as Marlowe.

This book has Drake's idyllic life in the ranch with redheaded Hazel interrupted by a terrorist hijacking and finds him jetting around the country to find the bad guys and also rescue a fallen angel from the crime-ridden city.

I found the writing to be crisp, the reading to be quick, and the story great fun. It was well-plotted and well-executed. Drake is a terrific shot with his .38, as smooth with the ladies as any agent anywhere, and simply balls-to-the-wall tough. A great action caper that builds to its inexorable climax.

You really won't go wrong in grabbing any of the books in this series.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non stop action, but this book jumped the shark in a few places. The worst was the way drugs were portrayed. A few hits off a joint was as bad as shooting up with heroin. All drugs totally wiped their users out & destroyed them quickly, except alcohol, of course. Drinking bourbon all day was just fine. SMH I guess that was the attitude of the old folks in the 60's. Wow, man, we've come a long way.
;)

I've got one more book in the series, an old paperback. I'll give that a shot, but I have a feeling this is pretty much the end of the series for me. Drake is a bit too slick & conveniently in bed with the Feds. They do have cool tech, but I miss the grit of the first couple of books.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Begins with a hijack in which Drake has $70 grand stolen from him. He manages to track one of the surviving hijackers to New York with the aid of the nameless government agency he freelances for. While on the case in New York he tangles with two women. One of them is a good girl lost, the other is a bad girl lost. One's a pothead, the other is hooked on the needle. One sells herself for kicks, the other sells herself for survival. You can probably guess which one makes it out alive and which doesn't. There is also a slimy villain pulling the strings on a gang of ruthless badasses out gunning for our hero.

Drake is a cold-blooded bastard but with an over-riding sense of justice. All in all it's a cool novel, and another one in which Marlowe isn't shy about letting his random kinkiness shine through. Recommended for crime fiction fans.

[Chris Kennon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine a middle class white American in 1970 writing about Jewish intelligence and Turkish drug dealers, with a little bit of boobs thrown in for good measure.

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourth book in Earl Drake's series, and second where this tough guy works as an agent for his government. The novel begins with a Bang!, an airplane hijack, and continues on the same level until the end. If you're a pulp fiction fan, you'll find here a hard-boiled spy story full of adventure, adrenaline and violence, with interesting characters and gritty atmosphere. Maybe isn't as good as the first or the second novel of the series, but it's certainly much better than the third. And i see that won Edgar Award for Best paperback Original in 1971.

Ελληνικά:

"Επικίνδυνος συμβιβασμός", εκδόσεις Άγκυρα.

Τέταρτο βιβλίο με ήρωα τον τρομερό Ερλ Ντρέικ, ο οποίος μπαίνει για τα καλά στον κόσμο των μυστικών υπηρεσιών της χώρας του.

Η ιστορία αρχίζει με μια αεροπειρατεία στο αεροπλάνο που βρίσκεται ο Ντρέικ μαζί με άλλους τύπους, στην πλειοψηφία τους φανατικοί χαρτοπαίκτες, κάπου κοντά στο Λας Βέγκας. Δράστες της επίθεσης είναι τρεις παράξενοι μαυριδεροί τύποι, προφανώς από κάποια χώρα της Μέσης Ανατολής και στόχος τους τα χρήματα των επιβατών. Ο Ντρέικ για κακή του τύχη κουβαλούσε μαζί του 75.000 δολάρια, τα οποία έπρεπε να παραδώσει κάπου. Η αεροπειρατεία δεν πάει καλά, σκοτώνονται δυο μέλη του πληρώματος και δυο από τους ληστές, ο τρίτος όμως διαφεύγει μαζί με όλα τα χρήματα.

Τελικά ο Ντρέικ θα μπλεχτεί σε μια παράξενη ιστορία με φανατικούς τρομοκράτες και ο Έρικσον, ένας κυβερνητικός πράκτορας με τον οποίο ο Ντρέικ δούλεψε μαζί του στο προηγούμενο βιβλίο, θα τον μπάσει για τα καλά στην βρώμικη αυτή υπόθεση. Βέβαια ο Ντρέικ δεν λέει όχι στην πρόκληση, και άλλωστε θέλει τα λεφτά του πίσω, οπότε απλώς γκρινιάζει για λίγο και δέχεται...

Σίγουρα δεν φτάνει το επίπεδο των δυο πρώτων βιβλίων, όμως ξεπερνάει άνετα το τρίτο της σειράς. Η αρχή είναι πραγματικά πολύ δυνατή, όπως και το τέλος, και η μέση οπωσδήποτε ενδιαφέρουσα. Τουλάχιστον για τους φαν της σειράς όπως εγώ. Ανατροπές ιδιαίτερες δεν υπάρχουν, η πλοκή όμως κρατάει το ενδιαφέρον του αναγνώστη, με την δράση της, το σασπένς της και φυσικά την παλπ ατμόσφαιρά της. Η γραφή σίγουρη, σκληρή, κάπως μάγκικη, απόλυτα ταιριαστή με την ιστορία που παρουσιάζεται.

Γενικά πέρασα πολύ καλά και χαίρομαι που γνώρισα αυτόν τον σκληρό, αλλά συνάμα συμπαθητικό ληστή, τον Ερλ Ντρέικ.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

At some point in his career--book three--Earl Drake went from a master criminal who excelled at heists to become a secret agent working for the government. This one starts with Middle Eastern terrorists attacking the chartered jet Drake's on; when they make off with $75,000 Drake had earmarked for his girlfriend Hazel, Drake jumps at the chance to get it back. The problem? He has to work for the Feds again, and is rushed off to New York City to uncover a nefarious plot brewing under the nose of the United Nations.

It's an odd transition from criminal mastermind to secret agent, something even Drake comments on. But for the most part, it works. Drake is still a hard-as-nails, cynical sociopath, though he's softened a bit; case in point, his attempts to save a juvenile drug addict. And Marlowe's writing is still keen, full of fast action sequences, brutal violence, and a complex plot. Flashpoint won an Edgar Award for a reason.

(Full review found here.)

[SB · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my least favorite of the three Drakes I’ve read. He’s fully in government service mode here, and there’s too much focus on Bond-esque gadgets that his government overseers have at their disposal. Having Drake so fully under the thumb of Erickson makes his character way less interesting, and there’s an introduction of a bland new government character (McLauren) who reports to Erickson that seems designed to be a recurring character in future books. I’m going to read the next one in the series, but if it turns out to be another Bond wannabe entry without the smart Parker-esque criminal plotting I got in books 2 and 3 of the series (still haven’t read the first) then I’m probably (and reluctantly) out.

[Jeremy Plemmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Award winning story

I really enjoyed the fourth installment in the Earl Drake series. The accolades for this book are warranted. Action with a capital A.

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced plot moves the story along to an exciting ending. Characters fit the plot, but it is not a psychological study. A good read if you want simple, quick action.