George Snyder, writing under the name Patrick Morgan, produced his 10-book hardboiled surf-pulp Operation Hang Ten series between 1969 and 1973. Surfer-playboy-spy Bill Cartwright is the Hang Ten headliner. None of the books were reviewed in newspapers or magazines but pop-culture enthusiast Joe Kenney, on his website Glorious Trash, had this to say about the Snyder, Cartwright, and the series in general.

All of George Snyder's Operation Hang Ten novels are noirish pulp-action yarns with plots that center around a missing or murdered young woman. The tone is nice and hardboiled, but we aren’t talking about men’s adventure-fiction gold here. These are private eye thrillers, so forget those "surfing James Bond" expectations. The best way to describe the Operation Hang Ten series is as a variation of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee novels, with a 24-year-old surfer-spy replacing MacDonald’s “knight errant.” The similarities extend to the “wounded birds” Bill encounters each volume, many of whom meet grisly deaths as demanded from lurid ‘70s pulp.

Cartwright lives in a trailer, which is one of the best touches of the series—it’s equipped with a scanner that alerts Bill when anyone comes close to it, and also has a computer that makes him his drinks. I lost count of the number of times Cartwright “dialed up a scotch and soda"—the preferred drink of every 24-year-old surfer in 1970, of course.

Some of Cartwright's musings in Operation Hang Ten are directed toward the increasing commercialization of Hawaiian surfing spots and how parts of Hawaii will no doubt look just like Burbank in a decade. Again, this is similar to the Travis McGee books–weary cynicism about the encroaching shittiness of the world mixed with ruminations on women. All the same here, if a bit more brutish.

Here are the 10 Operation Hang Ten books, presented in order of publication.

BACKGROUND: Four paternity suits. Three breach of promise suits. No convictions so far, but give him time.

GEAR: One blood-red surfboard. A hot Dodge Hemi motor, lurking in a yellow Woody, pulling a matching trailer equipped with a computer smarter, maybe, than the whole Hawaiian police force combined.

HOBBIES: Surfing, women, and, whenever possible, poking a crooked finger in the hairy eyeball of the Establishment.

VOCATION: Secret agent for the United States Government.

"This is the second book of the Operation Hang Ten series and the back story has been jettisoned and it is all present action. This one is darker, edgier, and sexier than the first and way more action-packed. Cartwright is back in California and this case takes his Woody and trailer the short distance from Seal Beach to Hermosa Beach. Drug-slinging spies are once again his foil and the babes, as always, are plentiful." 

"There may be a good reason why the Operation Hang Ten series was never picked up for TV—namely, our “hero” is an asshole of the first order. Bill Cartwright is a misogynist, cynical, chauvinist, arrogant, obnoxious dickhead, affronting everyone and anyone for no reason whatsoever, including, ultimately, the reader. As for action, there are only a few fights here, all of them hand-to-hand. A pair of would-be murderers break into Bill’s trailer on Bondi Beach, and he fights them off in a savage brawl, getting some help from a recurring character named John "Fast Black" Washington, a black surfer who by the way is black (per ‘70s pulp demands, we are constantly reminded of this). In between bloody fights, these two like to trade world-weary, cynical banter, despite being in their early 20s." 

"This one starts in the middle of the action with Cartwright getting the crap kicked out of him by a biker gang and then being shoved over a cliff. Hospitalized and recovering we learn that Cartwright is already on a case to track down a counterfeit ring led by a biker-type name Moon. Moon is a formidable adversary and Cartwright is more about revenge than solving the case as the book progresses. The tone is darker and the violence more personal than has been typical in the series." 

"This fourth in the Operation Hang Ten series is the most action-packed so far in the series with plenty of fights and gun battles. Cartwright teams up with a Russian agent to recover a hijacked Russian helicopter and the gold it was used to steal. More action, less surfing, in this one." 

"Someone stole a large shipment of gold, worth over seven million dollars, from a ship off the coast of England. Months later, the proceeds of that heist seem to be in play in a business transaction in Hawaii. It is Bill Cartwright's job to find the evidence to prove it." 

"Cartwright is called to find another Operation Hang Ten agent who has gone missing on assignment. He's a little irritated in getting pulled in for the job, after spending the past few weeks surfing the lower Baja coast, and he bitches a little about having to go and rescue some other agent who’s gotten in over their head—until learning that the missing agent is Sandra Denny, whose cover job is topless dancing. Denny’s assignment was to purchase a reel of top-secret film for $10,000 from a Cuban refugee in Honolulu and deliver it to Hang Ten headquarters. Instead, the Cuban ends up murdered and Agent Denny is missing. Cartwright ships his Woody and trailer to Honolulu and takes up the search." 

"The plot is almost surreal, [with] Bill Cartwright having an evil clone. An American spy ship has sunk off the coast of Sydney, Australia. This doesn’t concern Los Angeles section chief Jim Dana of Operation Hang Ten until an associate tells him that “Bill Cartwright” has been spotted with all the other surfers making use of the phenomenal waves created by the jutting hulk of the ship. Dana perks up—he knows Bill is in California, not Australia. And so he is, enthusiastically screwing his latest girlfriend, a “top-heavy” blonde named June Blue. Bill’s trailer is even swankier this time around; we learn that not only is there a mirror above the bed, but with the touch of a button multicolored lights will flash from above. Another button activates rollers beneath the mattress, and June has become very excited about this particular feature." 

"Love is in the air in Beach Queen Blowout. Yes, friends, it’s a very special episode of Operation Hang Ten, with Bill falling head over heels for a young beauty named Lynn he meets early in his investigation. There’s no pickup from the previous volume, but John “Fast Black” Washington, the surfer we saw in 

, is again on the scene. We find the two hanging around Huntington, complaining about all the lousy beaches given the recent oil spills. Bill has been sent here specifically to find out who is damaging those offshore rigs, but instead he bitches about the 'punk waves' and wonders if he’s ever going to crack this case." 

"I recently reread all ten books of this series and think this is the best of the bunch. It takes place all in one day. Cartwright is surfing at dawn and sees a Mustang drive off the end of the pier. He rescues the driver and brings her up to the beach. Another girl arrives and before too long Cartwright is bopped over the head with his flashlight. He comes to surrounded by police and the girl he rescued has been stabbed to death. Cartwright is taken to the police station. Once he realizes they have him pegged for the murder, he punches the detective and busts out—Cartwright is on the run and compounding his felonies." 

"Cartwright follows up on a lead from a woman who has info on someone trading secrets from a satellite manufacturing plant. When he gets to Santa Monica pier, the woman is being strangled by a guy in a scuba outfit. A convoluted plot ensues, but my enjoyment of the book increased significantly as Morgan brings in some really depraved individuals. There's a low-rent Hugh Hefner type who lives in a penthouse, grows tulips, and sleeps with a different high-class prostitute each day of the week. There's a bitter loser with a terrible birthmark on his face, obsessed by the sexual teasings of his older sister (awesome talc-and-back rub scene), and the fruity manipulator who provides this guy with drugs and women. In other words, plenty of good seedy stuff. Of course, it's marred a bit by the excessive masculine fairytale built up around the protagonist and a poor plot structure. Still, Cartwright is a surfing detective, for chrissake's, what do you expect?" 

HOT SURF PULP! ALL 10 BOOKS FROM "OPERATION HANG TEN"

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