JACK LUND

Jack Lund is the CEO of a major multinational corporation.

The company is called the Merrill and Webster Dean Group, or MWD, and it has its hands in projects in all walks of business in all areas of the world, making travel for its Chief Executive Officer, who also fills the role of Chief of Security, a near constant activity. While the Dean brothers are the main wheelers and dealers and are the ones deciding what businesses to buy and sell, it is the job of Lund to make sure the day-to-day operations go one as needed. For this he has an adequately sized, and very competent team.

It is in his capacity of head of Security that Lund finds the most stress and the most occasions to have people try to break into or just blow up a research facility, hijack cargo shipments, kidnap key personnel, steal trade secrets. Since he is very good at his job, Lund is often one step ahead of the bad guys but that usually means he is near enough for the bad guys to take pot shots at him, try to run him over or off the road, perforate his 50-ish year old body with sharp, dangerous items, or just put an explosive under his car.

Lund is a part of this collection because in the two recorded adventures, the technologies that the MWD Group has is of international interest and importance and the intelligence communities of more than a couple of countries are often taking a role in the events, though sometimes unknowingly being manipulated by the rich and powerful.

Through all of the troubles that he faces in his job, Lund is able to maintain a balance so he seldom loses his temper or his reasoning. Though he would most emphatically deny it, there seems little doubt that while his duties as CEO for the MWD Group are many and varied, it is the job of Security that gives him the most excitement and keeps his job from ever getting boring. One very impressive aspect of Lund is the fact that he is in his early 50s and doing things such as fighting and running after bad guys and leaping and crashing into things, getting hit hard and often and shot at and then vanquishing his opponents and not once does he need to reach for the liniment or hobble off to bed for a couple of days. Another is that for a CEO of a major international conglomerate, he spends remarkably little time in meetings and dealing with lawyers or accountants, obviously preferring the company of people shooting at him instead of shouting.

The author, Mr. Tralins, was a very prolific writer who liked to mix up his work to spread over several genres. Not having read his others, except for his Valentine Flynn sexy comic series, I do not know what his writing was like in general. For the spy fiction that he did on these two books, the action is fast and heavy, the logic not exactly sound on many levels, and the characters not that drawn out. All that sounds a tad negative but I do not think Mr. Tralins would take it too hard. Quantitity over quality is never considered a good thing but when the quantity is considerable, allowances must be made.

If you are looking for a good blow-em-up action series that reads very quickly and does not task the reader to think too much, I would recommend these books. They are good B-grade adventures and could have been made into B-grade movies. Late night viewing or reading asking very little of the audience and giving just enough to pass the time. But the time is passed enjoyably, if not memorably.