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The Rat Bastards #10
Kill Crazy
The joy of killing.
The enemy’s plotting against them—while they’re tearing at each other’s throats! Malaria could lay them on their backs. Jungle fever threatens to strip their sanity. An army of death marches through bloody war zones looking to tear their guts out. But over the roar of grenades and the swish of Samurai swords you can always hear the spine-curdling battle cry of the guys who kill their way to victory … the Rat Bastards.
Originally published under the pen name John Mackie
- GenresWar
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 30, 2014
2 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Len Levinson
79 books20 followersAKA John Mackie, J. Farragut Jones, Nicholas Brady and Gordon Davis; also has ghost written as Clay Dawson.
Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Len Levinson served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 1954-1957, and graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Social Science. He relocated to NYC that year and worked as an advertising copywriter and public relations executive before becoming a full-time novelist.
Len has had over eighty titles published and has created and wrote a number of series, including The Apache Wars Saga, The Pecos Kid, The Rat Bastards, and The Sergeant.
After many years in NYC, Len moved to a small town (pop. 3100) in rural Illinois, where he is now surrounded by corn and soybean fields ... a peaceful, ideal location for a writer.
Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Len Levinson served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 1954-1957, and graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Social Science. He relocated to NYC that year and worked as an advertising copywriter and public relations executive before becoming a full-time novelist.
Len has had over eighty titles published and has created and wrote a number of series, including The Apache Wars Saga, The Pecos Kid, The Rat Bastards, and The Sergeant.
After many years in NYC, Len moved to a small town (pop. 3100) in rural Illinois, where he is now surrounded by corn and soybean fields ... a peaceful, ideal location for a writer.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 28, 2025
In a series well-known for non-stop, over-the-top action, this entry is intensely non-stop and over-the-top.
Sgt Butsko and a half-dozen men from the titular recon platoon are out on patrol. They find a Japanese fuel depot and attack, blowing it up. But several of them are wounded and they soon find themselves in a "Last Stand" situation, surrounded and running out of ammunition. They make a break for it, only to be forced back into the same position. Bullets and grenades fly back and forth almost none stop. Roughly 75% of this book is essentially one long action sequence.
To add extra tension, Butsko decides that they have to leave the wounded men behind and make a break for it. The other guys object, leading to a fantastic scene where it looks like the Americans might kill each other and save the Japanese the trouble.
The situation eventually leads to a brutal, extended scene of bloody hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese. Every American soldier involved has been a regular in the series so far, but these books are built in large part on the idea that being a regular character doesn't protect you from getting killed. You go into the story knowing that characters in whom you've become invested won't necessarily be alive at the end.
Sgt Butsko and a half-dozen men from the titular recon platoon are out on patrol. They find a Japanese fuel depot and attack, blowing it up. But several of them are wounded and they soon find themselves in a "Last Stand" situation, surrounded and running out of ammunition. They make a break for it, only to be forced back into the same position. Bullets and grenades fly back and forth almost none stop. Roughly 75% of this book is essentially one long action sequence.
To add extra tension, Butsko decides that they have to leave the wounded men behind and make a break for it. The other guys object, leading to a fantastic scene where it looks like the Americans might kill each other and save the Japanese the trouble.
The situation eventually leads to a brutal, extended scene of bloody hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese. Every American soldier involved has been a regular in the series so far, but these books are built in large part on the idea that being a regular character doesn't protect you from getting killed. You go into the story knowing that characters in whom you've become invested won't necessarily be alive at the end.
April 1, 2023
Kill Crazy book 10 of the rat bastards series is a non stop high octane kill count from the very beginning. Butsko and his recon team are once again fighting for their lives, but this time, the affects of war are weighing heavy on all their minds, and at the worst possible time.
Fans of the movie They Live, will remember the fight scene, that went on and on, and prepare yourself for a showdown that goes on for five or six pages. By the bed of that chapter, you will feel like you were part of the battle.
The final chapters of the book was a nice surprise and like usual, has left me wanting more. For those leaving this series a bad review, my question to you is, “Why are you reading this series, let alone, why have you dove 10 books deep? This series is aimed at a certain audience, and it delivers perfectly.”
With all that said, the Rat Bastards keep the series going with blood, guys, violence, and action from start to finish. If you’ve enjoyed the first 9, you love this one.
Fans of the movie They Live, will remember the fight scene, that went on and on, and prepare yourself for a showdown that goes on for five or six pages. By the bed of that chapter, you will feel like you were part of the battle.
The final chapters of the book was a nice surprise and like usual, has left me wanting more. For those leaving this series a bad review, my question to you is, “Why are you reading this series, let alone, why have you dove 10 books deep? This series is aimed at a certain audience, and it delivers perfectly.”
With all that said, the Rat Bastards keep the series going with blood, guys, violence, and action from start to finish. If you’ve enjoyed the first 9, you love this one.
November 13, 2017
War pulp. Very bad war pulp. The worst book in the series so far saved by the horrific violence of hand-to-hand combat in Chapter 11. It took ten books to finally see deaths among the main characters of the Rat Bastards recon platoon. Their lives don't come cheap. Just try to keep up with the number of Japs killed in Chapter 11! And please don't take offense by the word "Japs". This is war pulp. If that word offends you then you have no business reading this or any other book in this series.
August 28, 2014
The boys are moving slowly towards The Phillipines WWII 1942-43.
October 22, 2014
The fight that took place about half way through the book, and was at least a quarter of the whole text, was intense.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews