The eleventh book in the Dirty Harry series.
DIRTY HARRY #11: DEATH IN THE AIR by Dane Hartman
“Boopsie’s head exploded.” In the early ‘80s, during the years between the release of the third and fourth films in the Dirty Harry franchise, there were twelve Dirty Harry books published in an attempt to give the public the Dirty Harry action they were craving. The first book in the series, called Duel for Cannons, opened with the line “Boopsie’s head exploded.” One of the best opening lines I have ever read. As I have made my way through the series in the months since I read Duel for Cannons, I’ve been waiting for one of the books to give me an opening line that was anywhere close to that one. Most of the books didn’t even try to live up to that line. But now I have reached the eleventh book in the series, and this one has an opening line that I can gladly give the second place award to. “Boopsie’s head exploded” will always reign supreme – but “The girl’s body was torn apart as if she were a goldfish whirling in a blender” ain’t too shabby.
The girl being torn apart has been pushed in front of a train in San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (or BART) subway system... and unfortunately for the people behind her murder, Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan has been working undercover in the subway, seeking a group of young men who recently assaulted and murdered another woman after crossing paths with her on a train. He gets those villains handled early on, and from the moment this other girl has been pushed in front of a train, he’s trying to figure out why this has happened.
The Dirty Harry novels were written by at least two writers who took turns on the books, both (or all) working under the pen name Dane Hartman. Whoever wrote Death in the Air managed to craft an intriguing mystery as Harry uncovers a conspiracy being carried out by someone who has a team of mercenaries carry out murders for them – whether that murder involves pushing a random girl in front of a train to distract attention, giving a hospital patient an injection that will send them on a murderous rampage, or rappelling from the top of an apartment building to fire silenced rifles through the windows. And if you’re wondering why a story that deals with the subway is titled “Death in the Air,” well, that’s because there’s a new advancement in chemical warfare at the center of it all.
Few pages in this book go by without some kind of extended action sequence breaking out, from shootouts in the subway and hospital rooms to the aforementioned apartment assault, car chases, foot chases, explosions... There’s even some lazer action and a helicopter chase.
I have enjoyed all of the books in the Dirty Harry series to varying degrees, but Death in the Air ranks up there as one of my favorites. This was a lot of fun to read, and it was nice to get one that was this fun as I come to the end of the series.
Just one more to go...
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