A badass paperback from the beginning of the end of the genre, in 1986. Whereas older "standard format" badass paperbacks were allowed to tell a story, this one feels like it was created to a specification. The story is barely there, it's just an excuse to move on to the next action scene, replete with intricate descriptions of guns, bullets, grenades and what they do to people's internal organs. There's also an opening fist-fight a couple of characters stumble into, which feels like a contractual obligation and adds absolutely nothing to the "plot".

This is one of a whole family of spinoff books, which began in the 1960's (and was probably a better read, back then!) with The Executioner, a story about a Vietnam vet fighting the Mafia single-hended. Phoenix Force are a special forces team working for "Stony Man", a top-secret unit that answers directly to the president.

They have a "Rogue's Gallery" of different terrorist organisations they fight. In this book it's TRIO, which is a team-up of the Japanese Yakuza, Chinese Triads (we all know how the Japanese and Chinese just love each other) and, shytteth thee not, "The Golden Horde", a Mongolian* criminal organisation which has existed for centuries as remnants of Genghis Khan's army. The latter also inflicts ghastly torture on some traitors in a contractually-obliged "remind you the baddies are the baddies" scene.

*-And we all know how the Chinese and Mongolians just love each other

Oh, I almost forgot, there's also constant attempts at badass one-liners from Phoenix Force. Like pretty much every time they kill somebody they have a "witty" thing to say about it.