Mexico Kill

Dirty Harry #4

by Dane Hartman

"Dirty Harry" is on a rampage--against a Mob-run dope network only he can bust! Not even losing his badge can keep "Dirty Harry" Callahan away from Magnum-powered action. Now Harry's working for a millionaire, and battling dope-running sea pirates from San Francisco to Mexico's heroin-packing shores. Behind the scenes and the big guns is his old enemy Father Nick. An underworld kingpin and ex-con, Nick can't let the past die--and Harry won't let the mobsters live!

Genres: Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1982

About the author

Following the release of the third Dirty Harry movie, The Enforcer, in 1976, Clint Eastwood made it clear that he did not intend to make any more Dirty Harry movies. In 1981, Warner Books (the publishing arm of Warner Bros., which made the films) began publishing a number of men's adventure series under its now-defunct "Men of Action" line. One such series features the further adventures of Inspector Harry Callahan. The books, written primarily by Ric Meyers and Leslie Alan Horvitz, appeared under the house name Dane Hartman. The series was brought to an end when Eastwood decided to direct, produce, and star in a fourth Dirty Harry movie, Sudden Impact, which was released in December 1983.

Reviews

[Adam Howe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the *idea* of this book, far more than I did the execution. Felt a little flat to me. First I've read of the series of Dirty Harry Callahan pulp books. Maybe I started with a dud. I bought a bunch more, so we'll see.

[Thrillers R Us · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bold, bloody, boisterous and brutal, THE MEXICO KILL is a classic cop story with the right shade of dirty. DIRTY HARRY. Go for it.


After surviving THE OCTAGON, battling drug smugglers, forcing vengeance on Hong Kong gangsters, shutting down Texan arms dealers, and bringing home those that were MISSING IN ACTION during the Vietnam War, Carlos Ray Norris became Hunter of Soviet saboteurs and Commie conquerors in the early Fall of 1985. Starting with a high-seas dope interdiction, the Commie-led INVASION U.S.A. was stopped cold in its tracks and added another box-office- gold notch in CANNON pictures' already studded belt. Lacking the Soviet angle, DIRTY HARRY's fourth literary outing in THE MEXICO KILL treads into the same waters of maritime narcotic smuggling and invading the U.S.A. with its destructive product and seductive cash flow. From the sprawling and picturesque San Francisco to the wide open Pacific Ocean and the MEAN STREETS of Mexico, THE MEXICO KILL showcases how one tough cop takes care of business and why they call him DIRTY HARRY.

Harry Callahan, SFPD cop extraordinaire, and badge number 2211 is renown for doing things his way, which often does land him in hot water with the brass. In what sounds dangerously close to the plot of SUDDEN IMPACT, the fourth cinematic DIRTY HARRY endeavor released two years after THE MEXICO KILL in 1983, good old Harry is harassing a local with juice and friends in high places. Instead of a medal and a raise, Harry is on administrative leave, badgeless and wild, pending the outcome of an official investigation. Of course, Harry will be damned if he's gonna moonlight as mall security or overnight freeway watch duty. He'd rather do a favor for a friend, go sailing, and catch a few rays in Mexico. Suffused with the same rhetoric as today, the US of A was being invaded back in 81 as well. In fact, it looks that none of the problems plaguing America nary 43 years ago have gone away, conveniently resurrected by the current political cadre as ammo to incite and roll up the populace at large. If THE MEXICO KILL is to be believed, 1981 San Francisco is hell on earth, and local pushers, who are incidentally not cartels from south of the border but mobbed up gangsters, are drowning the city in coke, angel dust but mostly smack, Mexican Brown. Apparently, the Coast Guard and the DEA are not doing their job as no one's got the budget, nobody's got the manpower and everyone passes the buck, cruising dangerously close to the current 2025 policy regarding Venezuelan (drug) boats in international waters. At the chance of finally putting that elusive Bay Area Boss behind bars, the buck stops with Dirty Harry. Reasonably close to what would become DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN, THE MEXICO KILL veers into dark territory that would indeed be more appropriate for the DEATH WISH series. A vigilante deed performed by a sworn officer feels counter to what Callahan stands for, giving this novel the appearance of totally being out of place, and the Bobby Ewing stepping out of the shower scene is just around the corner.

Prophesying what would become a mid-80s trend, DIRTY HARRY effortless merges with the dark in THE MEXICO KILL, hailing it as one of Callahan's skills, fading out of sight so one would never know he was there to begin with. In effect, he's a spy extraordinaire, a ninja, an assassin -- a one man army, stuck in the middle of a war and sent to meet his death in a forbidden site in western Mexico. But Harry always finishes a job. Often presented as a cop who doesn't mind to resorting to unconventional and possibly illegal methods, someone who doesn't mind to get his hands dirty, THE MEXICO KILL takes the whole fiction approach a bit far. THE MEXICO KILL reads at times as if the author is trying too hard and it's difficult to care for all the technical details. In particular, the narrative at times swerves into such gory carving details that one might think this book was the work of Stephen King or Clive Barker. Nonetheless, THE MEXICO KILL is a deft look into 1981 and entertaining in a pulpy way. Proposing often hilarious turns of phrases, THE MEXICO KILL states that there's no loyalty in the drug business once the cash stops flowing, Mexico is just another way of getting killed, and that love can kill a man more easily than hatred, doing a fine job of covering for the lengthy, asinine and convoluted shootouts. A fast read and peculiar trip into the DIRTY HARRY universe, THE MEXICO KILL is a must for both die hard action-pulp novels of yore fans and DIRTY HARRY movie and novelization junkies. Bold, bloody, boisterous and brutal, THE MEXICO KILL is a classic cop story with the right shade of dirty. It's DIRTY HARRY. It's Callahan. Go for it.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read, sporting ol Harry against a highly connected drug runner and his whole operation. Harry is suspended without pay so when a rich friend asks him to look into his missing boat, he does so. Putting him in line to get hung up on the drug operation, but that's fine he didn't mind it all that much, it kept him busy while on suspension.

Recommended, had a few short comings but overall a solid read that kept me entertained.

[I.D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dirty Harry takes a boat trip to Mexico and deals with a heroin smuggler.
Written fairly mechanically this sort of ambles around between action scenes until the plot takes over and it puts Harry on a boat which seems weird considering the movies. But he’s got a few one liners and does his thing so it mostly works. Hardly top shelf or anything but it’s ok for a quick read.

[Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best of the first four in the series. His wit comes through beautifully. It is a believable story line, with the usual death and mayhem. It has a nice flow, includes a trist, but seems a bit rushed at the end. Maybe there was a word limit as it leaves something incomplete at the end.

[Bradley Schlieper · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not very good. Definitely not worth reading again. Plot needs more fleshing out and pointless banter edited out.

[Tom Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dirty Harry #4: “The Mexico Kill” by Dane Hartman (unknown author). In order for the author to make the story work, he has Harry make a false arrest on a drug kingpin, which gets him suspended from the force. This is just in time for Harold Keepnews, an extremely rich person, to hire Harry to oversee a crew on a small luxury cruiser sailing to Mexico to get revenge on pirates who captured his previous cruiser and killed all on board. Naturally, Harry is given a crew not much better than the pirates he’s going after, plus every move he makes seems to be known in advance. Could Harold be setting Harry up, or is it his gorgeous wife, Windy working against him? Well, the plot wasn’t too bad, but the carry-through wasn’t very good. Almost as if this was intended as something besides a Dirty Harry in the beginning, but rejected, and turned into this odd entry. In reality it might have worked better as another men’s action novel series. I don’t think it worked well for Dirty Harry. Truth be told, the only stories in this series I seem to like are the ones written by Ric Meyers.

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for an action book. But since Dirty Harry is some what of an icon, you just expect a little more. There's not much killing in Mexico. Don't get me wrong, this a pretty violent novel, but the action takes place mostly in San Francisco and surrounding areas. Little of the book takes place in Mexico. I'll still be on the lookout for others in the series.

[Beauregard Shagnasty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Passable entertainment for the pulp crowd. This is not one of my favorites of the series but I am not sure I can pinpoint why.

[Aleisha Zolman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one, it read a bit faster than the first two I read. (I don't have #3). Such fun to have Dirty Harry in book form.