The Red Berets

The Red Berets, by Tom Biracree

February, 1983  Pinnacle Books

Well folks, like a suicidal Looney Tunes cartoon character, now I’ve seen everything. For we have here with The Red Berets the world’s first – and hopefully only – attempt at a non-violent men’s adventure series. No sex, either! It’s of course not very shocking that there wasn’t a followup volume, though one was clearly intended; once upon a time (ie ten years ago, when I purchased this book), Amazon even listed a second volume of the series, though no copies were ever listed for sale. I cannot recall the title, and the book is no longer listed on Amazon, but it was there at one time, I tell you! Which I imagine means it was on Pinnacle’s publication schedule, which Amazon somehow picked up. 

Now, having read this “first volume,” which The Red Berets was clearly intended to be, I am in no way, shape, or form surprised that the series itself never came to pass. For one, it’s a bloated 342 pages! Granted, it’s got some big print, but still. That’s way too long for a men’s adventure novel. And also, it’s tepid, features a protagonist who comes off like a wuss, and did I mention there’s no violence? Or sex? You don’t need a DOGE task force to figure out why The Red Berets was expendable. 

Speaking of intrusive political tangents, The Red Berets is also notable because it has a left-wing vibe. This is likely the only ‘80s men’s adventure novel that bashes Reagan, and repeatedly at that. We’re given frequent sermons on how “the new administration” focuses on overseas shenanigans and whatnot, leaving inner cities to fend for themselves, and one can almost feel the author gnashing his teeth in hot-blooded Democrat rage. Sure, Butler was also left-wing, but at least Len Levinson was sure to include some good ol’ sex and violence in his books…not so Tom Biracree, who by the way still appears to be publishing today. 

Perhaps I’m being overly harsh on The Red Berets. Truth be told, it has a respectable setup: a ‘Nam vet becomes an unwitting hero of the people when he puts together the titular force of young men and women, which patrols the subways of New York for purse-snatchers and rapists and murderers, and along the way they run afoul not only of a crime kingpin but also the mayor and the transit authorities. 

We get an indication that The Red Berets won’t be your average Pinnacle offering when the novel opens in Vietnam in 1972, with a young Green Beret battlefield medic named Jim Knight deciding that he’s had enough of the killing and the atrocity and that he’s quitting the warfare game, court-martial or not, and he’s going to devote himself to saving lives. From there we flash-forward ten years and Jim is now in New York, where he runs a clinic on the Lower East Side – right in the hellzone that was Alphabet City (though I don’t believe Biracree actually uses that name for the neighborhood). 

It’s a strange setup for a would-be men’s adventure series for sure. Jim Knight, former ass-kicking vet turned bleeding-heart doctor in the inner city. The veteran genre reader will of course understand that such setups are usually just window dressing, and despite all the tree-hugging such a character will eventually start kicking ass. But crazily, such a thing doesn’t really happen in The Red Berets. Indeed, Jim constantly nags at his young wards, the titular Red Berets, insisting that they not engage in any kind of fighting. There’s also an unintentionally hilarious part where he tells them their “weapon” is a whistle – to call for help! 

It takes a while to get there, though. The first quarter of The Red Berets is devoted to establishing Jim’s life in early ‘80s New York; we get another indication that this dude isn’t your traditional men’s adventure protagonist when we learn that he has a crush on Dr. Sara Cummings, a pretty young lady who works in Jim’s clinic, a lady who happens to be married. It’s hard to imagine John Eagle having a crush on someone, but again, this isn’t your average men’s typical yarn. 

As mentioned we also get periodic sermons on how crime-ridden New York has gotten, which for some unspecified reason is the fault of President Reagan, and Jim stews at how dangerous the streets have become. Biracree often cuts to the perspectives of other characters, and through these sequences we learn there is a new gang that terrorizes the subway in particular; young kids who have cut their faces as a sign of their membership in the gang, calling themselves the Savage Skulls. 

Jim’s purpose in life begins when an old woman he knows is murdered by a Savage Skull in a subway mugging gone wrong; with the assistance of his friends, Jim begins riding the subway each night, to see if he can find the punks who killed her. Not to dish out any payback, but so as to get their descriptions and report them to the police! But through this Jim Knight ultimately begins a movement to make the subways – and New York itself – safe again. 

His two main accomplices are Renaldo, a mountain of muscle who happens to be a professional heavyweight boxer, and Baseline, a young black basketball player who drives a taxi and likes to rap his dialog. Yes, it’s the early ‘80s, folks, with the occasional mention of Ghetto Blasters to boot. Other characters will come into the fray – like a young black girl who is also a basketball player, and an old man who once as a Vaudeville comedian – but Renaldo and Baseline are Jim’s standbys. 

What starts as a simple act of vigilance – riding the subway and watching out for gang-bangers – turns into a movement that sweeps the city. When Jim and his colleagues stop a few muggings, already going beyond Jim’s “no engagement” policy, a female reporter comes along and turns Jim into a hero via a series of newspaper articles. This not only gets people interested in joining Jim, but it also pisses off the mayor and the transit cops, as it makes them look bad – ordinary citizens must defend themselves because the authorities are incapable. 

This is where “the Red Berets” are born; when Renaldo’s elderly trainer is nearly killed by thugs (you can just picture him as Burgess Meredith in the movie that plays in your mind), Jim and the team decide to adopt the old man’s trademark red beret as the “uniform” of their movement. And, let’s not forget, a friggin’ whistle will be their weapon. The action scenes follow more of a smallscale, non-lethal template, with mostly fistfights or people running from each other. What I mean to say is, there’s no gun-blazing action in The Red Berets. It’s all very anemic and G-rated, as if Tom Biracree got on the “kinder, gentler” vibe of the ‘90s a decade early. 

There’s no sex, either. Jim manages to hook up with both the married lady – who leaves her husband before offering herself to Jim – as well as the reporter. All the sex is off page, and folks even here Jim Knight comes off like a wuss. There’s a part where Sara asks Jim to spend the night and he balks at the idea, saying they should wait! But then, Jim is indecisive and weak throughout the novel; he even breaks the cardinal hero rule and tries to quit multiple times in the narrative, only to be pulled back into it by other characters. 

We soon learn of Anthony Brown, a local crime kingpin who is involved with the Savage Skulls and who also sets his sights on Jim and the Red Berets. But for the most part the team handles those who prey on innocents in the subway, like a memorable scene where they stop a rape in progress. And as mentioned they also become heroes to the citizens of New York, showing that if you stand together you can fight back against crime – quite an evolution for the men’s adventure genre, coming out of the lone wolf ‘70s. 

Teams were the thing in ‘80s men’s adventure, and in that one regard The Red Berets has something in common with its brethren in the genre. Otherwise, it’s no mystery why this “series” only amounted to one volume, and why the second volume was not published. Personally when I read a men’s adventure novel, I don’t want something less violent, less graphic. I want gore-soaked insanity with tons of lurid stuff. But as I’ve said many times before, that’s just me.