Devil Force

Its a plodder with some good parts. The start is great but by half way through the book there have been so many characters introduced some of whom don't even appear in the book and so many plots going on it is hard to keep all of them together. I liked the re-appearance of Bowen the CIA guy and it was interesting to see his change of attitude to Mack from his previous meetings with him. The hunter Khoi is an interesting character and well written. The final fist fight Mack has with Innis is terrific and very well written. BUT questions,questions,questions. Why didn't they go back years before and recover the gold? How did Mack know where in Cambodia the gold was? Who the bloody hell is Hacker ?????? my two bobs worth.........

What a strange book and with way, way too many confusing and badly developed characters popping up on a regular basis in the book and basically are thrown in on a regular basis in random order. I was looking forward to read a good plot book instead of a non-stop action one and yes, I got what I wanted with plots upon plots throughout the book but each one was confusing and strange to the end. I think the author wanted to twist things so much around that he got tangled in a web with no clear way out of it and at the end of the book it made me feel like........wow, what was the book really about? The plot was thin and confusing and didn´t wrap up at all in the end and after the final page a lot of questions were left unanswered like: This Hacker guy was a key figure in the book but who was he really? What was CIA real involvement in the whole plot? Why was Susan Landry mentioned if she never made any appearance in the book? How did Mack know where to look for the rogue force in Combodia? Why did the rogue force really go after the gold now after all this time instead of trying to find out who was killing them off? As usually, I had my hopes high for this one especially since it was supposed to me a book with plot(s) and less shooting and yes, the book did live up to this but that was just it and sadly nothing more than that. A very disappointing book from an author who´s written great books before but this book is still tangled in the web of plots with no possible return. (2005)

A kudos for Odom mentioning Susan Landry too bad she never appeared. I would have liked the scene which would have had Hal contacting Susan about the CIA idiocy. I liked the best the characters. The good hearted loyal Bowen who really wanted to the right thing even if it meant going after the CIA who he loved. I also liked how Khoi wanted vengeance against the rogue Vietnam force. Although the book mentioned events that helped push the US into the Vietnam War that were really staged attacks by the CIA which was blamed on the N. Vietnam. Not sure if Mel was refering to real events or made stuff up. Mack did have to solve this puzzle especially about the evil Hacker character that was behind these events. Still not sure who Hacker was. The book just hung there. The action scenes were sparse but then this was really Mack unraveling a plot. Also not sure how Mack figured out where in Cambodia this group was going to be. Cambodia is not a small country. Overall an above average novel. I agree with Monsta Mack not as good as Ice Wolf but close. A solid 7.

This is an average entry in the series, not really a great book, but not bad either. The plot is wrapped up ok by the end of the novel, but along the way it is mostly a mystery that Bolan tries to unravel, playing the part of a justice investigator more than anything else. There were a few parts of the story that really shined, but overall I enjoyed Ice Wolf much better than Devil Force. One CIA character from Ice Wolf also shows up in this book too, it was interesting to see a tie-in there.

Bolan is investigating a series of murders. In each case, the victim was a serviceman already pronounced dead, whose name is on the Wall, the Vietnam War Memorial. The ties go back to a black bag CIA operation early in the war. Bolan spends entirely too much time playing private dick, and not enough time taking out the bad guys. Some sleuthing is important; and non-stop action would become tiring, but this novel probably had about 15 pages of Bolan in action. This is far too little. Also, there is a lot of confusion over exactly what Bolan is tracking down. He wants to get a handle on the murders, but has the CIA in his way. This means Bolan is entirely in the dark as he looks for leads. Unfortunately, the reader is also left in the dark trying to piece together who is behind the murders. Ultimately, however, the low rating comes from Bolan's reaction when he finally unravels the plot. Not to give too much away, but for most of the novel, it seemed Bolan was trying to stop the murders. By the end, his mission was to finish what the murderer started. This one leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

A so-so try that wasn't that good.

ALRIGHT, BUT I LIKED THE FINAL FIGHT BETWEEN BOLAN AND INNIS.

I didn't read the back cover before I began reading this book, which was the last one I needed to complete my collection. I just grabbed it and started reading. The premise is very strong and intriguing; however, the execution of the story gets bogged down in a lot of detours due to the investigative nature of the mystery. Typical Mel Odom of the time.

Started out good, but didn't live up to my expectations.

So-so. Started out great & then kinda fizzeled.

I enjoyed this story until about 3/4 of the way through, and then the story became rather rushed and it finished with a lot of loose ends. How did everyone, including Bolan, suddenly decide that they had to move on to Cambodia. It was briefly mentioned earlier in the story but never xplained why everyone had to go back. Why wasn't the gold recovered before the story began. And who's codename was Hacker? Far to many loose ends. Otherwise a good read.