VGH

The Death Merchant has himself tossed into a Jordanian prison, as VENGEANCE OF THE GOLDEN HAWK, #14 of Pinnacle's bloody paperback series, opens. The title organization is a PLO splinter group of Arab terrorists who want to destroy Israel. Their plan is to fire a missile containing a lethal nerve gas into Tel Aviv, which would result in the deaths of millions. Richard Camellion befriends three VGH members in the prison and takes them along when he escapes.

Around the halfway point, Camellion makes it to VGH headquarters, where he suspects head terrorists Faraq al-Khalid isn't convinced of his devotion to the cause, placing his life in great danger (which is pretty much every day for the Death Merchant). The final third consists of Camellion and two acquaintances scaling a hollowed-out mountain that hides the missile's launch pad. As usual, bodies fall left and right and the ammunition flies.

Considering Arab terrorists never go out of style as reliable foes in international adventure thrillers, 1976's VENGEANCE OF THE GOLDEN HAWK reads today like wish fulfillment. Substitute the name "Osama bin Laden" for "Faraq al-Khalid," and start wishing we had a real Death Merchant over there to kick some ass.