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lookashinyBook 3!
Chapter 1
The book opens with Troy pissed because Tully and Hitch are drunk and cosying up to the local women in a bar.
“They’d taken the girls defiantly from the sailors because they were itching for a fight.”
“Hitch, the Ivy League school drop-out, had tucked away the steel-rimmed glasses he usually wore and hadn’t chewed off the taste of his last drink with his normal mouthful of bubblegum. And Tully, the hillbilly who’d run the ridges with Kentucky moonshine and always rolled a matchstick from one side of his mouth to the other with his drawl, had been empty-mouthed and hard-lipped.”
“Troy had come to realize that what he originally thought was a pose was actually an unusual degree of calm and calculating courage in the face of danger. He relied on Moffitt.”
“their personal adversary, Captain Hans Dietrich.”
“And Dietrich himself was more than worthy, Troy thought.”
Chapter 2
A giant bar fight and Hitch and Tully aren’t in the center of it, after all.
Poor Troy has to carry Tully.
German agents dressed as sailors drugged Tully and Hitch.
“’A giant Molotov,’ Tully said happily.”
Chapter 3
Nothing like a complicated, confusing plan.
Oh no, Troy, Hitch, and Moffitt can’t wear their hats.
“‘You’re not fat, you’re pregnant, Sarge,’ he [Hitch] burst out. ‘Who was there? It wasn’t me.’”
“They were mavericks, each of them, Troy thought, grinning, and the [sic] was proud of them.” I assume that’s supposed to be “he”.
Chapter 4
Moffitt apparently knows karate.
“Troy looked around the van and suddenly he was irritated. Comfortable as it was, it was confinement and he felt he couldn’t breathe.”
Chapter 5
The chapter opens with the Rat Patrol hijacking some jeeps from their own side.
They did so to go after an ambush, but still.
“he brought down the necond [sic] man.” Really? These books are not well proofread.
“Troy pushed back his bush hat and started to laugh.” His response to being yelled at.
“He pushed the bush hat to the back of his head and lighted a cigarette while he struggled to keep his simmering anger from boiling.”
“You are nothing but a rodeo performer playing to an audience.”
“We’re rather attached to our headgear.” I love that their distinctive hats are a plot point.
Chapter 6
“He must have dozed at the table and someone must have led him back to his rubber mattress.”
“The others were sleeping too. Moffitt, near the tailgate, was on his side, breathing regularly and softly. Troy walked quietly to the tables at the middle of the van and heard snores grumbling in Tully’s throat. Troy ran to him, quickly turning Tully from his back to his side and smiling suddenly at his reflexive action. Not that it was amusing. Sneezing or snoring could reveal that Rat Patrol to the enemy.”
“The flyboys might have all the sky to fly in but still they did not enjoy the Rat Patrol’s independence.”
“I don’t think Dietrich would murder us either, if we were captured.” Said by Moffitt.
“It was foolish and he shouldn’t have done it, Troy told himself, trying to work up anger to replace the worry that ate at the lining of his stomach.” (Tully’s gone off to find out why the convoy was stopped and now the convoy is moving again and there’s no sign of him.)
“Find that damn Kentucky ridgerunner and drag him back. He’s probably got a crap game started.”
“Tully was undisciplined and brash, but he was loyal to the Rat Patrol and would not willingly jeopardize their mission.”
“The air had grown chilly but he did not notice it as he plodded on, preoccupied with his concern for Tully.”
“Troy sat up, sputtering and holding the wrist Tully had bitten.”
“Troy realized he was assuming responsibility that did not belong to him, but he felt the four men of the Rat Patrol were better qualified to handle a dozen Arabs than the twenty-odd men in the convoy, whether they were supply troops or infantry.”
This book has a lot more of the character voice than the first book. Snappier dialogue, too. David King is a much better author.
Chapter 7
“Troy and Moffitt piled their rubber mattresses on top of each other and the four of them sat with their feet on the tailgate.”
Troy and Moffitt are called “Sam” and “Jack” multiple times in this one.
“‘I’m glad I never learned how to type,’ Hitch said, voice hushed with awe. ‘There are guys who have to keep track of all that stuff. In quintuplicate.’”
“‘How about that?’ Tully said happily. ‘After all the ‘shine I’ve run, me a kind of policeman-detective.’”
Oh, lord. The first new guy to die and a just introduced character is engaged to dead guy’s daughter.
And the new new guy got wounded.
Chapter 8
“Not powdered or instant coffee, but vacuum-packed, honest-to-God ground coffee.”
“Troy was amused. Not one of them had mentioned the beer or the booze.” (Tully gets very enthusiastic about the coffee)
“he [Troy] felt a mellowness within his shell that he thought he’d lost forever.”
Chapter 9
“The two of them had remained silent and stationary for more than three hours guarding the mouth of the cave”
“Moffitt’s usually clear eyes were glazed and red-rimmed”
“It was as if the war had swept every living thing from the earth and its atmosphere and only the four of them within the rock had survived.”
“Hitch and Tully, blankets to their chins, were sleeping soundly. He lauged. ‘That’s trust for you.’”
I’d forgotten Hitch has a garrote.
The two guys who transported them in the previous chapter are dead or captured. That was fast.
Troy and Tully go out on a quiet patrol and end up blowing up two patrol cars.
Chapter 10
Moffitt has, of course, been to Agarawa with his father before.
Moffitt entered Cambridge University nine years before the book’s time.
“Olympe and he [Moffitt], teenagers who shared similar backgrounds and cast together in an ancient civilization, found themselves in the agonizing throes of adolescent romance.”
Moffitt found a way to sneak out with his girlfriend without their fathers knowing.
Moffitt’s getting a German corporal to gush about Volkswagen.
“The pieces cracked and splintered under his feet but he leaped from one to the next before each broke and sprang from the top roost onto the platform outside the tower.”
Of course, Moffitt’s knowledge of the area comes in handy when they’re running from the Nazis.
Chapter 11
And Troy and Tully blow up a spy plane.
“Tully and he huddled, fearful that the leaping flames would reveal them”
“He should have used discretion, stayed buried under the rock, drinking coffee, listening to the radio, playing cribbage with Tully.”
“Sure,” Troy growled. “Just stop clucking over me like a brood hen.” Aww, Tully’s just trying to make you feel better.
“He’d [Troy] enlisted in the Army when Margie got herself engaged to that college boy.”
“This kind of music was for morons, he thought grumpily. A fighting man needed the martial strain of a brass band.”
Moffitt and Hitch may have been captured or killed and Troy’s decision is to load a jeep with demolition charges, drive into Agarawa, and blow up a ton of enemy armor. (On a sad note, I’m not sure if he plans on walking away from the explosion)
“Sort of looks like the end of the Rat Patrol,” Tully said quietly.
Chapter 12
The two guys who were supposedly captured or killed aren’t!
They were captured, but French Foreign Legionaries freed them.
Oh, Lord, the collaborator helping the FFL guys is Moffitt’s old girlfriend.
“She held his mouth with hers and it was filled with hunger and fire.”
“He is the commander of the armored unit they are assembling nearby. He has been kind to me and understanding, for a German. It was he who issued the safe conduct pass for my caravan. He is devoted to his family and it is lonely for him. He comes occasionally for supper or just to talk. He has never made an improper suggestion or advance and his friendship stands between me and other German officers, who might be demanding or even compelling. When the searching party came to my gate tonight, it was Captain Dietrich who sent them away.” Fuck yeah, Dietrich’s here!
Moffitt is also excited to hear that Dietrich is there.
And Moffitt gets lucky. Though his statement that there’s no other woman for him is countered by the second season episode where another old girlfriend of his is featured.
Chapter 13
“catching Moffitt by the shoulder and throwing his arms around him.” Troy’s reaction to finally seeing Moffitt again.
“Fact is, I’m so damned relieved to see the two of you, I’m not acting normal.” Oh, Troy.
“This is going to be a pleasure.” Troy’s reaction to finding out Dietrich is in command of the local armored unit.
“Hitch, quit bothering Mother [Tully] when she’s cooking.”
Tully’s never tried Scotch before and he doesn’t like it.
Moffitt gets pretty closed off over his old girlfriend.
“‘Dames! I just don’t trust them,’ Troy muttered.”
“The storm cloud that hovered over Moffitt and him was gone.”
Chapter 14
“‘You should have been a mess sergeant,’ Troy said. ‘All you think of is food.’” Said to Tully, who has spent a lot of time in this one thinking about food.
“They would have to be ready to run at the first suspicious action, not to escape, but to break for his massed armor and blow up as much of it as they could. They might not accomplish the purpose of their mission but at least, he thought with grim humor, the Rat Patrol would go out in a blaze.”
There is a giant tank, and Dietrich has it!
Chapter 15
“Troy forced himself to relax and be calm, hanging his head and letting his muscles sag until all tension left his body and mind.”
“‘Thanks, Sam,’ Moffitt said. ‘I’m really delighted you feel that way [about his girlfriend]. There may be a day when I want you to stand up with me.’”
And Troy gets knocked unconscious.
Chapter 16
“Captain Dietrich, dark eyes flashing and lips pressed tight, stood in the doorway of his office. His tunic was loose and unbuttoned, his shirt opened at the neck. His face was flushed, either with the pressure of work or anger.”
“He stared numbly at the spinning spool of wire that was recording a dire prediction of inevitable defeat in that desert for the outnumbered, outweaponed and outwitted Allied forces who had waited to find out what Jerry was up to before pushing on with the war.”
Chapter 17
“Half blinded and crushed to the ground by a weight that held him pinned, Troy came to consciousness by slow, painful degrees.”
The solution to the giant tank? Explosives!
The book is called “The Trojan Tank Affair” because most of Dietrich’s tanks are fake.
“It was Dietrich’s plan, he had no doubt, and he gave the man full credit, at the same time feeling almost sorry for him. He could, at least, understand and sympathize with him for the shattering defeat he would suffer when his brilliant stratagem collapsed.”
And Troy ends the chapter by getting knocked out again, this time by falling down a slope.
Chapter 18
“They had not even sent the troublesome Rat Patrol to harass him and his secret had not been discovered.” Oh, Dietrich. How wrong you are.
“Dietrich got to his feet and paced the concrete floor in his grey socks.”
“He swept it and a handful of brandy flying to the floor where the glass shattered.” …what is this supposed to mean?
“The receiver slipped from his hand onto the hook and he shook with the most terrible wrath he ever had known.”
Chapter 19
“Dietrich wanted to be certain his staff fully appreciated his genius.”
“He didn’t want to think of what would happen to Troy but he couldn’t help it. Troy was in Jerry uniform and would be shot as a spy.”
Chapter 20
“Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully, he [Troy] thought at once; they had been taken, one or all of them.”
“An enormous explosion ballooned white fire and sand high in the sky and the force of the blast caught Troy, spinning him around and slamming him to the ground.”
Troy’s plan to escape involved explosions and them taking their clothes off.
“Side by side, the two jeeps of the Rat Patrol leaped forward and flew over the sand towards Bir-el-Alam.”
Chapter 21
The Rat Patrol will be stationed near Moffitt’s old girlfriend.
The dead guy from earlier isn’t dead!
Dietrich got away again.
Chapter 1
The book opens with Troy pissed because Tully and Hitch are drunk and cosying up to the local women in a bar.
“They’d taken the girls defiantly from the sailors because they were itching for a fight.”
“Hitch, the Ivy League school drop-out, had tucked away the steel-rimmed glasses he usually wore and hadn’t chewed off the taste of his last drink with his normal mouthful of bubblegum. And Tully, the hillbilly who’d run the ridges with Kentucky moonshine and always rolled a matchstick from one side of his mouth to the other with his drawl, had been empty-mouthed and hard-lipped.”
“Troy had come to realize that what he originally thought was a pose was actually an unusual degree of calm and calculating courage in the face of danger. He relied on Moffitt.”
“their personal adversary, Captain Hans Dietrich.”
“And Dietrich himself was more than worthy, Troy thought.”
Chapter 2
A giant bar fight and Hitch and Tully aren’t in the center of it, after all.
Poor Troy has to carry Tully.
German agents dressed as sailors drugged Tully and Hitch.
“’A giant Molotov,’ Tully said happily.”
Chapter 3
Nothing like a complicated, confusing plan.
Oh no, Troy, Hitch, and Moffitt can’t wear their hats.
“‘You’re not fat, you’re pregnant, Sarge,’ he [Hitch] burst out. ‘Who was there? It wasn’t me.’”
“They were mavericks, each of them, Troy thought, grinning, and the [sic] was proud of them.” I assume that’s supposed to be “he”.
Chapter 4
Moffitt apparently knows karate.
“Troy looked around the van and suddenly he was irritated. Comfortable as it was, it was confinement and he felt he couldn’t breathe.”
Chapter 5
The chapter opens with the Rat Patrol hijacking some jeeps from their own side.
They did so to go after an ambush, but still.
“he brought down the necond [sic] man.” Really? These books are not well proofread.
“Troy pushed back his bush hat and started to laugh.” His response to being yelled at.
“He pushed the bush hat to the back of his head and lighted a cigarette while he struggled to keep his simmering anger from boiling.”
“You are nothing but a rodeo performer playing to an audience.”
“We’re rather attached to our headgear.” I love that their distinctive hats are a plot point.
Chapter 6
“He must have dozed at the table and someone must have led him back to his rubber mattress.”
“The others were sleeping too. Moffitt, near the tailgate, was on his side, breathing regularly and softly. Troy walked quietly to the tables at the middle of the van and heard snores grumbling in Tully’s throat. Troy ran to him, quickly turning Tully from his back to his side and smiling suddenly at his reflexive action. Not that it was amusing. Sneezing or snoring could reveal that Rat Patrol to the enemy.”
“The flyboys might have all the sky to fly in but still they did not enjoy the Rat Patrol’s independence.”
“I don’t think Dietrich would murder us either, if we were captured.” Said by Moffitt.
“It was foolish and he shouldn’t have done it, Troy told himself, trying to work up anger to replace the worry that ate at the lining of his stomach.” (Tully’s gone off to find out why the convoy was stopped and now the convoy is moving again and there’s no sign of him.)
“Find that damn Kentucky ridgerunner and drag him back. He’s probably got a crap game started.”
“Tully was undisciplined and brash, but he was loyal to the Rat Patrol and would not willingly jeopardize their mission.”
“The air had grown chilly but he did not notice it as he plodded on, preoccupied with his concern for Tully.”
“Troy sat up, sputtering and holding the wrist Tully had bitten.”
“Troy realized he was assuming responsibility that did not belong to him, but he felt the four men of the Rat Patrol were better qualified to handle a dozen Arabs than the twenty-odd men in the convoy, whether they were supply troops or infantry.”
This book has a lot more of the character voice than the first book. Snappier dialogue, too. David King is a much better author.
Chapter 7
“Troy and Moffitt piled their rubber mattresses on top of each other and the four of them sat with their feet on the tailgate.”
Troy and Moffitt are called “Sam” and “Jack” multiple times in this one.
“‘I’m glad I never learned how to type,’ Hitch said, voice hushed with awe. ‘There are guys who have to keep track of all that stuff. In quintuplicate.’”
“‘How about that?’ Tully said happily. ‘After all the ‘shine I’ve run, me a kind of policeman-detective.’”
Oh, lord. The first new guy to die and a just introduced character is engaged to dead guy’s daughter.
And the new new guy got wounded.
Chapter 8
“Not powdered or instant coffee, but vacuum-packed, honest-to-God ground coffee.”
“Troy was amused. Not one of them had mentioned the beer or the booze.” (Tully gets very enthusiastic about the coffee)
“he [Troy] felt a mellowness within his shell that he thought he’d lost forever.”
Chapter 9
“The two of them had remained silent and stationary for more than three hours guarding the mouth of the cave”
“Moffitt’s usually clear eyes were glazed and red-rimmed”
“It was as if the war had swept every living thing from the earth and its atmosphere and only the four of them within the rock had survived.”
“Hitch and Tully, blankets to their chins, were sleeping soundly. He lauged. ‘That’s trust for you.’”
I’d forgotten Hitch has a garrote.
The two guys who transported them in the previous chapter are dead or captured. That was fast.
Troy and Tully go out on a quiet patrol and end up blowing up two patrol cars.
Chapter 10
Moffitt has, of course, been to Agarawa with his father before.
Moffitt entered Cambridge University nine years before the book’s time.
“Olympe and he [Moffitt], teenagers who shared similar backgrounds and cast together in an ancient civilization, found themselves in the agonizing throes of adolescent romance.”
Moffitt found a way to sneak out with his girlfriend without their fathers knowing.
Moffitt’s getting a German corporal to gush about Volkswagen.
“The pieces cracked and splintered under his feet but he leaped from one to the next before each broke and sprang from the top roost onto the platform outside the tower.”
Of course, Moffitt’s knowledge of the area comes in handy when they’re running from the Nazis.
Chapter 11
And Troy and Tully blow up a spy plane.
“Tully and he huddled, fearful that the leaping flames would reveal them”
“He should have used discretion, stayed buried under the rock, drinking coffee, listening to the radio, playing cribbage with Tully.”
“Sure,” Troy growled. “Just stop clucking over me like a brood hen.” Aww, Tully’s just trying to make you feel better.
“He’d [Troy] enlisted in the Army when Margie got herself engaged to that college boy.”
“This kind of music was for morons, he thought grumpily. A fighting man needed the martial strain of a brass band.”
Moffitt and Hitch may have been captured or killed and Troy’s decision is to load a jeep with demolition charges, drive into Agarawa, and blow up a ton of enemy armor. (On a sad note, I’m not sure if he plans on walking away from the explosion)
“Sort of looks like the end of the Rat Patrol,” Tully said quietly.
Chapter 12
The two guys who were supposedly captured or killed aren’t!
They were captured, but French Foreign Legionaries freed them.
Oh, Lord, the collaborator helping the FFL guys is Moffitt’s old girlfriend.
“She held his mouth with hers and it was filled with hunger and fire.”
“He is the commander of the armored unit they are assembling nearby. He has been kind to me and understanding, for a German. It was he who issued the safe conduct pass for my caravan. He is devoted to his family and it is lonely for him. He comes occasionally for supper or just to talk. He has never made an improper suggestion or advance and his friendship stands between me and other German officers, who might be demanding or even compelling. When the searching party came to my gate tonight, it was Captain Dietrich who sent them away.” Fuck yeah, Dietrich’s here!
Moffitt is also excited to hear that Dietrich is there.
And Moffitt gets lucky. Though his statement that there’s no other woman for him is countered by the second season episode where another old girlfriend of his is featured.
Chapter 13
“catching Moffitt by the shoulder and throwing his arms around him.” Troy’s reaction to finally seeing Moffitt again.
“Fact is, I’m so damned relieved to see the two of you, I’m not acting normal.” Oh, Troy.
“This is going to be a pleasure.” Troy’s reaction to finding out Dietrich is in command of the local armored unit.
“Hitch, quit bothering Mother [Tully] when she’s cooking.”
Tully’s never tried Scotch before and he doesn’t like it.
Moffitt gets pretty closed off over his old girlfriend.
“‘Dames! I just don’t trust them,’ Troy muttered.”
“The storm cloud that hovered over Moffitt and him was gone.”
Chapter 14
“‘You should have been a mess sergeant,’ Troy said. ‘All you think of is food.’” Said to Tully, who has spent a lot of time in this one thinking about food.
“They would have to be ready to run at the first suspicious action, not to escape, but to break for his massed armor and blow up as much of it as they could. They might not accomplish the purpose of their mission but at least, he thought with grim humor, the Rat Patrol would go out in a blaze.”
There is a giant tank, and Dietrich has it!
Chapter 15
“Troy forced himself to relax and be calm, hanging his head and letting his muscles sag until all tension left his body and mind.”
“‘Thanks, Sam,’ Moffitt said. ‘I’m really delighted you feel that way [about his girlfriend]. There may be a day when I want you to stand up with me.’”
And Troy gets knocked unconscious.
Chapter 16
“Captain Dietrich, dark eyes flashing and lips pressed tight, stood in the doorway of his office. His tunic was loose and unbuttoned, his shirt opened at the neck. His face was flushed, either with the pressure of work or anger.”
“He stared numbly at the spinning spool of wire that was recording a dire prediction of inevitable defeat in that desert for the outnumbered, outweaponed and outwitted Allied forces who had waited to find out what Jerry was up to before pushing on with the war.”
Chapter 17
“Half blinded and crushed to the ground by a weight that held him pinned, Troy came to consciousness by slow, painful degrees.”
The solution to the giant tank? Explosives!
The book is called “The Trojan Tank Affair” because most of Dietrich’s tanks are fake.
“It was Dietrich’s plan, he had no doubt, and he gave the man full credit, at the same time feeling almost sorry for him. He could, at least, understand and sympathize with him for the shattering defeat he would suffer when his brilliant stratagem collapsed.”
And Troy ends the chapter by getting knocked out again, this time by falling down a slope.
Chapter 18
“They had not even sent the troublesome Rat Patrol to harass him and his secret had not been discovered.” Oh, Dietrich. How wrong you are.
“Dietrich got to his feet and paced the concrete floor in his grey socks.”
“He swept it and a handful of brandy flying to the floor where the glass shattered.” …what is this supposed to mean?
“The receiver slipped from his hand onto the hook and he shook with the most terrible wrath he ever had known.”
Chapter 19
“Dietrich wanted to be certain his staff fully appreciated his genius.”
“He didn’t want to think of what would happen to Troy but he couldn’t help it. Troy was in Jerry uniform and would be shot as a spy.”
Chapter 20
“Moffitt, Hitch, and Tully, he [Troy] thought at once; they had been taken, one or all of them.”
“An enormous explosion ballooned white fire and sand high in the sky and the force of the blast caught Troy, spinning him around and slamming him to the ground.”
Troy’s plan to escape involved explosions and them taking their clothes off.
“Side by side, the two jeeps of the Rat Patrol leaped forward and flew over the sand towards Bir-el-Alam.”
Chapter 21
The Rat Patrol will be stationed near Moffitt’s old girlfriend.
The dead guy from earlier isn’t dead!
Dietrich got away again.
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