In Ralph Dennis’ The War Heist, two WW II-era American soldiers conceive an audacious plan to rob a train that is carrying a substantial portion of Britain’s tangible wealth (specifically, gold bullion and securities) to Canada for safekeeping, circa June 1940. The crew they assemble to accomplish this Herculean task encounters many challenges, but none so steep as they face when they square off against the man assigned to protect the precious cargo, world-weary Scotsman Duncan MacTaggart.

Previously published in hardcover in 1979 as MacTaggart’s War, this book was edited and reworked by Brash Books publisher Lee Goldberg, after purchasing the rights to Dennis’ literary estate. By reducing the original’s heft, and stripping the book down to its essentials, he’s produced a new, faster-paced work, which, while preserving Dennis’ intriguing premise, also makes it more palatable to modern audiences. It’s good, not-so-clean, hard-hitting fun.