C.A.D.S. #1

C.A.D.S. #1

by John Sievert

They're called C.A.D.S.- Computerized Attack/Defense System.The next generation of America's high-tech soldier. Seven foot tall battle armor suits that are equipped with flame-throwers, armor piercing shells, machine guns and much more.all operated by voice command. However no one dreamed that they would become America's last line of defense. The unthinkable has happened. The Soviet Union's nuclear first strike has left America crippled, tens of millions dead, and it's armed forces decimated. Now the Soviets begin their sweep across the American landscape to achieve complete victory. Only one thing stands in their way.Colonel Dean Sturgis and his C.A.D.S. unit. Now, untested in battle, the C.A.D.S. must race against time to rescue the President from his White House bunker before the Soviet's can capture him and demand the surrender of the United States. The first exciting page-turning novel in the C.A.D.S. action series !

Genres: Science Fiction

398 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

A pseudonym of Ryder Syvertsen

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average apocalyptic adventure story. This one has the rebels using really cool computerized armor to fight with. Recommended

[Tony Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pulpy, very dated post-apocalyptic sci fi adventure story featuring mech suits. A fantasy enthusiast, this series is solidly outside my comfort zone. Written in the 80s, the story takes place in a future (1997) world where the US and Russia nuked the hell out of planet Earth. Mech suits are developed for military and survival applications. It’s easy to paint the series as “Red Dawn meets Appleseed”, but I actually liked it a lot when I read it as a kid. The series did pretty well, with at least 12 books in the series (I think there were actually more, but written by a different author). Sievert has a dark humor I enjoy, and the suits, while wildly implausible, are actually pretty cool. The combat is well written, and there’s something satisfying and interesting about seeing the very real threat of nuclear war we lived with in the 80s realized and explored. This is a mostly forgotten series, at least I’ve never met anyone else who’s read it and print copies are tough to find. But Sievert also wrote the Doomsday Warrior series, which is much better known among 80s Sci Fi readers. It’s not a literary masterpiece but it was a fun read and the series has always stuck with me. I cared about the characters and the books have a good pace. I remember each book ending at a point that made me want to reach for the next one. It’s certainly worth checking out if you’re at all on the fence, it’s just under 400 pages and reads like it’s half that size.

[Spiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

you probably know what to expect with these kind of books. russian bad, american good. russian gets the upper hand and invades, americans the proceed to win every battle in spectacular fashion! while also dealing with random gangs of non-russian-baddies. the futuristic mech suits are a unique touch on the story. this first book ends before they get home, so i'm really excited to get the next one to read about the trip.

if you like any of the other of these '80s mens adventure post apocalypse' books, you'll most likely enjoy this too. good read and i'm really glad i finally decided to give it a shot. the mech suit thing initially turned me off, it was all i knew so i assumed it was a "future war" thing. it's just modern (80s) day tech but ALSO with futuristic mech suits.

[Jeff Petersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this when I was about 13. SciFi military fluff. Fun at the time.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Post-nuclear action sci-fi largely in the Survivalist mold. Set in the near future, a military team in battlesuits and nuclear dune buggies cross America to save the president in his underground bunker.

400 pages is usually way too long for this kind of thing, but lucky for us we get twice as much content instead of padding. As the story is mostly the CADS team wiping out insane rape gangs, we get twice as many rape gangs.

People turn to barbarism pretty quick in these books, but CADS has to have a new record. The protagonist's girlfriend stops her car on the freeway to watch the mushroom cloud rise, only to turn around to a hillbilly asking her if city girls indulge in the difficult brown, so to speak.

Good violent pulpy fun. My only complaint is one doesn't get a good visual sense of what these battlesuits look like. In some instances they seem like slim exoskeletons, in others bulky full cover mechs. I kept visualizing them as the soldiers from Cameron Hodge's The Right.

More reviews at Trash Menace.

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I was 12 years old, this would have been my favorite book in the world because it features tough, lockjawed, post-nuclear commandos in powered armor taking on a Commie invasion while also battling a death circus of escaped lunatic asylum patients who murdered their doctors with enemas. And people wondered what happened to America. Not enough of this!

[Michael B · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excersise in adolescent sci-fi warmongering. Very pulpy but enjoyable.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this when I was about 13. SciFi military fluff. Fun at the time.

[Chris Sachnik · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's trash, and not good trash at that. I loved it!

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

very cool series from back in the day

[Dominic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like book porn for young boys..but I still manage to read it every year!