‘A Handful of Might’ – Joel Green
The first Blake Drysdale adventure novel introduces the world-weary aviator and criminal-cum-spy for Her Majesty’s Secret Service as he and his stalwart crew embark on a desperate mission during the dying days of the Vietnam War. Their task is to track down a Nazi war criminal, a fortune in gold, and uncover a dark secret buried since the Second World War.
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It’s 1975. The Internet doesn’t exist, disco is very much alive and the Former Soviet Union is currently the Soviet Union. Meet Blake; embittered former RAF pilot and smuggler turned reluctant secret agent. His beautiful co-pilot, Sally Freeman, forger Felix “the Cat” Calloway and Ukrainian strongman Anton Berkovich. Together, they are Drysdale Air Freight – a quasi-legal transport outfit that finds itself operating in and out of the world’s seediest flashpoints and disputed territories.
When Blake takes a consignment to fly a shipment of ill-gotten gold out of Saigon, he might have bitten off more than he can chew.
Pitted now against an obsessed CIA officer and the deadly might of the Soviet GRU, Blake must fight to protect his friends, the world… and let’s not forget about the gold.
***
Observe the smuggler:
No concessions were made to style or formality. Scuffed boots met rumpled tan slacks, continuing up to an oversized bomber jacket with a roundel patch on the shoulder. The jacket alluded, with a small bulge, to the presence of a pistol at the man’s hip.
It would be unfair to say he had a swagger. He moved with confidence, but also a barely-perceptible limp on his left side.
Dark eyes were set in a dark face, speaking of sub-continental ancestry. He was of mixed blood, British Indian, and probably disinclined to discuss it. A thin cigar protruded, unlit, from a mouth twisted in a crooked half-smile.
The smuggler entered the dim, smoke-filled bar room; the same place can be found in any city of the world. This one was in Saigon, and Jimi Hendrix had taken up residence, beating out his rendition of Hey Joe from the jukebox in the corner with the volume turned low. Quietly screaming, like the rest of Vietnam. Numerous pairs of eyes – curious, suspicious and hostile – followed the man as he strode briskly into the gloom.
The other patrons were soldiers, most of them dwarfing the diminutive newcomer, but they noted his ease and economy of movement that marked him out as a danger-man; one who could hold his own, who you didn’t start a fight with unless you really wanted a fight.
Blake Drysdale didn’t return their stares, but headed purposefully toward a booth at the rear.
Business always took place in a rear booth…
***
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READER REVIEWS:
“This is the first five-star review that I have given and it is well-deserved. This is the type of book that I could not put down and once I finished, I picked it up and read it again! …Readers will not be able to help themselves as they fall in love with Drysdale and his crew.”
