THE BUTCHER

Bucher is an agent for White Hat.

For many years, the man known as The Butcher because of his real last name of Bucher and the fact that he wasn't afraid of a little blood, was the highest paid enforcer the Syndicate had. No matter how powerful a miscreant was, if he got out of line, the Butcher would set him straight. Or eliminate him and make room for someone who would behave. Then he grew tired of the killing and wanted out. The mob bosses told him succintly that no one quit the business alive but he thumbed his nose at them and walked out. They responded by puting a price on his head. The few that tried to claim it so far have died.

That was when the government came calling. The agency was a small, unnamed outfit which went by the ridiculous nickname of White Hat. Bucher would be called Iceman. The offer was a badge, which he laughed at, a decent salary, which he sneered at, and a chance to serve the people rather than what he had been doing. He surprised everyone by agreeing.

Bucher, who had no first name because the priest who found the newborn left on the orphanage's doorstep never realized he had forgotten to given him one when he made up a name on the forms. Bucher despised the place and managed to run away when he was ten, ending up in Chicago where he was befriended by another young boy, the son of an up-and-coming mobster. When that boy died of leukemia, the grieving parents kept Bucher and finished raising him as their own. As the boy grew, his adopted father recognized the incredible skills that he had when it came to fighting and winning and the utter lack of fear for tackling those bigger and in greater number. Bucher followed his father into the family business and became an enforcer, a particularly efficient one. When, nearly a decade later, his father was killed, Bucher took over and ran that piece of the action for another decade. During that time he became quite well off but also quite tired of being on what he saw as the wrong side.

Now as an agent for the secretive White Hat, he takes those assignments which interest him and he plays by his own rules in getting the job done.

The Butcher series was conceived by Lyle Kenyon Engel, the legendary producer who created a writers syndicate, appropriate for this series, comprised of individual authors who, under contract, took the basic concept and wrote books for it, using the house name of Stuart Jason. Each author was given a short synopsis of the storyline and sometimes a very brief outline of the plot. James Dockery wrote all but two of the first 26, those two by Lee Floren. The remaining 9 were by legendary and prolific author Michael Avallone.

On the heels of the awesome success of The Executioner and The Destroyer, Pinnacle Books became known as the "The" publisher. The Butcher. The Death Merchant. Known for fast action, no real plot, little characterization, lots of gun fire and testosterone. I loved it!!

But some of the Butcher stories are actually quite good. Certainly not on a Greene, LeCarre, or Deighton level but still highly entertaining. It is really a matter of not expecting anything at all so when you get something, it seems like much more. At any rate, read these books with little anticipation and with a manly desire for stuff to blow up and you will be surprised. But don't plan on reading two in a row. That would be a bit too much testosterone.