QUICK SHOTS: The Sharpshooter #5: Night of the Assassins by Bruno (Len Levinson) Rossi

 Ah, the twisted world of Johnny Rock came calling. It'd been a minute since I cracked open a volume of The Sharpshooter, and that's a wicked shame. The saga of The Marksman/The Sharpshooter/The Assassin is one of my favorites of the 70s Men's adventure offerings. Because this is where things get weird.

The books are sloppier than Don Pendleton's work. They are hastily thrown together pulp cranked out by pure id and a few days of hazy typing. Most of them sorta work in some sort of dreamscape where things just happen. They seem like bar room tales told over an ever-increasing amount of beer, where parts of the tale don't quite add up and lucky coincidences run rampant. That all depends on who's writing them of course.  

This one's the work of Len Levinson, an all-around terrific storyteller who spins the most level of all of these paperbacks. Len gives Johnny Rock more personality than the other writers who worked on the series, who paint Rock as a raving psycho. I mean, he's a raving psycho here too, but he'll have a few human emotions too. Rock's got the usual vigilante trappings, the mafia killed his family, and he goes out kills the mafia. Don't mess with something that works. 

In Night of the Assassins, he finds himself in Miami and sets out killing various mob dudes. In-between his a-murderin' Rock gambles a little, plans his hits a lot and has some fun with various woman who seem very willing to bed down a half-crazed stranger. Along the way's there's scuba raids on casino boats, long-range sniping, machine-gunnin,' dumb cops, dead mobsters and some rough complications. All in all, it's a good time between the covers. Len makes Rock interesting and you don't mind just spending time with him as runs around Miami, that isn't to say that the action is fast and furious when it happens. This one's got some great set-pieces (one's on the cover) and quick action. 

Like I said, Len can write. You'll probably never be disappointed if he wrote it. This series and its sister series' can be a mixed bag and unfortunately their all getting pretty pricey these days. I used to buy 'em for a buck or two in used bookstores and I've even bought a couple at that truck stop. Now most of them will run $5-$10 and some of the choice ones, the ones written by Len or Russell Smith will go for crazy prices. That's what happens when you become a legend.

And my now traditional sign-off, my first novel Gunpowder Breath is available on Amazon as an eBook!