Jihad

Soldiers of Barrabas #12

by Jack Hild, Alan Philipson

Mass Market Paperback

219 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1986

About the author

"Jack Hild" is a pseudonym shared by multiple authors ghostwriting the Soldiers of Barrabas (SOBs) series of action-adventure novels. The most prolific of these authors were Robin Hardy and Alan Philipson.

Despite Hild's output being the work of several authors, the novelist Warren Murphy provided a cover endorsement saying "Jack Hild is simply the best and gutsiest action writer around today."

In backmatter to some of the SOBs books, the publishers Gold Eagle jokingly stated Hild's "whereabouts are unknown. No one associated with Gold Eagle Books has ever seen Jack, in person or in a photograph... If you should ever meet Jack Hild... let us know."

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This time out, the team takes on an assignment in Afghanistan to disrupt a Chemwar ( chemical Weapons ) plant that is producing a yellow gas that kills in seconds. With this gas the Russians could drop bombs into caves and eradicate the rebels holed up deep in their caves. Thrown into the mix is an ex-Nazi doctor who thought up the weapon. The SOB's also have other factions of rebels to deal with in there trek through the desert.

This book varies a little from the others in the series slightly. For about the first third of this, it centers on two teenage Afghan boys. One a brave rebel who want's to become a Mujahideen warrior. The other, a potentially dangerous coward with the lights of the big city in his eyes. You can also tell that this volume was written by a different author of book #11. Robin Hardy wrote book eleven. This was penned by Alan Philipson. The reason is because Liam O'Toole, second in command of the SOB's is asked what he has planned after the mission, he replies that he is going to make love to a bottle of Bushmill whiskey. In the previous book he was wanting out of merc work to spend all his time to his new wife. His bride was never mentioned here. Also Nile Barrabas is working with the brother of the woman who left him in the last book. Still not a word about it. Not that big of a deal. The action still rips. No disappointment about that. Just wish these books had a more cohesive feel about them.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun chapter in the series. This time the SOBs are heading to Afghanistan to stop a Russian experimental chemical attack on the Afghan rebels. Its fast pace action and the SOBs are all interesting characters. Though it seems that some character story lines outside of the missions are changed a bit according to who are writing the books. It's just not consistent. Though that's a minor quibble, since overall it's a solid action story.

Highly recommended, this series overall so far is very entertaining.

[Arizona Spartan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a definite improvement in the series with a great cover! The team needs to shutdown a chemical weapon operation in Afghanistan and end up embroiled with the Mujahadeen and fighting Soviets. There are also some fun moments and carnage as the series is known for.