Revue by David L. Vineyard
In “Maxim Gunn and The Sun Fortress”, the fourth volume in Nicholas O. Boving’s entertaining series about secret agent and adventurer Maxim Gunn, the author produces not only another fine adventure in the series, but adds a hint of Philip Jose Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe as we learn some surprising facts about Gunn’s history. Readers of the series will know Gunn is a former agent of the Organization headed by the cool headed and cold blooded splendidly named Vileman. Despite having left the service Gunn can’t sit on his laurels and enjoy his life with beautiful lady friend Lady Cynthia ffoote and his man James Sweetstory, he keeps getting drawn back into the Great Game.
In Sun Fortress Gunn is drawn back into a very personal battle when Princess Alicia Flavia of the small but key nation of Ruritania is kidnapped by mercenary terrorist Devlin and his small army. The kidnapping has a personal tie to Gunn who it seems is a direct descendent of Rudolph Rassendyll, an adventurer who was involved with the Princess’s great grandmother and Ruritanian intrigue, the story fictionalized in Anthony Hope’s adventure tale The Prisoner of Zenda.
Almost as soon as Gunn is drawn into the case it becomes apparent this is no ordinary kidnapping for ransom or extortion. The Princess has been taken so she can be sacrificed by an insane Mayan priest who believes that a coming disaster can only be averted by spilling royal blood. Meanwhile she is being held in a remote fortress by Devlin and his mercenary army, inaccessible on one side by jungle and the followers of the mad priest, and on the other by the sea and nearly vertical cliffs.
But one or two men could perhaps get close, scale the cliffs, and rescue the Princess before the deadline --- especially if one of those men is Maxim Gunn.
Boving continues to weave Gunn’s adventures with elements of the fantastic and old fashioned swashbuckling, while in Gunn he has created a classic adventure hero who is equally at home in the company of James Bond or the Saint, Dirk Pitt or Richard Hannay, Modesty Blaise or Rudolph Rassendyll ... These books are grand adventures, playful and inventive and written in a literate and civilized manner that makes them ideal escapism. In Sun Fortress he has also created a fiery and intelligent heroine in the Princess, who proves equal to Gunn and his dashing ally Don Sebastian as they dare the sheer cliffs and ruthless army that guards the inaccessible fortress.
It all builds up to a suspenseful conclusion as Gunn and Don Sebastian find themselves alone facing an angry army with their backs to a sheer cliff ...
These books are a wonderful blend of modern thriller and old fashioned adventure and readers who enjoy Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider, Ted Bell’s Alexander Hawke, or James Rollins Sigma Force books should give them a try. Nicholas Boving is a most civilized and entertaining writer, with a touch of savagery and a delightful tongue in cheek sense of humor. Get on the Maxim Gunn bandwagon now. The call to adventure has never rung so clear. The entire affair runs as coolly as Gunn’s Lagonda and goes down as smoothly as his favorite Glenmorangie whiskey, with the solid kick of his .357 Colt Python. Superior escapist fun for all readers.
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