Devils Playground

I enjoyed this for the most part. The entire story takes place in and around Acapulco where a cult is trying to muscle in on the drug cartels and then plot to take over the entire crime scene in Mexico. The cover of the book is a little bland, but the portrait of Anibella is really good and I kept going back just to look at her. For me the stand out scenes was with the fight with the kommodo dragons, a giant pair of lizards whose regular diet is live humans. The fight was a little far fetched but incredibly fast paced. Anibella as a villain was awesome, both seductive and more than a little crazy. Bolan also has some good allies in this adventure. There are references to past adventures, including the Border Fire trilogy in the Executioner series which I have yet to read. But otherwise this was a good entry and to be recommended.

Yet another excellent title from Doug with this release where you will certainly read some original stuff. I liked the plot from the start and really got into the Anibella character who is a Mexican Politician's wife but who has an amazing secret life. Aside from her wait until you meet The Big Guy's allies this time around and how they travel through the title until the end (well some of them anyway). This title is really a do yourself a favour job and you should, so it is hard to try not to say anything to spoil the read for you. The human sacrifice scene where the Drug lab chemist is sacrificed is a chilling read indeed where you probably will wince once or twice but without doubt the scenes with the Komodo Dragons stand out with the Big Guy very much in a tight couple of spots. Add in the attacks on the Russian base which involves a drain network and a shitload of scorpions also the attack on the upper floors of the hotel so different yet so Bolanlike and then the final scenes in the cult's location. The action scenes are brilliant as usual with this author who somehow manages to insert some original stuff again and again even after how many titles in these combined series I especially liked the items removed from his heels which just goes to show the benefits of forward planning. Like everyone else I thought the start was a tad slow and I also thought the final fight scene between the Big Guy and Anibella was a little stretched out as I thought the Big Guy would have finished it much faster but gee that is only nit picking on a fine read indeed. Highly recommended reading 9.7 or 9.8 here do yourself a favour.

I haven't bothered to read every installment in many years. I go by the back-cover descriptions and read the few that promise not to be the same old thing. This one totally delivered. In addition to the depth of the villainness mentioned above, there were strong supporting characters, whose fates I actually cared about. Given that, I was really disappointed in the lack of an epilogue-- abrupt conclusions are a continuing weak spot in this series, and with this supporting cast I was looking forward to a scene of denouement. I wonder if that decision was editorial or if DPW wrote it that way from the start. Nevertheless, this is an exceptional outing and is highly recommended to other "occasional" readers like myself as one not to miss.

Contains Spoilers Just got done reading this a minute ago. Wojtowicz does it again! Another terrific SuperBolan novel. As usual with Doug, each and every action sequence were terrific and exciting. I especially liked the one-on-one hand-to-hand combat fight with Duarte, the raid on the Kuriev's compound, and even the final conflict between Bolan and Anibella; even though I think Bolan would have had an easier time taking her down. I loved it when Bolan takes on the two Komodo dragons! That was amazing. As always in Doug's novel, Bolan is human. He gets the living daylights beat out of him throughout all the battles in the novel, but toughs it out and wins in the end. Anibella was a great psychotic villianess I will not soon forget. The whole crazy idea that she was working for some Aztec goddess was intriguing. Overall, this was a fastatic novel, maybe my favorite or close second since I have been reading the series. I couldn't set it down till I finished!

After having this book highly recommended to myself, and after having enjoyed each of the other Doug W. Bolan books I've read, I was eager to dive into Devil's Playground, maybe too eager. The start of this one is quite disappointing; a few trite shoot-outs, a plot that could have come from any Mike Newton Bolan, and plenty of editing errors that drove me crazy. So why am I giving this one an 8? Because though the first quarter of the novel was by-the-numbers, the rest of it was hugely entertaining. This novel finds Bolan helping to clear out a drug cartel in Acapulco, while being played by the governor's wife, who wants the cartel out so that her death cult can easily sweep in and take over. It doesn't sound too special and could be from any number of regular Bolanverse stories, especially when you toss in some Russian mafiya boys as additional cannon fodder, but it grows much more interesting halfway through, because that's when we get the weird supernatural angle. The main villaness, who only really comes out as a real nasty in the last third of the book, believes that she is on a mission from a Death Goddess to kill Mack. Okay, so she's a looney, and the voices in her head can easily be explained away. But the author manages a lot of clever tricks to appease the more...believing side of me. And best of all, the eerie overtones don't feel out of place at all. Also great were the supporting characters, the angry twin sister of a law officer murdered by the high priestess and a journalist helping her prove her sister wasn't involved in the Acapulco drug trade. They had enough of the spotlight to themselves without taking away any of Mack's thunder, and each was interesting and enjoyable to read about, especially the female part of the equation. It's such a relief to find a competent female character in one of these books who manages to hold her own realistically in fights and not get captured and need rescuing. One surprising disappointment to me were the action scenes. Normally, in Doug W.'s books, I find some extremely well-written action scenes that meld huge bodycounts with compelling writing. But here, most of the action scenes were pedestrian, even against some interesting villains, such as the Russian mafiya leader with half a paralyzed face (thanks to one of Bolan's blitzes in Moscow). Big shootouts with lots of falling bodies, but little imagination or excitement. Fortunately, several high-quality action scenes do make up for the weaker ones. Including the massive ending shootout, which was extremely thrilling, and a fight between Mack and two komodo dragons that has to be read to be believed. Overall, I really wanted to give this a 9, but several irritating editing and continuity errors refuse to let me do that. A couple of the minor dialog ones (characters knowing of events they shouldn't) I could easily ignore or explain away, but a character's last name seemingly changing and a mysterious gun that disappears three times and yet returns magically to the owner's hand? That's unacceptable to me. But still, these faults are minor. I'd highly recommend Devil's Playground, just as it was recommended to me. Although with the advice that it might take a little while to really get going.

Another good SuperBolan from Doug. As usual, the action was above par. Also a big plus was the depth of the Anibella character and how she tried to ensnare Bolan in her deceitful, sexual web. It seemed obvious that a character or two was introduced in an earlier book, but that didn't detract. Overall, a very enjoyable romp.

Do not overlook this novel. There are no nukes of the month, Muslims of the week, and yeah, the world’s population is not at risk. This remarkable novel uses the least worn areas of the series. Different, to say the least, the entry frequently uses horror, savagery and plays to basic fears, with even a little dash of mysticism tossed in. This new Acapulco blitz has a number of surprises, twists and cliffhangers that I could not put down. Another wrinkle, one of the main villains is hidden in plain sight like an old episode of Columbo. This layered cake of intrigue rendered to life with effective writing here has to be regarded as one of the top books of the series. As always, I also liked the relevant references and links to classic stories from the past. (I would like to give it a bonus point for being set in Acapulco, a city that I had a chance to visit for the first time only a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn’t get that slider bar up to 11).

Let me start by saying that Doug is one of my favorite current authors in the Bolanverse. I reviewed “Aftershock” under the name Bobg and wish I could go back and give it more stars because I just reread it and liked it better the 2nd time around. As soon as I saw that Doug was going to have this book coming out I was anxious to get my hands on it. I had built up a big expectation based on his past work so I eagerly started reading it as soon as I opened the shipment box. The opening sequences seemed a little hard to follow and as I’ve said in the past, it may be because of the editing. This one in particular because I’m sure they had to cut some stuff to fit the Room 59 preview in the back. As I kept reading I started to get more into it and was digging the over the top violence and action that Doug is so famous for. I particularly liked the description of eyeball fluids. Great stuff! Then certain things started happening that I thought was pretty out of character for a Bolan book that I almost quit reading it. It felt like I was reading a cross between a Doc Savage book and Indiana Jones movie, both of which I like but did not feel like human sacrifices and flesh eating Komodo dragons fit into how I think a Bolan story should be. So I put the book down for a few days and contemplated shelving it. Then one night I decided to get the stick out of my butt, open my mind, and give it another shot. I paid money for this book so I was going to finish it by gosh. I told myself I’m not reading a Pulitzer Prize winning deep novel but an action adventure story that is written to entertain. I’m glad I gave it another chance because entertain it did. It turned out to be a real page-turner, the scene with Bolan and the two sisters was pretty adrenaline filled and the ending was top notch. So far this is the most “different” type of Bolan book that I’ve read but I highly recommend this as a good read. If you start stumbling through like I did, give it a chance, you’ll be glad you did. Thanks Doug.