SAND AGAINST THE TIDE

by Paul Bishop ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 1990

Calico Jack Walker, the aging maverick who shook up so much dust before his retirement from the LAPD in Citadel Run (1987), is back with his lover-sidekick Tina Tamiko--both as ripsnorting as ever in their vigilante battle to save 27 tons of impounded heroin from the cops who impounded it. Jack first realizes what he and Tina are up against when they identify the men who hijacked his boat and shot his son: the two are stalwarts of LAPD vice linked by their membership in the crack Vietnam unit Tiger Six to combat-leader-turned-cop Kite Sullivan, brainwashed by his kinky wife Rena and her crooked father Lok Ni, and now poised for election as LAPD chief. Lok Ni and Co. plan to use Sullivan's heavily armored pals to steal a barge full of impounded weapons and drags from the harbor--but when Sullivan frames Jack's old friend Wild John Elliot for murder, Jack decides to go outside (way outside) the law to beat back the tide of evil. As if there weren't enough rough justice to go around, the final showdown, complete with the heroes' napalm flame-thrower, is complicated by the entrance of Robin Hood, another freelance lawmaker who steals drugs from distributors and gives the proceeds to deserving charities. Matter-of-fact high spirits pervade the violent payoff, as in the Boy Scout Handbook rewritten for the Manson family: ""When the fat lady sang, they would be branded either heroes or villains, and the devil would take anyone slow enough to be caught in between."" Exhilaratingly predictable supercop fare.

Pub Date: Sept. 25, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1990

Categories: FICTION