MEN'S ADVENTURE—HATCHET

 

HATCHET

Beyond the infantry jungle beating, air bombing and navel shelling, the secret war in Vietnam is fought by Mobil Strike Force Units—Hatchet forces like Captain Mike Reese’s A-410 unit. The specially trained and equipped ready-reaction force handles cross-border missions too dangerous and too clandestine for normal channels...In the air and on the ground, behind the desks and in the jungles, Hatchet is the most action-packed series of the Vietnam War...

Michael Kasner, the author behind the pseudonym Gordon Knox, was a prolific presence in the men’s adventure genre. His fifty novels included twenty entries in the Stony Man series, two in the Executioner series, and three Super Bolan novels, all written under house pseudonyms. He also wrote the four book Warkeep 2030 series and the three book Black Ops series under his own name.

Kasner served two combat tours in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, Michael commanded a rapid-reaction platoon consisting of Nung Chinese mercenaries. On his second tour he had a scout platoon on dirt bikes. He was haunted by combat deaths under his command. He was in Da Nang during the Tet Offensive. After leaving the Army, he got a master's degree in art history from the University of Oregon, writing his thesis on military art. All of this added much realism to his action novels. He passed away in 2012...

HATCHET

HATCHET #1

Year of the Green Beret—Ariel intel indicates a major enemy buildup in the Parrot’s Beak region of Cambodia, which has long been an important staging area into South Vietnam. Ordered to recon the area, a hard-hitting Hatchet Force gets a taste of the covert game played by the SOG boys...The squad’s commander, U.S. Army Special Forces Captain Mike Reese, puts the operation together from the base while combat veteran Lieutenant Jack Santelli and his team hit the field, testing their true abilities as jungle fighters deep in Indian country...With the ferocity and magnitude of the Tet offensive still fresh in their minds, Reese and Santelli know they are dealing with an enemy who has nothing to lose. That’s fine with Reese: Secrecy and surprise can only work once. With undeniable evidence of VC presence, his Hatchet team has got the edge.  

HATCHET #2: SPECTRE

An experimental C-130 Spectre aircraft is shot down over Laos by a lurking MiG-21. The U.S. "Spooky" gunship is loaded with super-secret gear and must stay out of enemy hands at all costs. Special Forces Captain Mike Reese and his Hatchet team are ordered to locate the wreckage site and destroy the sensitive electronics package. But the greatest of all military truisms—no plan ever survives initial contact with the enemy—holds fast when the enemy grab the goodies first. Plus it looks like the Russians are involved. When Reese’ request to pursue is refused, he realizes there is only one option: Recover the mission hardware any way he can—even if it means court-martial...

HATCHET #3: THE FRENCHMAN

The CIA has been closing in on a black-market kingpin who moonlights as an assassin for the enemy. The Frenchman’s confirmed kills include Special Forces agents, and Reese is assigned to this high priority search and destroy. But a leak in the Company puts the mission in double jeopardy when Reese’s hit team is ambushed and Reese becomes the Frenchman’s prime target...

HATCHET #4: BLACK MISSION

A halt in U.S. bomb raids on North Vietnam allows the NVA and Viet Cong to regroup and launch a deadly offensive.