STETSON CULP

Stetson Culp is a freelance agent.

That is a bit nicer in my opinion to soldier of fortune which is what he would likely call himself if asked and if he thought it worth while to answer. Sometimes he would just look at you until you decided to stop asking. Culp doesn't say an awful lot. He is not particularly taciturn, especially around his few friends, but he is by no means chatty, either.

Back to the soldiering, he was in the U.S. Special Forces for a fair number of years, enough to have acquired a pretty impressive track record and a host of soldier-buddies who would risk their lives for him just as he had for them more than once. But he is no longer with the American military having been demoted and dishonorably discharged. In an environment where one is taught you never leave a comrade behind, when given a direct order by a less than honorable senior officer, Culp did what was right and ignored it. He paid dearly for his conscience and his honor but it is obvious that while the penalty still stings, he does not regret saving the life that he did.

So now he is out of a job and in need of a living and he knows people who know people and those people often need talent like Culp has in abundance. Which is why he seems in steady demand.

When we first meet Culp, he is there when the man who does the majority of brokering work for him gets a call. The caller is a very, very wealthy owner of a mega-media empire. Earl is so rich he is above everything - nothing affects him and he is free to expand his domain and not worry too much about the suffering being reported by his people. He knows of it but it doesn't touch him. Until it does. Now Earl needs some men to do a very dangerous job and means he needs Culp.

Over the next couple of adventures, we will watch Culp and his friends do some pretty amazing things and more interestingly, do them for some very amazing people. Earl sticks around and involved but there will also be new President is needs someone off the books and talented like Culp.

Life is not going to be dull for Stetson Culp for some time.

The series is called the Stetson Culp thrillers and whenever Culp is on the scene, thrilling is a very good word for things. But he is not on stage all the time and sometimes in a series that might be a bad thing but NOT in the Culp adventures. The backroom actions that precipitate or react to the actions of Culp and his colleagues are every bit as interesting as the Culp shenanigans. In fact in the first couple books, I almost got irked when the story went back to Culp (don't tell him I said that) because the other parts were so interesting.

Bad guys in the Culp universe are really scum. You will definitely get to wanting them get their come-uppance and, thanks to the good writing of the author, they get it and you get to watch.

I really enjoyed the couple of Culp adventures I have read as of this typing and am looking forward to the couple more waiting on my e-stack. And I very much recommend taking the time to read the collection of short stories which give some wonderful insight into Culp. They are enjoyable and worth the few minutes to read them.