Go Down Fighting

The Rat Bastards #16

by Len Levinson, John Mackie (Pseudonym)

Kamikaze Kill Sweep! The Rat Bastards face the deadliest battle of all as the war draws to an explosive end. The Japanese launch a final, desperate attack-a blood-hungry suicide mission. And the Rat Bastards finally meet their match. Kicking, clawing, shooting, stabbing-whatever it takes to kill the battle-crazed enemy-The Rat Bastards will do it. The tougher the opposition, the harder the Rat Bastards fight back. And the deadliest group of killers in the world-with one exception…The Rat Bastards.

Genres: War

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 17, 2014

About the author

AKA 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.

Reviews

[L J Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the last of sixteen volumes in this series. I’ve held onto it for six months since I read its predecessor because I didn’t really want it to end. I think I gave fourteen of these books five stars and they were well worth it. This last one has a very heartfelt ending, while all the viciousness of war permeated through the pages. It was easy to to distinguish one character from another as their personalities were so sharply drawn. From the first book, a team of some twenty soldiers were slowly whittled down until in this last book, only four of the original members of the platoon remained. The finale of this long series brought tears to the eyes. As far as this fictional military genre goes, this is perhaps the best I’ve read.

[Amy-Alex Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read and reread this series many times over the years. I first discovered them when I was 12, and have read them every so often since then.

The series follows the antics of the recon platoon while stationed in the Solomon Islands, and their bloody battles against the Japanese.

What I love about this series, is that we get to see both sides of the war, not just the US. Mackie/Levinson takes us into the minds of the other side, and shows that there really are two sides to every story.

The guys in the platoon are the worst sons of bitches, but when the fighting starts, they get the job done. The fighting scenes are so well done, I can visualise the entire scene in my mind without getting lost in a blur.
Each character has their own personality and backstory. I love Bannon and Butsko, Frankie and Longtree.

This is one series that inspired some of my earliest writing, and I do recommend it to anyone who is into war-type stories.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last book in the series features the usual slam-bang action. Brutal hand-to-hand combat takes place when the novel opens, with the Japanese and Americans launching simultaneous attacks on one another. The climax has the desperate Japanese launching one last suicide attack at the Americans.

Interspersed with all this is are character moments for men on both sides. Len Levinson's action is always over the top (don't make a drinking game out of how many times someone gets kicked in the groin during combat--you'll soon be too drunk to finish the book), but he gives the various characters enough humanity to keep us engaged on a personal level.


Levinson included an epilogue saying the series was cancelled after this volume back in 1986, so he as never able to bring Sgt. Bannon and other surviving members of the recon platoon to the end of the war. I like to think, then, that they were pulled off the front lines after this book and never got back to combat, perhaps finishing the war up in garrison duty somewhere. But we'll never know for sure.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

04 Dec 2017. As I close out this series of reads of the Rat Bastards, horrifically violent, bloody, and comically absurd tales from war in the Pacific, let me make the following predictions: (1) Frankie La Barbara will get in a fight with a fellow recon platoon member, and certainly with someone who out-ranks him; (2) at least two members of the Rat Bastards will be faced with imminent death only to be saved at the last instant by a fellow Rat Bastard; (3) some Jap will be killed by a samurai sword, most likely having his head chopped off; (4) every single Rat Bastard will be wounded in horrific fighting, some multiple times; (5) some Rat Bastard will end up with a nurse; (6) Sgt Butsko will somehow return to the recon platoon for their final engagement with the enemy; (7), Frankie La Barbara will have his nose broken yet again; (8) a member of the Rat Bastards will die in battle; (9) some Rat Bastard will hear his weapon click as he is being charged by an enemy soldier, and (10) two or more Japs will have their testicles crushed during hand-to-hand fighting with a Rat Bastard.

***SPOILER ALERT***

05 Dec 2017. (1) Frankie gets in not one, but two fights with Sgt Bannon; (2) there are at least three instances where a Rat Bastard saves another at the last instant (a 4th if you count the saving of the Rat Bastards commander, Colonel Hutchins). Interestingly, Frankie first saves Bannon who then returns the favor; (3) several Japs are killed by samurai sword yielding Rat Bastards, three of whom lose their heads; (4) every single Rat Bastard is indeed wounded, one is actually shot by Sgt Bannon; (5) Lt Breckenridge gets the nurse; (6) alas, Sgt Butsko does not return; (7) La Barbara does get his nose broken again; (8) there may or not be a death of a Rat Bastard, circumstances suggests one is killed; (9) a distinctive "Click" of an empty weapon is heard three separate times; and (10) at least three Japs are kicked in the balls during hand-to-hand fighting, one has his balls driven "into his intestines". How's that for predictability? 9 out of 10 correctly guessed.

I've actually been entertained by this series of war pulp. They have been bloody, gory, and profane reads. They are certainly male-oriented and not intended for the faint of heart. While the author states that these are totally fictitious writings that are "true to history", this has not always been the case. In this particular read he has two senior officers first being informed of the resignation of Prime Minister Togo "two days ago". Togo resigned on 22 July 1944 so the officers would have heard this on 24 July 1944. Somewhat later in this book senior officers are then told of the attempted assassination of Hitler by a bomb placed in his bunker "this morning". That attempt on Hitler's life actually took place on 20 July 1944 four days before the officers heard about Togo's resignation. They could not have heard about Togo's resignation before the botched attempt on Hitler's life. The author has the timeline wrong. On a positive note, Sgt Bannon (formerly Cpl Bannon) retakes the lead with >18 Japs killed.

I am sorry to find this series ending with the battles on New Guinea. It seems like an abrupt ending. There were still so many battles for the Rat Bastards to be fought - both amongst themselves and against the Japs. Levinson might have even written an alternative ending to the war. Why drop any atomic bombs? Just have the Rat Bastards assault Japan by themselves. They would have gotten the job done while still finding time for Frankie La Barbara to be brutally beaten by a fellow recon platoon member yet again and also having some sex with some hot geisha chicks.

[Paperbackbooks86 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ignored my initial thoughts of waiting to finish the Rat Bastards after the last disappointing book, but instead jumped into the last book the next day finished it in less than a day.

The Rat Bastards ends on high note I’m happy to say, and I found myself glued to the book, simply because I knew this was the end, and anything could happen. Would we lose main characters who we’ve been with since the beginning?

I found my heart racing hoping that some of our favorite soldiers would come out on the other side of the war and not face the final curtain call.

I started this series a few years ago, and I’m happy I finally wrapped it up! What a wild ride. If you are reading this review, before starting the series, do yourself a favor and read them all!

I won’t spoil the final book, but I’m happy to say I wasn’t left disappointed! Five stars and a great series for action fans!

[WillyPete · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read the first few many years ago, and now that they are finally on Kindle (all except #9, for some reason) I've finally completed the series.

They tied it up more neatly than I would have guessed, and I was genuinely concerned with who would and wouldn't make it to the end.

I actually got a bit of patriotic flutter with Butsko and Dolly at the end, and Bannon has completed the transformation from a green private to the next-generation Butsko, the only man tough enough to handle the recon platoon.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

And so ends the 16 book saga of The Rat Bastards, a series I've been reading on-and-off since 2012.
While the whole series is quite pulpy, it is a credit to Len Levinson that he wrote a character, Frankie LaBarbara, who is so irritating and repulsive that I needed to take breaks to get away from him. Nevertheless I always came back as the series is perfect for those reads needed to get through interminable waits at a doctor's office or for sitting in the bleachers for yet another practice the kid has.
Note: The series ends on something of an odd note as the swan song is with the character of Butsko rather than Bannon, who IIRC brought readers into The Rat Bastards series. This very well might have been because the publisher stopped supporting the series rather than the author's intent.