Dixie Death Squad

The Penetrator #13

by Lionel Derrick

A 727 and 5 million in cash...or a TVA dam will be blown! Mark Hardin, in Atlanta, vs the dangerous and beautiful Colonel Linda Kink!

Genres: Action

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Lionel Derrick is the house name, or pseudonym, for Mark K. Roberts and Chet Cummingham while writing the Penetrator series for Pinnacle Books. Roberts wrote the odd books and Cummingham the even ones.

Reviews

[Greg]

He's an action hero called the Penetrator. I just couldn't pass this little gem up at the thrift store. Penetrator, haha. Get it? Penetrator, like a moronic word for sex. If I think maybe my mind is just being on the dirty side, the word Penetrator is written in a forty-five degree upward sloping arrow. Like a crude representation of the things men have to make babies. And that is just the cover.
The Penetrator is an uber-action hero. He can do anything, he always has exactly the right weapon on him. He has a Tom Selleck moustache. Women love him, and can't get enough of him and want him to penetrate them. The Penetrator is also smarter than anyone else, and knows exactly what will happen, except when the 'Christ' like moment needs to come, then the baddies can have the upperhand for a moment, but just for dramatic effect. (The 'Christ' moment as I've started calling it, but I can't take credit for it, is the moment in action movies (or now books), when the hero is beaten down and seems as if all is lost and he will die from the beating or whatnot, and then rises up to kill the bad person (or capture them). For the most striking examples of the Christ moment see almost any of the Lethal Weapon movies. Fistful of Dollars also has a pretty impressive moment in it-- this moment seems to be a staple in American action, for some reason the Japanese (for example) don't seem to have this happen that often in their classic Samurai movies (although there are a few examples, but generally one doesn't see Mifune get humiliated and beaten in movies).
Anyway, I think I really only wanted to write about the Christ moment, the book is pretty dumb. It's kind of insulting to read, for one because most of the scenes just don't make any sense -- how the hero could even do some of the things takes a strong level of disbelief. The book is also kind of sexist, and pretty heavily racist. Women are pretty much (actually every women mentioned in the book) is basically a slut of some kind, either to the Penetrator or to whatever other man is in the scene. Black people are always referred to in offensive ways, most notably characters like to call them cannibals. When they aren't being called cannibals they are described as being big and dumb, and one time we find out that a black character smells bad, never is the smell of any other character give. And the last instance of a black character we aren't even told the character is black, until he (a Navy SEAL member) says that he never knows when to open is dumb black mouth at the right time.
The Penetrator never has that problem, he always knows exactly what to say. He also knows exactly what to do. And did I mention that he's described to look just like Tom Selleck?
On top of the offensive elements mentioned, this is a world where nothing makes sense. Bullet proof vests can stop bullets, but allow knife thrusts to get through with little problem, and even punches can have near fatal damage to the person being hit in the chest while wearing a bullet proof vest (which I think is silly, but maybe I'm wrong, I thought a bullet would break through something sooner because of it's velocity than a knife or fist, but maybe I'm wrong). This is also a world where when snipers kill six cops the obvious response is to send it an Army Gunship (helicopter) to spray down area indiscriminately with a gatling gun, even though there are still lots of civilians around (oh I forgot to mention that it's into a heavily congested downtown Atlanta that this mind wrecking scene takes place). Don't worry though no civilians get killed by this seemingly retarded act.
This book is awful. It's not so bad it's good awful, it's just terrible. It deserves one star, but there is something about naming a character the Penetrator that gets it the extra star.

[Joe Nelson]

It's hard not to love a Mark Roberts penned Mark Hardin adventure (he wrote the odd numbered titles, and Chet Cunningham wrote the even numbered from what I've learned) and this one ranks up there as one of the better.

Mark Hardin, the Penetrator, does as his name entails and penetrates a paramilitary force governed by the psycho Colonel Linda King (and yes, he'll do a little extra penetrating this novel, if you get my drift...). Seems the good Colonel is planning to wreck havoc on the nation and...wait, let me reread this...uh, and she intends to raise an army of brainwashed teenage killers to do it? Okay, white dudes in the 1970s were really worried about their children being indoctrinated into a crime cartel.

But odd plot points notwithstanding, this is an action-packed, razor-sharp addition to the series.

Roberts has a gift of describing his action scenes very visually, so it feels like watching a movie. With graphic shootouts galore, Hardin ditches his knockout pistol in favor of a MAC-11 and all kinds of other lethal goodies. Nary a chapter goes by without some evil-doer suffering greatly, and that's just how I like it!

The side characters are entirely forgettable, though the villainess is kind of fun; she's mentally trapped in the Antebellum-era and insists on wearing a Confederate army uniform(!) and running her army out of an old plantation. She's crazy. I mean, her escape plan involves suicide snipers in the streets of Atlanta.

There isn't a lot to say here. It works because of its lightning fast pace, the nonstop barrage of action, and the steadily increasing stakes for our hero to battle. Sure, we could have used a little more editorial oversight with some of the typos and jumbled spots, but it was minor and it didn't stop me from having an absolute blast with this.

[Wayne]

The Penetrator picks up steam in this volume. He goes undercover to infiltrate a private army run by a ex-Colonel in the WAC's, Linda King. She is a social worker that is suppose to rehabilitate juveniles. In reality she is training the kids to be perfect criminals. She also has ex-soldiers who are also criminals in her charge. That's where The Penetrator comes in. He poses as a dishonorably discharged soldier looking for work. The fireworks start soon after. He has to stop the plots to kill and maim different targets by this renegade army.

This is a much better book than the previous few. Pretty much non-stop action. The ending, after all the bad guys are dispatched is a head scratcher. No clue as to what is going to happen in the next book.

[Mikepottz]

Unlucky 13. This didn't penetrate harder or deeper enough. The penetrator puts a bullet through the mouth unhinging the skull from the spinal cord. Retired Colonel Linda King realizing crime could run like a military operation taught wayward teenages techniques essential from a paramilitary group. She was a blond napoleon! Penetrator goes in as an undercover instructor. He shoots a guy's scrotum off ouch. A garrote slicing straight through the throat. A buck knife bisecting a liver and yes a shot to the throat literally taking off the head haha.

[Carl]

Another trip down not so memorable lane

[Little Timmy]

Another men's adventure series from the 70's. Pretty much standard action, violence and sex. However a good standout is that the hero is healed and trained by an old Cheyenne Indian in the ancient mystic warrior ways of the Cheyenne. Recommended