As noted previously, I discovered a new thriller series, Chuck Dixon‘s Levon Cade series. I read the first two in the series, of which there are almost a dozen novels in it.
For those not aware, Chuck Dixon is a long-time comicbook writer who has worked on a variety of characters at several publishers. I’ve read his stuff on Eclipse Comics’ Airboy series, but he has worked on The Punisher, Batman, and other characters and titles.
When I heard of this series, it was loosely described as “a former military man who used to be a black ops soldier, who now finds himself using those skills.” Another description compared him to Jack Reacher, another ex-military character that I’ve enjoyed reading. But neither description does the series justice. I would describe the series as “new pulp” as the stories are stripped down. It’s mainly action — with little in the way of over-explanation, drawn-out scenes, excess exposition, or the like — which are (or should be) hallmarks of New Pulp-style writing.
The next novel, Levon’s Ride, picks up directly after the events of the second novel. Levon and his daughter Merry have made it to the DC area, only to find their SUV has been stolen. No big deal, except it has all of Levon’s weapons and a lot of money that they will need to survive. So Levon needs to get it back. But that’s not easy.
He tracks down the car thieves, which leads to crooked impound lots and so on until he finds the money. He goes up against several bad folks along the way, some of which doesn’t go well for them. But he is successful. Except, someone is following them. Can they escape?
Then the next novel, Levon’s Run, actually also picks up directly from the second novel, with the events of the previous one occurring during the early parts of this one. Due to what happened in Maine, there is a lot of law enforcement activity. Not just the FBI and Treasury, but Homeland Security and more.
In addition to wanting to get their hands on the money stolen by the scammer murdered in the second novel, the weapons and tactics used by Levon haven’t gone unnoticed, and so some think they have some kind of domestic terrorist. FBI agent Bill Marquez and Treasury agent Nancy Valdez are back from the second novel. Bill is taking the lead in hunting down Levon as best he can, though he doesn’t yet know who he is.
Levon, meanwhile, is working to lose anyone tracking him. He knows he needs to get Merry to safety, so sends her to Gunny Leffertz. We met him in the first book. But if you think this simplifies things for Levon, you’re wrong. In getting new IDs, he runs afoul of someone who sees him as a quick source of cash and also has to deal with some human trafficers. Can he get out of all this and elude his pursuers and get back to Merry? That remains to be seen. Is there some way to get authorities to leave him alone? Who knows?
I enjoyed both of these works. Levon’s Ride was actually shorter than the other works. It was half the length of Run, with space in the book taken up with a preview chapter of Run. I noticed that we don’t get explanations of who Levon is, what his background is, or how they got into all this. Nothing was said about what happened in the first book, and a rundown of the second was given in the fourth because of the direct tie-ins. Maybe if this had been added may have helped bring the page count up so long as it didn’t bog down the action. So definitely read this series in order.
These works are straight action-thrillers. There’s not a whole lot of exposition or introspection. Things just move forward. I will be interested to see how this series goes. The next one is Levon’s Kin, which takes him back home, so maybe we’ll learn more about his background.
