PROFESSIONALS (Original Title

About this book

Once again Mr. O'Rourke draws a firm bead on a story-line. Set in the sixth year of the Mexican Revolution, this saga of five larger-than-life soldiers-of-fortune takes us across mountain and desert to rescue the Marquesa, wife of Grant, a man who has made his fortune middle-manning guns and supplies to Villa. The Marquesa has been kidnapped by a band of renegade revolutionaries for a triple purpose, pardon from Villa, reward, and ultimate revenge against Grant. The five hired rescuers are headed by Fardan, who combines a taste for adventure with a penchant for retrospection. The action flows fast under a sun as relentless as the kidnapper's deadline and is interspersed with a little "it's bigger than all of us" desert-mountain philosophy. Straight shooting leads to the inevitable rescue but there is a surprise twist.