Chicago Wipe-Out

Chicago Wipe Out; 7 outta 10. Like other reviewers said, the most action is in the beginning and the end. Not that that makes it really boring. The action sequences were still good. Didn't see the point of the girl that was briefly introduced in the beginning, gone in the middle, and pops up at the end. Mack dons disguises to do a recon of the mob, and sets them up to make a meet, then blows them up. The best part was the dialogue between the bad guys.

8 Star effort. Like the stein character. Liked when Mack played the role of phone repair man. Other than that standard action. I've started reading the series from the beginning again and I'm having trouble distinguishing which mobsters are from which book. Looking forward to Mack's Vegas venture.

Mack Bolan shows up in Chicago and his meticulously planned hit soon goes awry. As he’s fleeing the scene of the crime he rescues a model that was providing entertainment to the recently dispatched Don. To save her life he announces an audacious plan to keep the heat off her; in the next 24 hours he’s going to take down the heads of the Chicago mob. What the hell happened to this book? The first half was amazing, but then it takes a steep dive downhill. The opening chapter is an edge of your seat sniping scene, easily the best of the (admittedly few) Executioner books I’ve read. When Bolan saves the model he thinks back to all the women the Mafia has hurt to get to him and realizes he has to take a more active role in protecting her, putting him in a bodyguard role. I definitely appreciate seeing Bolan acknowledge the consequences to his actions. Pendleton uses the Chicago setting well by setting the story during a terrible snow storm, especially during a sequence where he has to stealthily escape from a motel. Pendleton also introduces an interesting ally; a tenacious lawyer who has paid a big price in his legal battles against the Mob. I thought it was interesting to see another sort of Executioner working within the system and while he doesn’t have much to do I’m hoping that he’ll return in the future. And then the book goes off a cliff. There’s a lengthy sequence where Bolan taps the phones and starts rumours, putting mafia factions against each other. I don’t know why but the different political machinations of varied factions just bored me and that takes up the majority of the rest of the book. It ends with a big mob war where the bad guys take each other out. We learn later it was quite the slaughter, not that we ever see it. Instead we see Bolan go after the prime targets in a not terribly gripping action scene. I wish I could say this is the great book it was shaping up to be but I’ll have to settle for it being another decent enough entry in to the series. Executioner Kill Count: Approximately 24.

Not a lot of ACTION in this book. The action in the snow was the best part of the whole book. We get to see a different Mack Bolan in this book. He's using his smarts in this one. Okay book not great...

Chicago the made city where everything is controlled there ain't no way this bastard Bolan is going to try any of his tricks here. And so it seems a completely controlled city of the Mob surely there is no way that the Big Guy can play his games here or is there? This title brings on so many original ideas from the author which sickens me when you read following titles from lesser authors who have blatantly stolen the plot line of this title in subsequent titles and have sold so many copies of this mans original work well never mind they will never be held to this, this is the ORIGINAL folks. Chicago MASSIVE problems for the Big Guy in any way he tries to do anything the made town everywhere he looks there is no light until.... Set them against themselves he thinks ......... ( RIGHT NOW FOLKS THIS IS THE ORIGINAL........ FORGET THE COPIES YOU MAY HAVE READ FROM SUBSTANDARD AUTHORS RIDING ON THIS AUTHORS COAT TAIL this is the original). Brilliant how he manages to do everything he does in this title. How about the undercover stuff in the blizzard with the phone lines to find out what the opposition is doing? How about the worming into the minds of the opposition on how they are being undercut by their underlings. How about the final sections where the opposing forces engage themselves? Magnificent release in the series and HIGHLY recommended reading if you haven't read it yet WHY NOT?

This one took me by a surprise. There wasn't much in the way of action. However, we did get to see a side of Bolan that was only hinted at in previous books. I liked how well he managed to plot a story that showed his thinking at outwitting those Chicago boys. This showed more of a finesse side of Bolan rather than direct action. If you're looking for a lot of action, skip this one but if you are reading it for series. Then, be prepared to see Mack in a different light. Sig

This was another solid effort by Pendleton after two very mediocre books (Continental Contract and Assault of Soho). Bolan returned to American soil in book #7 (Nightmare in New York) and uncovered some very distrubing news about the Mob's national plans.' Pendleton continues that theme in book #8 and the Execuitioner takes his one-man way against the Mafia to Chicago. This story was well-written and had a very solid plot. We see Mack Bolan continue to out-think and out-smart his enemies and I was caught up in Bolan's planning throughout the book. As with Pendleton's previous works, the writing is very believable as Bolan draws in alot of help in destroying the mafia roots taken hold of Chicago. I also enjoyed the support character (Stein) introduced to us in this book. Pendleton was hitting on all cyclinders in Chicago Wipeout. Pendleton's was back with this one and it left me looking forward to book 9.

A big letdown of a book. Started off on a high note--Bolan sniping mobsters, then making his escape with a woman in tow. A few more confrontations came about, then this one sort of fell flat. Too many characters to keep track of muddled things also. The high point for the rest of the book was Bolan infiltrating a mob joint disguised as the telephone man, then waltzing right out again. The final "wipe-out" of the title was not even that spectacular.

the opening chapter was good and the chapter between him and the ex lawyer, who's name escapes me, was masterfully written otherwise this book reeks of mediocrity. I'm not just an action guy but as far as action goes it could've used more, the "coincidence" of meeting foxy was a little too coincidental and I'm getting really tired of all these women falling in love with Mack. the enemies were completely forgettable and for that matter it focused far too much on them. better than some in the series but definitely not the best.

I thought this one was really good, I didn't even THINK about there not being much shooting until I read a couple of other reviews ! Funny, I guess there wasn't much but it held my attention and I always like Bolan turning the boys against each other. Filled with interesting characters, especially "Joliet" Jake, wasn't he a Blues Brother? Eh Kay

This one should be Crap Wipe-Out. This is the worst Executioner book that I have read. Mack has some action foe the first 20 pages or so, then nothing till the last 15. Come on, this book has way to much filler in it. I guess Don Pendleton had writers block on this book, and just added some scenes to get the page count in.

This book was actually very good for most part as it had that special edge of Bolan running around the Mafia boys and infiltrating their bases and making them look like fools time and time again without too much average brainless shoot outs as so often in the Mafia war series. It always great to see how well Bolan can make an ass out of the Mafia boys who are so self assure that they will be the ones to catch the mortal enemy number one. Being secure in their own abilities is always their downfall in the end. This book is a classic sample of Bolan´s ability to infiltrate the enemy camp and pit everyone against each other to do the dirty work for him. He is a master of manipulation and improvisation and in this book he uses these abilities to the fullest with maximum results for him in his one man war. The pace was a chilling one sometimes. The more snow was the bigger the stakes become for everyone in the book and this is the beauty of this book, the tough weather and how well Bolan uses that to his advantage as so often. Why isn´t there any real challenge for Bolan among the Mafia boys in the form of a real mastermind instead of the usual stupid boys running around in their brainless quest of capturing Bolan. Bottom line……..good book with a good pace and some interesting twists. (Iceland - 2006)

The blazing action at the outset was very well written, but I think Pendleton was slipping a bit in the middle, as others have noted. The electronic trickery was pretty good. It was interesting to see Mack confuse the families and pit them against each other; he must have done a really good job, because even after reading it again, I'm still mystified as to what exactly took place. The ending was written well, with Bolan once again slipping through the Mafia's defenses, blitzing them hard, then again slipping away through the night. All in all, I think this book is almost on par with Nightmare in New York, but not quite.

The beginning and the end of this one are great, but the middle of the book was kinda boring, so I give it a 6 star.

Good entry, lots of great battle sequences, I loved how Mack used the Capo's and played them acainst eachother. The final battle scene was great and Bolan escapes by the skin of his teeth, Woo Hoo!

This a solid entry in the Mack Bolan series that has great action at the outset but suffers a bit from a slow middle. The Executioner is in Chicago to take the war to the mob in their power center. This story gets started off with a bang with a Bolan hit and continues with some great action during a daring escape. That episode is a great study in Bolan tactics, preparation and improvisation. A standout. Too much plotting and planning after the breathless action in the first third of the book for my tastes. As Joe Bob would say "there's way too much plot gettin' in the way of the story". We do get quite a good glimpse again of what goes on inside the big guy's head and again we see how much the commitment to his private war costs him psychically. There's a grand-slam of a finish and Bolan wins a small victory. I'm giving this one 7 stars for the great action in the front end of the book and for some of the glimpses of Mack Bolan's personal inner struggle. With a little more action in the middle third this one would get another star.

Nothing's cooler than reading a book wher mack comes to your town-and on the day I reread this, the Chicago Sun-Times has a front page story on bars and lounges maintaining Mob ties. Come back, Mack, your job is apparently unfinished. Anyhow, this is a little slow after the New York hit, but still entertaining. Mack meets a Joliet Jake a decade before the Blues Bros. make their appearance;a beautiful woman is conveniently nearby to give him a hand and he has to battle natural elements to boot.

A decent enough entry, but not as action-packed as the previous ones.

I did not like this that much because there was not really any action

An interesting novel, not quite as good as its predecessors, but still entertaining.

With no disrespect intended to the current writers, whose options, I would imagine, are restricted to what is mandated by Worldwide Library, I admit that I rather prefer the original, Pendleton-penned books, with their greater emphasis on character development. And _Chicago Wipe-Out_ is one of the best IMHO. I re-read this book every few years, and it never fails to entertain. The story is very atmospheric (the whole book takes place in a snowstorm in the space of two days, IIRC), the tension rises steadily throughout (as the snow gets higher, Bolan gets in deeper), and the interaction between Bolan and the female protagonist (whose name I've forgotten) is rendered very well. If you haven't read this one, you owe it to yourself to do so.