Blood Testament

This is a great book. I think this is the perfect book for the 100th entry. It covers Mack's Mafia wars. His work with the government as John Phoenix and now his lone wolf status. I thought the scenes with the President trying to get Mack to come back under the government umbrella were really well written. I thought the C.I.A agent Cam was an interesting Character and his history of Black ops. It was good to see some familiar Faces like Leo and Susan in this book. Very appropriate for the 100th entry. very well written and I give it 10 stars.

Very disappointed in this one. The kidnapping plot is great but the books is bogged down in endless repetition of the thoughts and feelings of the character. The set up is great. Brognala's family is kidnapped, he's also branded a traitor selling secrets to the Russians while in bed with the mob and the kidnappers are manipulating him to do their dirty work. Well aware his family won't survive the ordeal, he brings Bolan in to save the day. Great stuff! But the novel is a broken record. I lost count of how many times Bolan reminded himself that Brognola was a friend in need or that they were out of time but would carry on anyway and bathe the town in blood. How many times did Brognola despair at the clicking clock or vow revenge if things went sour? Even the bad guys repeat where they are coming from over and over and over. Like a word repeated over and over until it losing its meaning, that's how #100 read for me. By the time the action climax came about, I just didn't care anymore because I'd been bludgeoned with repetitive character motivation. Oh well, they can't all be great. Pick this one up for the story, not the execution of said story.

St. Louis Showdown part 3. or Missouri Death watch part 2. Take your pick but this one is a fine read where the plot remains a little obscure until near the end. Brognola' s family is kidnapped and held to ransom to force him to reveal details of under cover agents placed within the Mob families. However there is another plot running in the background involving the Big Guy. Some excellent scenes with Brognola, Leo and the Big Guy and their relationships together. Nino Tattaglia plays his last role this time around which was a bit of a shame. Good read in the series recommended reading.

A really enjoyable book, lots of Hal, Leo and Bolan interaction, some good background on them, and how and why they are all so close. Great action, and insight into all the characters involved. Rather refreshing entry into the series. Thumbs up !

What a disappointment!!! What a boring number 100 book which should have been a monumental one for the series!!!! The plot was lame and full of holes and left me with more questions in the end than the entertaining of reading the book. I was always waiting for the suspense after the Brognola family was kidnapped yet the book failed to get into the potential heights and instead kept on being flat and boring. A lot of question were left in the end and among them are; What happened to Susan Landry as she dropped out of the book after being very much in the action early on? Why didn´t Nicky Gianelli try to go after Susan as she was a potential treat to his plot against Bolan and Brognola? What kind of a dirt did Nicky have on Cartwright? I wonder why Nicky went to all this trouble "just" to get Bolan by using the very shaky back up from the CIA? One thing would have made this book a bit better and given it more dimension and that would have to introduce Helena and the kids to Bolan after they were rescued by him!!!! Now that would have been interested to read.......... Sadly, a disappointing book which had way way too many pages of boring reading but it would have been a more tight and focused one by just being around 180 pages. I was actually very happy when I finished the book so that I could turn my attention to another and hopefully a better one next time. When I picked this book up, I thought it would be a monumental one in the Bolan saga but it turned out the only thing monumental about it was the fact that this was book number 100. Nothing more....................!!!! (2004)

Good reading but not what I would have expected for the 100th issue of THE action series of all time.Good action and story but just didn't quite click.

I really enjoyed this novel. I do need to hunt down that trilogy 59, 61 and Day of Mourning? I liked the fact that it involved Hal, Mack and Leo. I really like it when Leo is involved. Too many books are just Leoless. The good parts are the: 1) Scenes with Helen Brognala. I really liked how we came to know about her more and how she percieves her marriage and Hal. Sadly we still no absolutely nothing about the kids. I would have liked to have had a scene when they were fashioning their weapons and get into their heads a bit. 2) The action was very tight. I really think Mack did the absolutely right thing blowing away that pervert with the young boy. God what animals were in that compound. 3) I really like that journalist. She seems to have been forgotten about. She and Mack would have made a nice couple. 4) Cameron and Nick. Two rather ok villians. For a mafioso Nick was a bit shallow. Maybe more scenes with Nick and not those scenes with the madam prior to Mack's entrence. 5) I also would have liked a scene with Mack and Helen being introduced by Hal. But then it probably was best not to have a scene like that. 6) The scene with Mack calling up Leo after Mack hit the NY Don seemed very contrived. It would have been more believable with Leo contacting Mack and Mack returning his call. Just a very good novel. I still think The Trial is a far better Newton novel but still this novel was very good.

This is a story with more depth than the usual shootem ups. A great one from Newton, some parts were a little slow, but not too boring, the book was worthy of the #100 milestone. If I remember right, the second gunman behind the grassy knoll shows up in here, making an interesting addition to the book.

Good, tight read. The kidnapping of someone close to Bolan ups the emotional attachment. Other books ("Circle of Steel" comes to mind) have Bolan trying to save hostages, but without the same emotional investment. The danger also seems more real. You know Bolan will survive -- there are 200 more books in the series -- but it's touch and go for some of the supporting characters. This adds to the power of the book. However, it is also a liability. Nino Tattaglia deserved a better send-off then the phone call desription that this book provided. His departure should have been told in the first person, not "off screen". A good job with number 100.

I would have to agree with the opinion of others. It was not what I expected for #100, but it is a great book.

I read this one a while back, so I don't remember much, except for the fact that I loved it and that I never wrote a good review for it. To say the least, I really liked this one. This featured Hal with more problems than the day to day stress of being Hal Brognola. Bolan was really good in this one too. It is HIS series, you know?

A definite Bolan classic. A good story with some real good villians. Also a good in-depth view of the Bolan/Brognola friendship, as well as a good character study and insight to Hal Brognola.

THIS IS ONE OF MY CLASSIC FAVORITES IN THE SERIES. IN HIS 100TH BOOK, HE PROVES HE IS STILL AS STRONG AND DETERMINED AS EVER.

Not what I expected, either, for the 100th entry. I would have rather seen #101 be the centennial book, but oh well. This one is still a good read, with a lot of character background on Hal and his family.

I liked the aspect of bringing a villain with ties to Farnsworth. Other than that, a fairly good book, but not what I was expecting for the 100th entry.