Vendetta in Venice

I am pretty much with Mike_D and his review on this title where I also enjoyed the start and thought I was going to be reading something special in the series with a refreshing original plot unfortunately the title falls off dramatically after the start. The middle section of this one is very hard to read and I found myself plodding through not really interested in many stages as what I was reading just wasn't doing anything for me. Many times the Big Guy seemed to be written out of character and I thought to myself nah this is rubbish but be drawn back again when something happened that actually was interesting (unfortunately these moments were few and far between). The ending is pretty good but again as has been previously said he would not have been where he was as he WOULD NOT have read the map wrongly. I liked the return of the Tufik character as I normally do when reading of recurring characters. I have not read any Man From Uncle titles but if the review from Napoleon Solo is true then I am very disappointed this author has been pretty much hit and miss with me on the titles I have read from him mainly miss it would be fair to say #90 Blood Heat Zero and #137 Battle Lines are much better reads and recommended reading unfortunately not so for this title.

Judging by some reviews on this site I know that Peter Leslie doesn't seem to be a well-liked author for some Bolan fans. However, I've always enjoyed the human element he brought to the character. He does not treat Bolan like a superman, but a human with flaws. He makes mistakes...sometimes events that are out of his hands will screw up his plans or efforts to save the day. He has used this effectively in the past (Hong Kong Hit List). But in some cases he goes a little too far. In Vendetta in Venice, several times Bolan just comes across as inept. He is amushed a few times. In the final scene where Brognola's life is on the line, Bolan reads a map wrong and takes him to the wrong location, forcing him to scale a cliff in the pouring rain. You'd think that would have been something he would have double checked? The book itself as an average entry into the Bolan series. Enjoyable? Yes. But I probably wouldn't re-read it. The opening and ending of the book are strong, but it really gets bogged down in the middle section. My interested definitely waned as I worked my way through the middle 100 pages or so. The plot is simply too thin to be stretched out for 250 pages. This title would have worked much better if it had been in the 180-220 page range. The Good: Solid effort by Leslie. Tufik is a pretty interesting character and certainly made for some interesting reading. The Bad: An interesting plot idea, but just not enough to fill the required length. Too many coincidences (Bolan happens to be in the middle of nowhere and stumbles on to the bad guy's base of operations. The Ugly: Bolan coming across as inept in several scenes (ambushed at hotel, reading a map wrong, etc.) I know Bolan should be portrayed as a human who makes mistakes, especially when he's deprived of sleep, but sometimes it's just a bit much to believe this guy is an effective machine of justice when he constantly stumbles around making elementary mistakes.

Fresh and interesting plot but sadly thinned down a lot with a weak story that is stretched too much making the reader actually turning the pages faster in order to keep up with the plot faster over the way too many pages of just detailed description of Bolan´s surroundings. Due to this the flow of the story making it like a bad hic up. Tufik was an essentric interesting character with a very strange moral for a person in his trade. Good thing that creed doesn´t overshadow some people´s great moral these days. So in the end you are reading down grated version of an old James Bond movie with the story being stretched way beyond anything, making you sleepy and not so excited. From my point of view you have much more to do with your time than read this book. (Iceland – 2008)

Out of a possible ten, this book deserves a 6.5 in my opinion. I like Peter Leslie's attention to detail (although he can get a bit carried away sometimes in his descriptions of Bolan's surroundings), and the interesting plot twists within this story, which made it fairly enjoyable overall.

I always have fun reading Leslie's books. This is no exception. Lots of adventure and twists and turns.Some things seem to be major coincidences in the book, but that is Leslie's Bond movie style of storytelling.Good fun.

Good writing on this novel, and the pacing was good, but the plot was very weak. There is an "Escape Network" operating in Europe, smuggling people on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Very unbelievable. While investigating, Bolan stumbles into a junkyard -- that just happens to be one of the bad guy's secret bases! Very unbelievable. Bad guys try to kill Bolan 2 or 3 times, but when they finally have the drop on him, they decide to capture him rather than kill him. Very unbelievable. However, the good writing overcomes the weak plot to make this an above-average tale.

A rip off. A re-working of Leslie's THE UNFAIR FARE AFFAIR from Ac'es MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. series. Same plot, same action down the the punchline.

A decent entry, nothing too spectacular.

NOT BAD. GLAD TO SEE SOMEWHAT BOLAN ALLY TUFIK BROUGHT BACK AGAIN.

Leslie's later works are much better.