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lookashiny) wrote2019-01-27 09:10 am
lookashiny) wrote2019-01-27 09:10 am
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Rat Patrol Book 1: The Rat Patrol by Norman Daniels
On my tumblr, I posted recaps of the first four (out of six) Rat Patrol tie in books. I figured I'd put all the stuff from each book in one post per book, here. (I read book two first, so there's a couple small references to that one. Nothing about the plot, just the different writers.)
Chapter 1
Tully’s digging into a tent where he’s not supposed to be.
“Tully had become instantly overcome with an overwhelming desire to see what one of the girls looked like minus her veil.”
“Once, when he was helping his father at the still, Tully had been kicked by a horse.”
Tully nearly got court-martialed.
Chapter 2
Tully’s in big trouble and confined to quarters.
“If they close an iron door on me I’ll go nuts right away.”
They take off with Tully anyway.
“if time lagged, the Rat Patrol went looking for trouble.”
Chapter 3
The action so far is not very compellingly written.
In this book, like #2, Troy and Tully are in one Jeep while Moffitt and Hitch are in the other.
The chase between the jeeps and some Stukas is well written.
Tully gets caught in a bomb blast and deafened.
Chapter 4
I guess this book is more episodic, because they’re back in their commander’s office.
“Pettigrew’s larcenous habits” Which never show up in the show and aren’t detailed.
“Tully, staring vacantly into space, sat on top of a case of whiskey while Hitch lay curled up, head on a blanket as he slept.”
“Tully clasped his hands, boxer style, and shook them to indicate his approval of the vehicles.”
Random slide into omniscient voice kind of halfway into a paragraph. Why.
On being told they’re taking four extra men and being used as couriers: “Sam lay back prone. Hitch said something under his breath and Moffitt picked up a handful of sand and threw it at random in his anger.”
“Tully, the lean guy driving this jeep, is just plain born to get into trouble. It comes naturally to him. He’s got a mean streak when he gets mad, but he’s only permanently mad at Germans and Eyties.” He doesn’t get mad much on the show.
“After that we were kind of going steady.” Troy about the Rat Patrol grouping together.
Chapter 5
Man, the Rat Patrol just do not care about military regulations or orders or any of that stuff.
More giant explosions.
Troy is communicating to Tully by rapping on his helmet.
“They were coming out of it because the Rat Patrol was experienced, daring, and above all, completely unpredictable.”
Troy keeps being called “Sam” by the narration
Troy “made arrangements with a graves registration detail for the German lieutenant, giving them a full account of his bravery.”
Their commanding officer tears up the order to send Tully back for trial.
Chapter 6
Troy meets an old girlfriend from England he’d forgotten about. She remembered him though, and greets him by running up and kissing him.
“Sam, never one to say no to a beautiful lady, quickly threw himself into the task with fervor.”
Two pages later, though, “he had already forgotten about Paula [the girl].”
“more than a hundred heavy Panzer were waddling their way towards the battlefield.”
The first of the new guys, the sharpshooter, dies. The other characters react with emotion, but he’s not fleshed out enough for me to feel much.
“Sam felt no sense of elation that his hunch [that Rommel was planning something and the Allies would be defeated] had come true. He just felt exhausted and dispirited.”
Chapter 7
“Moffitt was curled up in his jeep, one arm around the base of the machine gun. Tully lay on the ground staring up at the sky unblinkingly. Hitch lay over the wheel of his jeep and snored.”
“Tully drank about half a pint [of whiskey] without removing the bottle from his mouth.”
Troy calls Moffitt “Jack.”
“I couldn’t figure out a way to steal six fully loaded trucks, sir, or I would have.” Sam Troy: not a fan of the chain of command.
None of them care that Tully’s supposed to be in trouble, either.
Chapter 8
“The whole plan had an air of impossibility about it, but that was what Sam liked about the idea and why it appealed to the Rat Patrol. They enjoyed the unusual, they operated without rules, but they got things done.”
Chapter 9
It’s been mentioned at least twice in this book that the main characters are “stripped to the waist.” I wish that happened more in the show, I only remember it maybe twice.
Moffitt’s father “was a combination engineer and archeologist.”
Tully gets to use his bazooka.
Chapter 10
Second new guy is dead.
“Sam was in a mood to feel that the mission was a doomed one from the beginning, and should never been attempted.”
“They were too close to the climax of the expedition and that always kept him [Troy] too excited to sleep well.”
Chapter 11
Ok, this book is getting kind of racist in reguards to the Arabs. The second one wasn’t, really, but that’s a different author.
A woman shows up and instantly figures out that Troy and Moffitt aren’t Arab, though they’re trying to be undercover as such.
Troy is entranced by this woman, even though he probably can’t trust her.
He is prepared to kill her if he has to, though, so he hasn’t completely gone nuts.
Chapter 12
Troy is a fairly good seducer.
Chapter 13
Lots of complicated planning in this chapter.
“The Kraut diners were going to get something unexpected for the entree instead of the usual sausage.”
It’s not the Rat Patrol without an explosion.
Chapter 14
Sometimes, the writing is awkward enough I can barely understand it. The author of the first book only wrote this one 2-4 at least are by another, better author.
“‘What if he says no?’ Moffitt asked with a grin.
‘I’ll be like Tully. I won’t hear him. See you later.’”
Chapter 15
“It wasn’t very good whiskey, but Tully closed his eyes in sheer ecstasy as he drank.”
Of course, the girl gives a belly dance and Tully and the others get front row seats.
“as if her performance had been as guileless as a minuet when, in reality, every man in the room was still affected by it and would be for some time.”
Tully and Jamila (the girl) “were both tricky, sly, confidence people, though neither seemed to recognize the other for being of the same stripe.”
Troy gets a helmet.
Chapter 16
Tully being deaf adds some tension, but only sometimes.
The third new guy is dead.
Chapter 17
The Rat Patrol goes from a small force infiltrating German lines to part of a large group of soldiers when they get supplies in the town they’re holding.
Troy’s acting like he’s ready to take off with Jamila, though it’s probably not true.
“Sam watched a burning plane being shunted aside on the field, nudged out of the way by bulldozers manned by men with great courage.”
“Oh hell, I ain’t been deaf in days.” Tully really is a scoundrel sometimes. Troy knew it, though.
“Moving like a dancer, he [Tully] turned gracefully and the gun blasted a hole at the second cigarette burn and then the third.”
Jamila ends up blowing herself up with a grenade she meant for Tully and Troy.
Chapter 18
Tully’s lucky! The Arab he offended by sneaking into his harem tent turned out to be working with Rommel.
“Don’t give up hope,” Colonel Quint said with mild sarcasm. “If anyone will see them unveiled, it’ll probably be you.”
“Adrenaline was already pouring into their bloodstream and they were tightening up in that peculiar tenseness which precedes a battle.”
Chapter 19
“When Sam arose, his fingers were bloody and the German’s head was twisted at an odd angle. Sam didn’t even have time to develop an uneasy feeling in his stomach.”
The last of the new guys died.
Chapter 20
“Awkwardly, clumsily, but silently, Tully anchored his knees on Sam’s shoulders, then one foot after the other until he stood erect and by reaching up, could grasp the edge of the balcony above.”
“The four Americans walked slowly down the minaret steps, bodies slack, guns held as if their weight was almost beyond human endurance to carry.”
“Hitch popped a piece of bubble gum into his mouth, then lit a cigarette and leaned against one of the columns in the shade they offered. Tully sat down with his back against another and went to sleep.”
“This is a church,” Moffitt said angrily. “ Never mind how or whom they worship, it’s a church. The damn Krauts defiled it by turning it into a sniper post and made us further defile it by killing them there.”
Chapter 21
“Quint’s always finding something for us to do, but it’s never behind our lines where we can get a bath, some good food and maybe a date. All we get is heat, sand, foxholes and Krauts.”
Last four chapters and they’re starting a whole new plot.
“Hitch is a good soldier. He’s smart, and he’s cold and about as ruthless as a man can be. You got Hitch backing you, there’s not much to worry about.”
“Tully? He’s hard to figure. He’s for Tully Pettigrew first, last and always. Sometimes I think he’s a dumb mountaneer, and then I’m sure the dumbness is just a coverup for a brain as smart as Hitchcock’s, for instance. Maybe not as cold, because Tully thinks of what he’s going to get out of it and Hitch doesn’t think at all, except that he’s paid to kill Krauts and that’s his sole purpose.”
“I guess we all get along because we’re all so ornery we don’t notice it in the other guy.”
Chapter 22
“I didn’t molest any of the cargo so they can notice it.”
“Sam was no expert horseman like Tully but he managed to hoist himself behind the tall Kentuckian and hang onto him.”
Chapter 23
“Tully handled the jeep as if it was a Rolls Royce.”
Chapter 24
“Moffitt, one arm bleeding, was fumbling for the first aid kit. Hitch saw the blood and moved quickly to Moffitt’s side. He slashed away Moffitt’s sleeve. There was a through-and-through bullet wound in the flesh part of his forearm. A lot of blood flowed, but it didn’t look serious and Moffitt didn’t seem very bothered by it.”
“the jeep must have looked like a tiny toy moving slowly along the sand and presented a threat about as harmful as the breeze of a butterfly’s wings.”
“Camouflage was quickly set up and then four tired men relaxed. If the battle came too close they’d move out into it, but at the moment they were more than content to lie sprawled on the sand while their heartbeats gradually came down to normal.”
Chapter 1
Tully’s digging into a tent where he’s not supposed to be.
“Tully had become instantly overcome with an overwhelming desire to see what one of the girls looked like minus her veil.”
“Once, when he was helping his father at the still, Tully had been kicked by a horse.”
Tully nearly got court-martialed.
Chapter 2
Tully’s in big trouble and confined to quarters.
“If they close an iron door on me I’ll go nuts right away.”
They take off with Tully anyway.
“if time lagged, the Rat Patrol went looking for trouble.”
Chapter 3
The action so far is not very compellingly written.
In this book, like #2, Troy and Tully are in one Jeep while Moffitt and Hitch are in the other.
The chase between the jeeps and some Stukas is well written.
Tully gets caught in a bomb blast and deafened.
Chapter 4
I guess this book is more episodic, because they’re back in their commander’s office.
“Pettigrew’s larcenous habits” Which never show up in the show and aren’t detailed.
“Tully, staring vacantly into space, sat on top of a case of whiskey while Hitch lay curled up, head on a blanket as he slept.”
“Tully clasped his hands, boxer style, and shook them to indicate his approval of the vehicles.”
Random slide into omniscient voice kind of halfway into a paragraph. Why.
On being told they’re taking four extra men and being used as couriers: “Sam lay back prone. Hitch said something under his breath and Moffitt picked up a handful of sand and threw it at random in his anger.”
“Tully, the lean guy driving this jeep, is just plain born to get into trouble. It comes naturally to him. He’s got a mean streak when he gets mad, but he’s only permanently mad at Germans and Eyties.” He doesn’t get mad much on the show.
“After that we were kind of going steady.” Troy about the Rat Patrol grouping together.
Chapter 5
Man, the Rat Patrol just do not care about military regulations or orders or any of that stuff.
More giant explosions.
Troy is communicating to Tully by rapping on his helmet.
“They were coming out of it because the Rat Patrol was experienced, daring, and above all, completely unpredictable.”
Troy keeps being called “Sam” by the narration
Troy “made arrangements with a graves registration detail for the German lieutenant, giving them a full account of his bravery.”
Their commanding officer tears up the order to send Tully back for trial.
Chapter 6
Troy meets an old girlfriend from England he’d forgotten about. She remembered him though, and greets him by running up and kissing him.
“Sam, never one to say no to a beautiful lady, quickly threw himself into the task with fervor.”
Two pages later, though, “he had already forgotten about Paula [the girl].”
“more than a hundred heavy Panzer were waddling their way towards the battlefield.”
The first of the new guys, the sharpshooter, dies. The other characters react with emotion, but he’s not fleshed out enough for me to feel much.
“Sam felt no sense of elation that his hunch [that Rommel was planning something and the Allies would be defeated] had come true. He just felt exhausted and dispirited.”
Chapter 7
“Moffitt was curled up in his jeep, one arm around the base of the machine gun. Tully lay on the ground staring up at the sky unblinkingly. Hitch lay over the wheel of his jeep and snored.”
“Tully drank about half a pint [of whiskey] without removing the bottle from his mouth.”
Troy calls Moffitt “Jack.”
“I couldn’t figure out a way to steal six fully loaded trucks, sir, or I would have.” Sam Troy: not a fan of the chain of command.
None of them care that Tully’s supposed to be in trouble, either.
Chapter 8
“The whole plan had an air of impossibility about it, but that was what Sam liked about the idea and why it appealed to the Rat Patrol. They enjoyed the unusual, they operated without rules, but they got things done.”
Chapter 9
It’s been mentioned at least twice in this book that the main characters are “stripped to the waist.” I wish that happened more in the show, I only remember it maybe twice.
Moffitt’s father “was a combination engineer and archeologist.”
Tully gets to use his bazooka.
Chapter 10
Second new guy is dead.
“Sam was in a mood to feel that the mission was a doomed one from the beginning, and should never been attempted.”
“They were too close to the climax of the expedition and that always kept him [Troy] too excited to sleep well.”
Chapter 11
Ok, this book is getting kind of racist in reguards to the Arabs. The second one wasn’t, really, but that’s a different author.
A woman shows up and instantly figures out that Troy and Moffitt aren’t Arab, though they’re trying to be undercover as such.
Troy is entranced by this woman, even though he probably can’t trust her.
He is prepared to kill her if he has to, though, so he hasn’t completely gone nuts.
Chapter 12
Troy is a fairly good seducer.
Chapter 13
Lots of complicated planning in this chapter.
“The Kraut diners were going to get something unexpected for the entree instead of the usual sausage.”
It’s not the Rat Patrol without an explosion.
Chapter 14
Sometimes, the writing is awkward enough I can barely understand it. The author of the first book only wrote this one 2-4 at least are by another, better author.
“‘What if he says no?’ Moffitt asked with a grin.
‘I’ll be like Tully. I won’t hear him. See you later.’”
Chapter 15
“It wasn’t very good whiskey, but Tully closed his eyes in sheer ecstasy as he drank.”
Of course, the girl gives a belly dance and Tully and the others get front row seats.
“as if her performance had been as guileless as a minuet when, in reality, every man in the room was still affected by it and would be for some time.”
Tully and Jamila (the girl) “were both tricky, sly, confidence people, though neither seemed to recognize the other for being of the same stripe.”
Troy gets a helmet.
Chapter 16
Tully being deaf adds some tension, but only sometimes.
The third new guy is dead.
Chapter 17
The Rat Patrol goes from a small force infiltrating German lines to part of a large group of soldiers when they get supplies in the town they’re holding.
Troy’s acting like he’s ready to take off with Jamila, though it’s probably not true.
“Sam watched a burning plane being shunted aside on the field, nudged out of the way by bulldozers manned by men with great courage.”
“Oh hell, I ain’t been deaf in days.” Tully really is a scoundrel sometimes. Troy knew it, though.
“Moving like a dancer, he [Tully] turned gracefully and the gun blasted a hole at the second cigarette burn and then the third.”
Jamila ends up blowing herself up with a grenade she meant for Tully and Troy.
Chapter 18
Tully’s lucky! The Arab he offended by sneaking into his harem tent turned out to be working with Rommel.
“Don’t give up hope,” Colonel Quint said with mild sarcasm. “If anyone will see them unveiled, it’ll probably be you.”
“Adrenaline was already pouring into their bloodstream and they were tightening up in that peculiar tenseness which precedes a battle.”
Chapter 19
“When Sam arose, his fingers were bloody and the German’s head was twisted at an odd angle. Sam didn’t even have time to develop an uneasy feeling in his stomach.”
The last of the new guys died.
Chapter 20
“Awkwardly, clumsily, but silently, Tully anchored his knees on Sam’s shoulders, then one foot after the other until he stood erect and by reaching up, could grasp the edge of the balcony above.”
“The four Americans walked slowly down the minaret steps, bodies slack, guns held as if their weight was almost beyond human endurance to carry.”
“Hitch popped a piece of bubble gum into his mouth, then lit a cigarette and leaned against one of the columns in the shade they offered. Tully sat down with his back against another and went to sleep.”
“This is a church,” Moffitt said angrily. “ Never mind how or whom they worship, it’s a church. The damn Krauts defiled it by turning it into a sniper post and made us further defile it by killing them there.”
Chapter 21
“Quint’s always finding something for us to do, but it’s never behind our lines where we can get a bath, some good food and maybe a date. All we get is heat, sand, foxholes and Krauts.”
Last four chapters and they’re starting a whole new plot.
“Hitch is a good soldier. He’s smart, and he’s cold and about as ruthless as a man can be. You got Hitch backing you, there’s not much to worry about.”
“Tully? He’s hard to figure. He’s for Tully Pettigrew first, last and always. Sometimes I think he’s a dumb mountaneer, and then I’m sure the dumbness is just a coverup for a brain as smart as Hitchcock’s, for instance. Maybe not as cold, because Tully thinks of what he’s going to get out of it and Hitch doesn’t think at all, except that he’s paid to kill Krauts and that’s his sole purpose.”
“I guess we all get along because we’re all so ornery we don’t notice it in the other guy.”
Chapter 22
“I didn’t molest any of the cargo so they can notice it.”
“Sam was no expert horseman like Tully but he managed to hoist himself behind the tall Kentuckian and hang onto him.”
Chapter 23
“Tully handled the jeep as if it was a Rolls Royce.”
Chapter 24
“Moffitt, one arm bleeding, was fumbling for the first aid kit. Hitch saw the blood and moved quickly to Moffitt’s side. He slashed away Moffitt’s sleeve. There was a through-and-through bullet wound in the flesh part of his forearm. A lot of blood flowed, but it didn’t look serious and Moffitt didn’t seem very bothered by it.”
“the jeep must have looked like a tiny toy moving slowly along the sand and presented a threat about as harmful as the breeze of a butterfly’s wings.”
“Camouflage was quickly set up and then four tired men relaxed. If the battle came too close they’d move out into it, but at the moment they were more than content to lie sprawled on the sand while their heartbeats gradually came down to normal.”