Book Review: Tenure 4: Extracurricular Activities, by Mike Baron and Blaine Lee Pardoe
Professor Punisher taking on Trantifa
After taking out the Antifa cell that murdered his family, dealing with online mob leaders, and killing corrupt cops, Braxton Knox is now going to take on Burning Man and vegan trans terrorists.
The Story
When the “Vivians”—Radical Militant Vegan Trans AntiFa spinoff—goes on a killing spree, this pings a bright spot on Braxton Knox’s Woke Radar. They believe that everyone who disagrees with them needs to be murdered. The Feds don’t have enough evidence to nail them. The locals are getting too much money from the Vivians’ weed growing operation to look at them too close.
Since the Vivians split off from AntiFa, the two groups hate each other. Knox thinks he can play a little Fistful of Dollars with them. And a trip to Burning Man (at Black Rock) is a good start to putting them on a collision course?
But will Knox’s plan trigger a more catastrophic event than he can predict?
Tenure 4 may be the best of the Tenure novels since the first one—and I enjoyed two and three. This has more elements to play with, smarter villains, and Knox and company correcting a few mistakes from the end of the last book. (Because in this series, if force isn’t the answer, you clearly haven’t used enough of it.) We get into the philosophy of the enemy, and how to best use it against them. I think this is the first Tenure novel that even has a subplot.
It’s also pretty nice when the previous book sets up the sequel. Three set up four, and the groundwork for five is clearly laid out here.
We get some nice shots at Hollywood in here, in some sections that are almost certainly Mike Baron’s (I got a review copy of one of his books. To be Reviewed later).
Tenure 3 was almost laid back in dealing with its antagonists. Here, the tension goes down to the last minute in a climax that would make Jack Bauer happy.
The Characters
Everyone is getting more of a role in this series. The reporter, Faye, and the hacker Ronin, are getting more undercover work. Knox’s father, the former FBI agent, and even Knox’s gun salesman is getting in on the action in this one.
Knox himself is getting more development as we go along. He hasn’t dealt with his loss from book one yet, and it looks like it’s going to hurt.
Once again, even the villains of the piece are getting plenty of time on the page. It really does feel like John Douglas profiling serial killers.
The World
This is very much our world. Perhaps even depressingly our world. The Vivians are based on something called the “Zizians.” Though as the Acknowledgements note, the have been made “far more interesting than they are in real life.”
Then there’s the world of Burning Man, which is the carnival for every freak and weirdo who can afford it. It makes you wonder how more acts of God don’t hit it. Seriously, can we nuke it from orbit now? Yikes.
Politics
This is a novel of vigilante justice against woke psychopaths. Where would you like to start with the politics? The cops, the press and the Feds are useless. Burning Man is filled with crazies. They even go into the corrupt weed prescription racket. We can keep going.
We also have some philosophical discussions on the nature of justice when one does not have the law. Though I think they could do with a bit of Aquinas on “tyrannicide” in their discussion.
They also try to mention “Nazis and Church,” in which surprisingly, every word was wrong. I guess Braxton Knox’s knowledge of history is strictly antiquity.
I will note there are at least three variations of “We’re not killing them because they’re trans. We’re killing them because they’re spree killers”— a point I don’t think they needed to stress. It’s nitpicky, but it felt out of place, like labeling the Vivians “she” in dialog tags. It was a discordant note that felt like nails on a blackboard.
Content Warning
There is violence. Broken knees. There is even mild nudity during a trip to Burning man.
Who is it for?
If you ever wanted a Punisher novel with more investigation and more philosophy, you should be reading Tenure.
Why buy it
Tenure 4 is the best of the series since the first one. The action is tighter, the stakes are higher. The group dynamics and the characters are even more fleshed out.