After a long wait, in September 2022 we finally got the 11th volume of the Vic Challenger series by Jerry Gill, titled For Friend and Country. And it seems we have yet another set of covers for the whole series, now available in both hardcover and paperback, as well as ebook format. I’ve lost count of how many cover sets there have been.
Set in the 1920s, this New Pulp series stars young Victoria Custer who discovers she is the reincarnation of a cave girl, Nat-ul, who lived 100,000 years ago. The character actually comes from Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ The Eternal Lover (later renamed The Eternal Savage), and this series seems aimed at a younger reader, which is fine. I would instead say it’s an “all ages” series. There is violence, but it’s not excessive or too descriptive. Certain matters are not touched on, which is fine (the pulps rarely got into that either, except for certain ones).
Using the name “Vic Challenger”, she works as a travel writer (and adventurer) while looking for her soul mate from 100,000 years ago, whom she thinks is also reincarnated. In her travels, she gets into various dangers, and the experience in her past life as a cavegirl warrior helps her out. This is important because, in this series, Vic and her friends always come up against both bad guys and dangerous cryptids. And she is sometimes pulled into matters by a secretive government agency as well.
And this one starts off with a bang! We get several characters dealing with violent attacks. Vic’s secret agent leader “O” is returning via plane from Europe, when it is attacked by other planes. In Vic’s hometown, they see a strange woman who seems to be Vic’s double. In another town, an unknown man is attacked and maybe killed by criminals. Then Vic is attacked by a carload of men with guns, speaking a strange language. And when Vic goes to her friend Lin Li, Lin and her family have headed to Chicago as Lin’s brother was stabbed in Chicago (guess he was the unknown man). What is going on?
Vic heads to Chicago herself, and once she gets to the hospital, runs into O, somewhat recovered from his attack. He is able to update her on some matters. This goes back to the man, Curtis, whom Vic had past dealings with, the last time was in book #7 (an event that saw Lin badly injured). Curtis was heading up a scheme that would have damaged the U.S., tearing it apart, maybe literaly. But after Vic took care of him, it seemed the danger was over. But not so. It seems that the mastermind behind it is a Hungarian, who was doing it to curry favor with a certain rising star in Germany.
Well, the mastermind is moving forward with the plan, which is to blow up the Ogallala aquifer, which would destroy several plain states. He has several teams in different areas, but O’s bosses don’t believe the threat (or someone is trying to prevent it from being stopped). So he is doing it under the table and needs Vic. Soon Vic spots a suspicious group and follows them underground. And as this is a Vic Challenger story, she will confront several dangerous underground cryptids, including the humanoid race she encountered way back in book #2.
And even when the threat to America is dealt with, she still has to help out Lin and her family, who are threatened by the gangsters behind the stabbing of Lin’s brother. She’ll get back in time for her and Lin to put a finale to things.
Sadly, there isn’t anything that advances Vic’s search for her reincarnated lover. And the matter of Vic’s double was never addressed. Or is that for the future?
As we are in the 1920s (uncertain of the actual year), we still move forward in time. The politics of the era will have more and more of an impact, and certainly Vic’s involvement with O’s group, even semi-officially, will pull her in. I’m not sure when the next volume will arrive, but we do know that #12 will involve an uncharted South Seas island, courtesy of her friend Ann Darrow. Can’t wait.
