Casca: African Mercenary

This was one of Barry Sadler's best modernistic Casca adventure. Chock-full of action and adventure we all expect of an action/adventure series, along with hardcore men on a mission to assasinate an African madman bent on hostile takeover, Casca and his interesting mercenary friends, (solid characters from other novels like Gus and George and Van),fly into Africa and parachute into the stronghold of a tribal crazed madman, the huge Matthew Dzhombe. Anything that can go wrong does, and after a double crossing, Casca and his mercenary friends are on the run through the wilds of the Dark Continent. (Casca even acts and thinks like Tarzan! Another one of my all-time favorite book characters.) And what you have left is a race against time, with hardcore action through and through! This was better edited than the previous novel, Casca: The Legionnaire. And it was better written, showing the comfort levelthat Barry felt at writing this kind of stuff.

This is probably not one of Sadler's best but is a fun read never-the-less. The reviewer that compaired this work to the film "The Wild Geese," pretty well hit the mark. Casca, Gus and his crew drop into an African Nation, kill it's leader, per their contract with the S. Afrian Government and the the chase begins. There is action on every page, the story moves fast and it is simply a fun read, in particular if you are a Casca fan. I too, enjoy the stories of Casca from a earlier time, but this one is the best of the "present time" novels. If you can find it, get it and read it. Like I said, it's a fun read.

Typical Barry Sadler stuff. Here is where he shined when writing Casca in modern times. Although I loved Casca in more medieval ages, using sword and knives and riding a wild steed, I still liked a few of these more modern adventures. This would have made a blockbuster movie, in the grand tradition of such awesome movies as The Green Berets, starring John Wayne. If only a great director such as Clint Eastwood would make a film such as this...

If any of you have seen the film "The Wild Geese" then you've got much of this story. The similarities to this book are many fold and its obvious that Sadler borrowed a little too much of that to make this story original. But that criticism aside it makes good readingas a bunch of mercs led by Casca and Gus go into an African dictator's country in the late 1970s with the intention of toppling his regime. They are of course betrayed and flee for safety, hotly pursued by vengeful Simbas. To see the world of Casca visit www.casca.net

This one sort of reminded me of 'The dogs of war' by Fred Forsythe (sp?). I liked the way the story manages to move quickly while still being descriptive enough to give the reader an idea of what it is like in some of those messed up African countries. Gus is in this one too, which can only be a plus in my book.