Pacific Payload

Soldiers of Barrabas #23

by Jack Hild

HELL SETS UP SHOP... in paradise as an ultrasecret consortium of European moneymen turns a South Seas island into a lethal missile's launchpad. When the deadly bird spreads its wings, U.S. and Soviet satellites will be blasted from the skies, giving the consortium an iron grip on space. Only Nile Barrabas and his soldiers can prevent the upset in the balance of power- an upset that can escalate into an Armageddon!

219 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1988

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

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was less action then the others but the setup was done well and the writing was solid probably closer to a 3.5. The team is tasked to slow down an European consortium that had a secret missile base on an abandoned island in the Pacific. However when they get there they realise its much more and that the space exploration from these rogue Europeans was meant to destroy all the other nations' satellites. Much more set up then action, most of the action is the last 25 or so pages and its kind of hurried.

Recommend for readers of the series, its worth not skipping. Its just a slower read with a more personal story of Billy Two taking place as well which is fine but it seems at the end to belittle his efforts and that could have been changed so easily.

[Wayne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a prime example of too many writers ruining a book series. Pretty much the bulk of this series has been written by Robin Hardy. His were the best though. This, #23 was written by John Preston. His first was not a good sign. He seemed to reset the whole series. This didn't seem like 23 volumes in. It felt more like the first. He made the characters less appealing. Dull to be honest. He also seems to have forgotten that he was writing an action novel. Nothing, I mean nothing happens till we reach the last 30 or so pages. Even then, nothing interesting.

[Arizona Spartan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another solid entry in the series this time focusing on a danger to the US space program which involves a Pacific island nation. The pace as usual is brisk and there is a good balance of adventure and dialogue. This time Billy Two and Alex Nanos get more page time as both get in touch with their roots. The cover is gorgeous, one of the better cover paintings in the series in my opinion. Not a bad entry by any means but could have used more action and less spy type stuff.