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S-Squad #12
Operation: Sahara
In this latest in the popular S-Squad series the team are sent into a remote area of the Libyan desert to rescue a team of researchers who have gone missing.
When their search leads them to a lost city in a high desert canyon they find that they are also following in the footsteps of a previous Scottish squad, a team from the Victorian era.
The city is overrun with an infestation and soon the squad are separated and under siege.
Can they avoid the fate that befell their predecessors and find their way to safety?
When their search leads them to a lost city in a high desert canyon they find that they are also following in the footsteps of a previous Scottish squad, a team from the Victorian era.
The city is overrun with an infestation and soon the squad are separated and under siege.
Can they avoid the fate that befell their predecessors and find their way to safety?
137 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 7, 2021
133 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
William Meikle
409 books1,849 followersI'm a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with more than thirty novels published in the genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries.
My work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and I have recent short story sales to NATURE Futures and Galaxy's Edge. When I'm not writing I play guitar, drink beer and dream of fortune and glory.
For an intro to me, my writing and my accent see my Youtube channel
My work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and I have recent short story sales to NATURE Futures and Galaxy's Edge. When I'm not writing I play guitar, drink beer and dream of fortune and glory.
For an intro to me, my writing and my accent see my Youtube channel
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 6, 2025
The S-Squad is in the Sahara looking for members of a research expedition looking for a lost city, queue monsters!! This one felt a lot like the first book in the series, with the beasties almost being alike in their behaviour. Private Davies' POV is also given a few chapters in between Banks and Wiggo that delves more into his character and adds a layer of depth to the squad yet again. And in between this is the journal story of a 19th century squad of Scotsmen that followed the same path as the S-Squad and fought the same beasties as they did which adds a bit of excitement to the book as well. Overall another solid S-Squad read and one of the better ones in the series.
June 20, 2021
Ready for Number 13!
I love these stories! They are fun little tales with great characters. I am always happy to see a new release pop up from this author. Just don't kill these guys! I really them.
I love these stories! They are fun little tales with great characters. I am always happy to see a new release pop up from this author. Just don't kill these guys! I really them.
June 30, 2021
S Squad return, this time on a rescue mission in the Libyan desert. Always good books, this time a slightly changed format, with alternative chapters from Banks and the Davies point of view.
June 9, 2021
If you love a good, well-written squadie v. monster story you won't find better than this.
Love this series. If you love a good, well-written squadie v. monster story you won't find better than this.
I want to see every one of these excellent short novels in a movie. But even more than that I hope Mr. Meikle continues to write them.
Love this series. If you love a good, well-written squadie v. monster story you won't find better than this.
I want to see every one of these excellent short novels in a movie. But even more than that I hope Mr. Meikle continues to write them.
June 12, 2021
another awesome story with the guys. love these stories. you can laugh, get angry and enjoy their antics. the guys are like family.
July 23, 2022
The S-Squad take on giant beetles in an abandoned Saharan city. The format is by-and-large back to its original after the blip in Operation Yukon, but this one contains a little more emphasis on Davies.
The only real issue I had with this book was the lack of explanation of the beetles' origin, other than that it’s as enjoyable as any of the others in the series.
The only real issue I had with this book was the lack of explanation of the beetles' origin, other than that it’s as enjoyable as any of the others in the series.
August 23, 2021
I was so happy to realize that book 12 of William Meikle’s S-Squad series, Operation: Sahara, had come out! It’s a hugely fun series of adventure/horror/creature feature military-vs-monsters novellas. Each one takes just a couple of hours or so to read, has fun banter between the Scottish military characters, some tidbits of interesting character exploration, and lots of monster-fighting action! This time, a 10-person research team has gone missing in the Sahara desert. The squad has to (unofficially) go into Libyan territory to rescue the researchers, who were looking for a lost city named Zerzura. As they make their way through the desert, their first hint that something’s gone wrong is a camel covered in blood (not its own). When Captain John Banks reads an excerpt from a journal that mentions a giant statue of a beetle, he starts to suspect the squad is going to encounter monsters again.
My one letdown with this volume is that it felt like the end of the story wrapped up a bit too quickly. Other than that, it was the usual fun. This time we spend some time following Davies around as he gets separated from the group, and it makes for an interesting change of pace. It’s still weird being without Hynd, but Wiggo’s adjustment to his promotion is keeping things engaging.
I absolutely recommend this book, and if you haven’t read the other books yet, the whole series. Each book should be able to stand fairly well on its own, but there’s a minor amount of character turnover and development, so it wouldn’t hurt to read the books in order. My only content note is for a bit of blood, death, and injury.
Original review posted on my blog: https://www.errantdreams.com/2021/08/...
My one letdown with this volume is that it felt like the end of the story wrapped up a bit too quickly. Other than that, it was the usual fun. This time we spend some time following Davies around as he gets separated from the group, and it makes for an interesting change of pace. It’s still weird being without Hynd, but Wiggo’s adjustment to his promotion is keeping things engaging.
I absolutely recommend this book, and if you haven’t read the other books yet, the whole series. Each book should be able to stand fairly well on its own, but there’s a minor amount of character turnover and development, so it wouldn’t hurt to read the books in order. My only content note is for a bit of blood, death, and injury.
Original review posted on my blog: https://www.errantdreams.com/2021/08/...
December 29, 2021
Great book
Sorry to see this series end. Captain Banks and his team have been through hell and back. I enjoyed all twelve of these books. If you love action, suspense and adventure you'll love these books. I recommend reading this to all who love an adventure.
Sorry to see this series end. Captain Banks and his team have been through hell and back. I enjoyed all twelve of these books. If you love action, suspense and adventure you'll love these books. I recommend reading this to all who love an adventure.
July 3, 2021
Pretty boring with reused plot form the first books.
February 16, 2022
I am 100% in love with this series, it has everything I need and want wrapped up in sweary, action packed, Scottish parcel!
5/5 would recommend to everyone, all the time, forever <3
5/5 would recommend to everyone, all the time, forever <3
December 20, 2024
A team of historical researchers have gone missing looking for a fabled 'lost city' in the desert of Libya and S Squad are being sent to find them. They are unaware that they are following in the footsteps of a previous Scottish squad from the Victorian era who also ran into trouble searching for the city. S Squad soon become aware that something is out there with them and it could be more trouble than they expected...
S Squad are on a secret mission behind the back of the Libyan authorities so there will be no air support if they get into trouble, and a hot sandy desert to trek through is not high on the wish list of Wiggo, as you can imagine. The first clue to trouble is a frightened camel splashed with someone or something's blood, along with notes from a missing researcher and several pages torn out of an old soldier's journal. The journal talks of a soldier being killed and points to other events happening at the lost city, where Banks hopes to find the missing team.
As the reader can tell from the front cover, trouble is coming in the shape of giant creepy beetles, the same things that attacked the researchers and the previous soldiers. They seem to be unstoppable and a lot of ammunition is being used up to keep them at bay, in a virtual labyrinth of the city buildings. It's a very tense and exciting setting for the story. It's going to take a lot of guile to outsmart the beasts and use their own weaknesses against them-if there are any.
The author goes more into the background of Davies, which was good. We discover the extent of the bullying that he suffered as a boy, being a black kid in a rough housing estate and how it led him to the military. During certain moments of the book he is reliving the scary nights alone, hiding in the dark estate while his bullies search for him. You really do feel sympathy for him. Now he is a man but still getting scared hiding from the beetles that swarm all over the city. I also liked the added realism of Wilkins having issues with his previous leg injury due to the difficult terrain that he is marching through.
We also get flashbacks to the experiences of the men in the other regiment, being faced with the same enemy and having less effective weapons to take on the beasts with. It's interesting to see both sets of soldiers having similar experiences, the same feeling of being part of a tight unit and the same fear as each run out of options to defeat or escape from the enemy. Several books in the series delve into old diaries which help give a background to current events and introduce the monsters.
It's another very enjoyable S Squad adventure and it's great that the series is keeping up the standard as it goes on.
S Squad are on a secret mission behind the back of the Libyan authorities so there will be no air support if they get into trouble, and a hot sandy desert to trek through is not high on the wish list of Wiggo, as you can imagine. The first clue to trouble is a frightened camel splashed with someone or something's blood, along with notes from a missing researcher and several pages torn out of an old soldier's journal. The journal talks of a soldier being killed and points to other events happening at the lost city, where Banks hopes to find the missing team.
As the reader can tell from the front cover, trouble is coming in the shape of giant creepy beetles, the same things that attacked the researchers and the previous soldiers. They seem to be unstoppable and a lot of ammunition is being used up to keep them at bay, in a virtual labyrinth of the city buildings. It's a very tense and exciting setting for the story. It's going to take a lot of guile to outsmart the beasts and use their own weaknesses against them-if there are any.
The author goes more into the background of Davies, which was good. We discover the extent of the bullying that he suffered as a boy, being a black kid in a rough housing estate and how it led him to the military. During certain moments of the book he is reliving the scary nights alone, hiding in the dark estate while his bullies search for him. You really do feel sympathy for him. Now he is a man but still getting scared hiding from the beetles that swarm all over the city. I also liked the added realism of Wilkins having issues with his previous leg injury due to the difficult terrain that he is marching through.
We also get flashbacks to the experiences of the men in the other regiment, being faced with the same enemy and having less effective weapons to take on the beasts with. It's interesting to see both sets of soldiers having similar experiences, the same feeling of being part of a tight unit and the same fear as each run out of options to defeat or escape from the enemy. Several books in the series delve into old diaries which help give a background to current events and introduce the monsters.
It's another very enjoyable S Squad adventure and it's great that the series is keeping up the standard as it goes on.
February 15, 2023
The twelfth book in the series finds the squad facing a threat more insect in nature this time when they infiltrate Libya in search of a lost university expedition.
I really enjoyed this one because it never explained too much. All we can learn about the monsters, where they life, and the history we learn through what the characters learn. There's no helpful native or old professor who can give the squad a detailed history this time, so much is left a mystery. That added some extra fun once I finished this one, as a I spent a good while trying to figure it all out based on context clues and what the characters observed. This also means that this will probably be the first book in the series I'll end up rereading just to see if I can figure out anything new.
I really enjoyed this one because it never explained too much. All we can learn about the monsters, where they life, and the history we learn through what the characters learn. There's no helpful native or old professor who can give the squad a detailed history this time, so much is left a mystery. That added some extra fun once I finished this one, as a I spent a good while trying to figure it all out based on context clues and what the characters observed. This also means that this will probably be the first book in the series I'll end up rereading just to see if I can figure out anything new.
May 14, 2022
Rock hard
Enjoyable. Action rather repetitive. Lots of it. Not the best characterization. Storyline rather thin. The tale nevertheless used up my evening nicely.
Enjoyable. Action rather repetitive. Lots of it. Not the best characterization. Storyline rather thin. The tale nevertheless used up my evening nicely.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews