Do or Die

War doesn't care about rules, and neither do the Rat Bastards. In this ninth installment of the series, the ragged, irreverent fighting unit finds itself standing between Japanese forces and control of Bougainville — a Pacific island already soaked in blood. These are men the military tolerates because it has no choice: a stuntman, a gangster, a drifter, and others who steal, lie, and cut corners but somehow keep winning. The tension here isn't just about survival — it's about whether men this rough around the edges can hold a line when everything depends on it.

What keeps the Rat Bastards series compulsively readable is its refusal to sentimentalize combat or the men who wage it. Levinson and Mackie write with a blunt, stripped-down momentum — short chapters, punchy dialogue, and action sequences that feel genuinely chaotic rather than choreographed. At 158 pages, Do or Die moves fast and wastes nothing, trusting readers who want grit over gloss. It's pulp war fiction that knows exactly what it is and delivers without apology.