Book #8 of the Penetrator series, NORTHWEST CONTRACT from 1975, is something of a step down, but only because there are no secret lairs or diabolical villains who want to rule the world. This time, author Chet Cunningham (as Lionel Derrick) sends his hero, ex-'Nam vet Mark Hardin, after criminals closer to reality.
After learning that an old war buddy was murdered on the job as a policeman in Seattle, the Penetrator heads north to investigate. He discovers a small ring of corrupt patrolmen and detectives are burglarizing the community they swore an oath to protect. Was his friend murdered by his colleagues in blue, because he discovered their plot? Or was he part of it?
After taking on mad scientists and global terrorists, it would seem that a handful of bad American cops would be child's play for the Penetrator, although it seems like he gets shot up a lot in this novel. It's a good little actioner that moves along quickly, and even introduces us to another of Hardin's old war buddies, the genial Zip, who doesn't let being confined to a wheelchair stop him from running his own leather shop and doing a little intel work for Hardin, whom he thinks is a private investigator.
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