SHADOW SQUADRON: EAGLE DOWN by Carl Bowen, WIlson Tortosa, and Benny Fuentes

Carl Bowen’s Shadow Squadron is a Tom Clancy type military series written for young readers (third or fourth grade). He keeps the action true to life without the gore (there is killing but it’s the clean shot/clean kill variety – shoot the bad guys, they fall down). His use and understanding of military weapons and nomenclature is good and will appeal to young readers wanting that kind of detail.

Wilson Tortosa and Benny Fuentes (drawings and color in that order) provide great, colorful illustrations filled with action and suspense.

Shadow Squadron: Eagle Down is a more personal mission featuring Eddie Brighton going undercover in Colombia. Things go badly for Brighton right off the bat after a parachute insert. He ends up in the hands of the bad guys and becomes the plaything for a sadistic female torturer.

This adventure is different from the first two because things are not ever within Brighton’s control, nor is he ever in a safe place. He responds to thing in a typical, tough guy fashion, but readers are given a glimpse of what soldiers are taught to survive such supreme conditions.

This is a full-on military adventure because Brighton has to get himself out of the fix he’s in and does so in true action hero fashion.