Circle of Deception

A whopping action novel. For just being your "drug dealer of the month" type of story, you might expect just a routine effort. Not so. Bolan is ripping across a few different countries, destroying a Russian/Jamaican/Colombian troika of drug organizations. All of the action scenes are written very sharply, and Dragon Slayer makes an appearance, also. Linaker ends this with an explosive gun battle, thus making "Circle" an extremely enjoyable read.

Good solid read here from this author which focuses on drug pipelines and different groups who are or would like to control them. Jamaicans, Russians, Mexicans, Columbians so plenty of bad guys. Heaps of good action scenes as usual by this author and you always get a feeling of everything being tied together at the end with a polished finish and so it is. Very good read recommended reading.

It has been a long time since I read a Mack Bolan where he attacks drug dealers simply because they are drug dealers and not because they are handing out stolen nukes or in bed with the terrorist of the month. If you want a story where Bolan concentrates purely on organised crime then this one is for you. It is certainly action packed. The Executioner, during the course of 348 pages manages to take out half the worlds drug dealers. Bolan learns from Leo Turrin of a possible drug alliance between the Russians and the Jamaicans, and so begins his journey from Paris to Moscow to Afghanistan, back to Moscow, to Columbia, to Jamaica, back to Columbia and then on to Mexico. Bolan initially teams up with a Russian agent that he last encountered in Executioner 218: End Game, until the Russiian is injured in the battle. Once in Jamaica Bolan works with a British agent, Rollie Benson, who I must say struck a chord with me, and I hope to see Rollie return one day. Grimaldi is also on hand with the Dragon Slayer helicopter, once more providing over the top firepower whenever Bolan needed it. Turrin is also involved when it comes to the Mexican attack. So it was an enjoyable romp. But not without its flaws. The biggest problem that I had with the novel was the timeline. Bolan travels from Paris to Russia to Afghanistan to Russia to Columbia and to Jamaica, all the while blowing up anything that moves. The whole point of the mission was to stop the Russian mafiya from joining up with the Jamaicans. The head of the Russian mob, Trechenko, is to be found, throughout the story, hanging out at the Jamaican drug lords mansion, whilst his empire is being destoryed back home. He even dispatches men from Jamiaca back to Moscow to get Bolan. Yet he remains there the whole time. How long was Bolan busy? Days? Weeks? It is very unclear. And Trechenko just hangs around and gets angry. Yet later Turrin is captured by the Mexicans whilst Bolan is busy in Columbia. Bolan learns of Turrins capture and departs for Mexico. We then see Leo's side of the story and learn that he is now in captivity for three days. So it takes Bolan at least three days to get from South America to...South America. Very confusing timelines. It was also never very clear if Bolan was taking the mission from Turrin and the DEA, or from Stony Man via Turrin, but that didn't detract from the story. I also felt that the story was beginning to drag by the time that Bolan arrives in Mexico to learn that the Columbians and the Mexicans were teaming up the same way that the Russians and the Jamaicans were. All of these company mergers and takeovers on the criminal world makes my head whirl! But it was still a good story and a welcome break from the stolen nuke covered in nerve agent type adventures.