Mac Wingate #2 - Mission Code: King’s Pawn by Bryan Swift (Bill C. Knott)

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Mac Wingate #2 - Mission Code: King’s Pawn (1981) by Bryan Swift (Bill C. Knott)


Although three writers took on the name of Bryan Swift to pen the Mac Wingate series of World War II adventures, I started with the second one, credited to Bill C. Knott. 

Mission Code: King’s Pawn finds our hero, special agent and demolition expert Mac Wingate, tasked with putting together a small munitions team to parachute into Albania for the purpose of arming, training, and assisting Islamic anti-Communist guerrillas in their efforts to blow up a German gasoline and munitions dump. The plan hinges on Mac’s ability to successfully unite the disparate factions of the rebels under the leadership the Albanian king’s cousin. 

The plot hops effectively from Cairo to Malta to the mountains of Albania. Clearly films such as The Guns of Navarone, The Dirty Dozen, and Where Eagles Dare had their influence on Knott as there is very much a big Hollywood cinematic feel to most all of the frequent action sequences in terms of setting, scale, and pacing. The prose flows easily and the characters are consistently lively and engaging with humorous exchanges an ongoing element. 

Despite some hairbreadth escapes that border on implausible and a propensity for the worst possibilities always becoming reality, I thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to the adventures of Mac Wingate and would welcome more of his adventures finding their way into my hands. There’s nothing really new here, but its so capably presented that it moves along effortlessly and makes for a fun pulpy read.

Review by Steve Carroll

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