Since joining SEAL Team 666, America’s last line of defence against supernatural and occult threats, Walker has been in many fire fights with demons, both human and otherworldly, but his soon to be marriage to Jen will bring both happiness and balance to his life. Sent to England, where they hope to marry, Jen attends what she thinks is a re-enactment ceremony at Stonehenge. It quickly turns deadly, leaving Jen dead and Walker on a plane to England intent on revenge...

Seal Team 666: Reign of Evil (2014. 328 pages) is the third in a series of books by Weston Ochse which blends military procedural action with horror and does it with a lot of wit and the occasional humour.

It’s an odd sub genre which in many ways shouldn’t work, after all it’s neither one thing nor another, but somehow the combination marries together surprisingly well. The military perspective allows the book to have lots of action scenes, which is combined with a detailed level of knowledge about weapons and armour, enough to please any military porn aficionado.

The linchpin of the series has always been the reader following Walker through his tribulations, from first being recruited to the SEALs and the missions contained in the first two novels, SEAL 666 and Age of Blood. Whilst you could not say that the character is supposed to be an everyman - he does, after all, battle demons for a living - Ochse has given him a more rounded character, with vulnerabilities rather than a straight forward, physics defying, action hero.

In this latest adventure Walker's girlfriend is killed by The Hunt, a mythical and mystical event which has previously happened through history. The Hunt is veiled in mystery, with their rampage of death continuing until their unknown agenda is fulfilled. Travelling alone to England, with vengeance in mind, Walker is teamed up with his British counterparts, led by Ian. Unlike the well equipped SEALs, Section 9 has seen better days and better funding, but they are backed up with their own personal witch, Sassy, who has her own agenda. The bulk of the plot revolves around finding what The Hunt wants and who called them into existence.

The book is made up of numerous short chapters, which is an effective way of keeping the plot moving at breakneck speed. The structure is addictive; I certainly found compelled to read just one more chapter to discover what was going on, only to read the next and the next.

Of course being a SEAL 666 book it is not long before the rest of the team are winding their merry way to Britain with all the regular characters that were left in America finally joining the story in full force.

The book is full of cultural reference from using the location of Twin Peaks to more subtle nods via slightly altered sentences. This makes the book a kind of cultural Where’s Wally, I doubt I spotted them all, especially some of the more obscure American ones.

Thematically this is a slight departure for the series as it ultimately deals with the tricky subject of ethnic cleansing. We hear a lot these days about returning countries to their former glory; this book asks the question, at what price?

8

Charles Packer