Musings from Brian J. Noggle: Book Report: <i>COBRA #2: Paris Kill-Ground</i> by Joseph R. Rosenberger (1987)

Book Report: COBRA #2: Paris Kill-Ground by Joseph R. Rosenberger (1987)

Wow, I've never actually wondered what pulp fiction would read if it were written by an actual 12 year old gamemaster, sitting behind a screen and rolling a couple of d20s, but this book is it.

I mean, we've identify people who engage in non-traditional sex as perverts or nymphos (nontraditional includes oral sex, multiple partners, and whatnot). We have exclamation points throughout! We have descriptions of rooms wherein you can imagine the pauses so you can put the furniture on the graph paper and know that the door is on the north wall, about 10 feet from the west wall. These descriptions indicate An Encounter is going to happen, wherein the good guys' guns come out, and the words caress each Browning Hi-Power pistol and Uzi SMG. When the lead flies, the author goes into great detail describing the trajectories and major organs each round hits coupled with names and details about the deceased as if to ensure the reader that the gamemaster, er, author had information and details on index cards, and dang it, he's going to use them.

Unfortunately, the author didn't share the index cards with whatever sort of editing staff might have existed at Critic's Choice paperbacks, because the typos abound, including misspelling the main character's name once. After enough of the sequences, the author decided one was the climax, and the book ends.

The end result, sadly, is an actual poorly-written, poorly-paced paperback that is endured rather than enjoyed.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:14 PM