A REAL A - TEAM.
"They burned us again, Hannibal. We trusted the system, and it turned on us". - Murdoch.
" I would never tell him this, but they are the best clandestine unit in the four branches, and they specialize in the ridiculous." - Sosa.
Life is not fair. One of the great appeals of fiction, and make believe is the escapist factor. Evil runs free when good departs. And in this day and age, there are so many enablers of evil in the world that there are times where one wonders whether it’s possible to bother trying to do good idealistic deeds in a world that leaves them like squished, flat pancakes. I suspect this explains the appeal of vigilante organizations in fiction. A bunch of do – gooders using “special sets of skills” to make the world a better place. On the dark, realistic end of the scale is Frank Castle. On the lighter more upbeat end is the A – Team. The book I’m about to review today is about an organization which sits on the happy median middle. Jack Slikstone is an indie thriller novelist. He grew up on all the best spy/action/thriller films, novels and tv shows. He also may have served in Australian Military intelligence or even the Australian SAS, and kicked a few doors down in his time. Currently he lives in the land of Hobbits and Long White clouds, New Zealand. There, he writes a thriller series known as PRIMAL.
PRIMAL is basically the closest thing one could get to a “realistic” sort of A – Team in the Post 9/11 world. Unlike Smith’s boys, the PRIMAL operatives shoot to kill and are not afraid of bringing their substantial combat training and firepower to bear on the bad men of the world. In short, they’re basically the sort of organization would need to build if they desired to make a team of real world super heroes in a world without super powers, in order to have even slim odds of surviving and not ending up in jail. Founded by a partnership of two cynical CIA officers and a Dubai businessman who hated his Islamist loving father, after slotting the latter’s dad, the trio built an organization that could make a difference in contrast to heartless nations and impotent charities. In PRIMAL Fury, they demonstrate this by going after Asia’s most powerful criminals. Now to the review. Can a few good men and women make a difference?
The novel begins on an evil night in Osaka Japan. In a “high-class” brothel, a sex slave is violently raped and murdered by the customer. Two Yakuza enter the room, coolly berate the customer for destroying the merchandise and blackmail him into owing them future favours. We then cut to a few days later on the other side of the world in Hungary, two sisters, Karla and Kalista, along with other poor, gorgeous Slavic beauties are being taken by bus to a castle. They’re under the impression that they’ve won a prize and are going to be models. The illusion is soon shattered violently when these scared, clueless innocents find that they’re now in the hands of ruthless sex slave traffickers. All seems lost, but in fact, the mistress of one of the traffickers is an asset for their only hope. PRIMAL. Across the border in Ukraine, the world’s top vigilante organization prepares a surprise raid. Two of their agents are sent to the Castle where the sex slave traffickers operate out of. At the same time, the most dangerous criminal lord in Asia arrives in Hungary looking to make a buy. He finds one whose beauty attracts him. This decision sets off an epic war, one which before it ends, will turn the underworld of Japan upside down and inside out. From Dubai, to the Ukraine and the great industrial cities of Tokyo, Kobe and Osaka, PRIMAL sets out to slay the guilty of the world, but may not be able to preserve the innocent in time.
In terms of plot, PRIMAL is wickedly cool escapist fun. Guns, gadgets and globe trotting to exotic locations, the PRIMAL team are way cooler than the A – Team, richer and having way more toys. As a result, they have way bigger challenges than Hannibal Smith ever did, in a twisting, surprisingly brutal action-packed plot that mixes, jokey devil may care testosterone poisoning with a hard slap from reality. The world of the PRIMAL team is one where good has the freedom to do something about evil, but evil really is no laughing matter and truly deserve all the pain and suffering that PRIMAL dish out. And even at the end of the day, when the plan comes together, sometimes that just isn’t enough to provide satisfaction when some people don’t come home. Essentially, PRIMAL is what the A – Team would have to become if they were to cut it in the cruel world of Post 9/11 evils, an organization that doesn’t just have the pluck and true grit to outwit the enemy, but the willingness to put mad dogs down wherever they may be.
Action and setting? Superb. Silkstone’s childhood love of film, TV, video games and action packed fictional awesomeness has translated to this book. And boy does he know how to make ridiculously fast paced, large scale action that never lets up. From a modern day storming the castle in Hungary, to a claustrophobic ambush on a bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka, a vehicular ambush in a Kobe parking lot and a final attack on one of the most legendary buildings in Himeji, Slikstone’s books would make awesome work for a big budget international TV series or a film. He also brings to life setting surprisingly better than most military men turned writers do. Capturing the depressing grey wretchedness of Hungary and the Ukraine, and also bring to life the exotic atmosphere of Osaka and Himeji. And having been to the latter two places, let me just say the author gets the details right, especially with the exterior of the location where the climax is set. Slikstone also has the rare gift of making believable fictional environments for his world, the highlight being the interior of Himeji castle.
Research? Superb. Despite being part of the escapist school of thriller fiction, PRIMAL Fury is researched to a serious degree. Whether it be the ins and outs of sex slave trafficking including the ghastly “human resources management” methods used by the traffickers to keep their victims in line, the real-world locations that have been repurposed for use in the story and a very accurate look at the ins and outs of Japanese law enforcement procedures, the story then goes further. From an insider’s look at how the modern Yakuza operate and how the contemporary Japanese criminal underworld is run, in a surprisingly professional fashion, the main highlight of the story by far is the kit Slikstone has equipped PRIMAL with. High tech drones, sophisticated portable cyberwarfare computers, and even prototype body Armor just to name a few, the PRIMAL team has the sort of kit that would make Marvel’s SHIELD surprised and impressed, albeit with said kit being grounded and already existing.
Characters? Okay, let me be blunt, PRIMAL is not a character driven work. The author gives it the old college try, but alas, the cast of PRIMAL doesn’t spring off the page like his counterparts. However, there are some standouts. I’ll focus on three, Bishop, Saneh and Kenta. First, Bishop. Bishop is a former Australian SAS trooper and the primary agent of the PRIMAL organization, due to being one of the original point – men who were first recruited by PRIMAL’s founders. A good, down to earth bloke who wants to do good in the world after his parents were shot out of the sky in an act of terror, Bishop now utilizes the special set of skills he learned when serving his country to truly serve the helpless and defenceless of the world. However, despite doing a job he loves, Bishop in this story is forced to come to terms with the limits of the profession. Sometimes you can’t save everyone, even when you vanquish the enemy. And near the end of the novel, Bishop is forced to come to terms with this in a surprising way.
Next, we have Saneh. Saneh is a former MOIS officer who after a series of hilariously violent inter – service clashes between VEVAK and the IRGC, fled her country for masters who would never betray her. Smart and combat trained, Saneh is the brains in her partnership with Bishop, and tries with varying degrees of success to keep Bishop from blundering off into some half-cocked rampage. While due to her size and weight, she does get knocked around a lot in unarmed combat, Saneh is ice cold under pressure being a highly experienced former spy, and master actor who can manipulate most men into making some very silly mistakes that lead to their doom.
Finally, we have Kenta, who steals the show. Kenta is the local contact PRIMAL uses as their guide around Japan. While looking like the stereotypical Japanese thug and ordinary decent crim, Kenta is actually more than he appears on the surface. While not military trained, Kenta is very intelligent, and quickly adapts to the strange, military trained foreigners who come into his life like a fish to water. Very funny and sardonic but formidable in combat, Kenta is the proverbial diamond in the rough whom in the run up to the climactic scenes, the men and woman of Primal decide to cut and polish. If Slikstone ever sets another book in the Asia pacific, I would certainly hope that Kenta returns.
Constructive criticism? Not much, save for some grammar errors and a repeated bit of backstory that seemed to be unnecessarily be beaten over our heads several times over. Such a thing should have been edited and it severely disrupted the flow of the story.
Overall, PRIMAL Fury is a fun, fast paced beach read to end all beach reads. Playing escapist thriller tropes with a straight, balls to the wall bravado, Jack Slikstone creates a one of a kind experience that you don’t get with any other author. A fun plot that channels with wish fulfilment that never gets answered, appealing heroes and wretched, depraved bad guys and cool guns, gadgets and enough gizmos to fill Q – Branch, the PRIMAL series is a literary comfort food of the highest order, delectable and divine.