This book is really a lot of fun, but it is pure pulp. The first book in one of those neo-pulp men’s adventure series that sprang up in the 70’s and 80’s. Written at the request of an editor at Signet who provided Randy Wayne White with a template for the protagonist. With additional thought White came up with: a young circus trapeze artist, part of a family act, knew Hemingway in Key West, orphaned, lied about his age to join the Navy, joined the SEAL’s, saw combat in Vietnam, and married the world’s most beautiful former Hollywood movie star. I kid you not, read White’s introduction. An improbable comic-book hero. Still, it’s interesting how the world of entertainment has changed. Look at all the comic book heroes in the movies now, in multi-million dollar productions, and the men’s adventure book series have all but disappeared (Mack Bolan seems to be, improbably, still hanging on. At any rate, the books are still being published). The Dusky MacMorgan series, as by Randy Striker, also disappeared for a while but has been reprinted under Randy Wayne White’s name. Nothing succeeds like success, and kudos to White for allowing his early series work to find a new audience. (I wonder if we’ll ever see Martin Cruz Smith’s work for the Nick Carter series reprinted. Probably not.)There is enough gratuitous nudity, sex, and violence here for an HBO or Showtime series. Anyone at Warner Brothers or CBS/Paramount reading this?“Dusky” MacMorgan ends up working in secret for the government against the villains, sort of modern day pirates and drug runners. The hero is really, really good, and the bad guys are really, really bad. One of our hero’s qualities is the ability to resist extraordinary sexual temptation. Not once, but twice. To be fair, on the first occasion, the bad guys were on the way to kill him, and would be there momentarily, but still…You get writing like this:Page 40: “Gently, I pushed her away from me. I was the madman, now. Oh, I was going to kill him, all right. Lieutenant Benjamin Ellsworth was about to die with the hands of a trashy high-school-dropout circus orphan at his throat. Oh yes, I could kill him. And make it last as long as I could”.And writing like this:Page 60: “A flower scented evening in the tropics, and I stared on as if from above; as if soaring among the cold, cold stars and the dark chaos of mindless universe: my loves lay scattered like broken toys…”I enjoyed chapter 6 with our hero visiting D. Harold Westervelt, “the Edison of Death”, and getting outfitted with weapons. I visualized Terry O’Quinn for this character. I love the fake shark jaws, which allow our hero to kill his enemies at sea and make it look like a shark attack, complete with bites on the victims. I kid you not.This book, and possibly this entire series, may be the ultimate beach read. Find a spot where you can look out over the ocean, and hear the waves and the gulls. A spot where you can hear the boats as they pass by, or the whumpf-whumpf-whumpf of personal watercraft off in the distance. Where you can smell seafood cooking; shrimp beginning to boil, perhaps. Maybe have a beverage. Read this book and let your mind take a vacation, also.
Before Randy Wayne White started his stories about Doc Ford (and Tomlinson...who can forget him?), he wrote a series of men's adventure stories under the name Randy Striker. Due to White's popularity, they have been reproduced under his real name, and this book is the first of that series.Set in the Keys, these books don't have quite the feel that his later novels do. But you can still sense the developing talents of Randy Wayne White. The story is more action-oriented, and the pacing is closet to what you expect from typical men's adventure novels. It's a good story with a clear line between the good and bad guys. Plenty of action, a satisfying ending, and enough to make you interested in future books of this series.If you've only read this series, don't use this as your basis to consider the talents of Randy Wayne White. Pick up Sanibel Flats and get into the Doc Ford series. That's where Randy Wayne White truly begins to come into his own. This book is good, but it's just an appetizer for the later books about Doc Ford and his cast of quirky friends.
Do You like book Key West Connection (2006)?
This book was a suspenseful quick read. I liked the main character a lot. He was one of those unbelievable hot guys who also was a tough guy(Navy Seal) and a devoted husband, father and friend. The author did a wonderful job with his descriptions of the Key West area and the diving experiences. He explained about becoming a Navy Seal and the expertise that provided him survival skills during the Vietnam war. He continued to use his abilities to survive and kill going after ruthless drug runners that intruded his life living in Key West. This story pretty much had it all!
—Tracy
#1 in the Dusky MacMorgan series. The debut novel of a 7 book series written by Randy Wayne White as Randy Striker. These paperback original action novels were published over the course of 1981-2. Dusky is an ex-SEAL who is recruited as a part time government agent.Dusky MacMorgan seeks to avenge the murder of his best friend and finds the man behind the murder was their hated OIC from Viet Nam, Lt Ellsworth. An attempt on Dusky's life kills his wife and twin sons. An old CIA contact, Stormin' Norman Fizer gives him the opportunity to work undercover to bring down Ellsworth and the Senator he is working for in the drug trade.
—Ed
