Resistance #2: Magyar Massacre by Gregory St. Germain

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Resistance #2: Magyar Massacre (1982) by Gregory St. Germain

 

After much online research I have been unable to determine whether Gregory St. Germain was a house name or not, though I suspect it was. Regardless, that is the name given to the author of Magyar Massacre, the second in the Resistance series, published in the early 80s by Signet.

The hook here is that Phoenix, the Dirty Dozen-style team of multi-national soldiers, is operating against the Nazis throughout Europe in secret missions that pre-date America’s official involvement in World War II. Led by stalwart American Scott Gideon, Phoenix is tasked with getting into Nazi-occupied Hungary and eventually Yugoslavia in order to recover a Count’s stolen art treasure that will be used to further fuel the Nazi war machine’s onslaught through Europe.

It’s a nonstop action romp with stereotypical characters who are best remembered by their nationalities than any memorable traits (American, Russian, Polish, Jewish, Irish, and French). We also get double-crosses galore, captures and escapes, and consistently confusing geography. In fact, it all moves so fast that I kept having to go back and re-read passages to determine where the group was at certain points and even more so, why. It’s actually not badly written per se, just overwrought and with twice as much repetitive action as was necessary to achieve the limited constraints of the plot. 

I have heard good things about others in this series and similar complaints about this specific adventure, which further leads me to believe more than one author was responsible. Your mileage may vary.

Review by Steve Carroll

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