Reviews for Metzger's Dog
Review - Metzger's Dog
I heard about this book when I read Book Lust, by Nancy Pearl last year. She said it was very funny. It was amusing, but I wouldn’t call it very funny.
Three mercenaries, Kepler, Immelmann and Chinese Gordon, and Gordon’s fiancé, Margaret, decide to earn some money. The CIA has confiscated a large shipment of heroin from a LA gangster and given it to a university for an experiment. Gordon and co. sneak into the lab and steal it to sell it back to the gangster. That part of the plan goes fine. But while they’re in the lab, Gordon overhears a professor talking about a valuable item he needs to get more security for. He decides to take that tool.
It turns out to be an analysis of large-group hysteria. The professor has found out a means by which this type of hysteria can be predicted and even caused. The report also shows how the CIA has experimented in several countries, mostly in South America. Of course, when the CIA finds out the report has been stolen, they get very concerned. They start by killing the professor.
Gordon, meanwhile, has figured out that the report might be very valuable. He offers to sell it back to the CIA for 10 million. Of course, the CIA wants the report and the people who have it. But Gordon is a step ahead of them — he arranges for the money drop in the middle of a road rally. As they flee from the CIA, Gordon and his guys take refuge in a junk yard where they find a huge dog looking to kill. Kepler has always wanted a dog, so he traps in a trailer and takes it home. Nobody can get anywhere near it until Gordon’s cat, Dr. Henry Metzger walks into the room and immediately subdues the dog. This is all the dog and cat of the title have to do with the plot.
Gordon and his men use the information in the report to shut down the LA phone system and block 17 strategic roads to totally snarl traffic in the town. Porterfield, the chief CIA operative, wants to deal in good faith, but the director refuses. He sets up another trap, but again Gordon is ahead of them — he sends the gangster and his men to get the money and the CIA wipes them out. Finally, Porterfield goes it alone. He kills the CIA director and works out a deal with Gordon and makes the exchange.
It wasn’t that funny and the dog and cat had nothing significant to do with the plot. The story was OK interesting, but nothing I’d recommend to anyone. It read a lot like a Donald E. Westlake novel.
Three mercenaries, Kepler, Immelmann and Chinese Gordon, and Gordon’s fiancé, Margaret, decide to earn some money. The CIA has confiscated a large shipment of heroin from a LA gangster and given it to a university for an experiment. Gordon and co. sneak into the lab and steal it to sell it back to the gangster. That part of the plan goes fine. But while they’re in the lab, Gordon overhears a professor talking about a valuable item he needs to get more security for. He decides to take that tool.
It turns out to be an analysis of large-group hysteria. The professor has found out a means by which this type of hysteria can be predicted and even caused. The report also shows how the CIA has experimented in several countries, mostly in South America. Of course, when the CIA finds out the report has been stolen, they get very concerned. They start by killing the professor.
Gordon, meanwhile, has figured out that the report might be very valuable. He offers to sell it back to the CIA for 10 million. Of course, the CIA wants the report and the people who have it. But Gordon is a step ahead of them — he arranges for the money drop in the middle of a road rally. As they flee from the CIA, Gordon and his guys take refuge in a junk yard where they find a huge dog looking to kill. Kepler has always wanted a dog, so he traps in a trailer and takes it home. Nobody can get anywhere near it until Gordon’s cat, Dr. Henry Metzger walks into the room and immediately subdues the dog. This is all the dog and cat of the title have to do with the plot.
Gordon and his men use the information in the report to shut down the LA phone system and block 17 strategic roads to totally snarl traffic in the town. Porterfield, the chief CIA operative, wants to deal in good faith, but the director refuses. He sets up another trap, but again Gordon is ahead of them — he sends the gangster and his men to get the money and the CIA wipes them out. Finally, Porterfield goes it alone. He kills the CIA director and works out a deal with Gordon and makes the exchange.
It wasn’t that funny and the dog and cat had nothing significant to do with the plot. The story was OK interesting, but nothing I’d recommend to anyone. It read a lot like a Donald E. Westlake novel.
Reviewed by Roger on 2008-08-22 12:29:58