Deep and Swift

Colombian and Vietnamese drug dealers battle for the drug trade in New York with the ongoing violence spilling over to innocent bystanders and the Big Guy is brought into the mess to try and sort it out. I struggled through this one though where I thought initially it was going to be a very good read turned out to be just another in the mediocre category. Lots of action scenes to keep you interested which is good but they tended to just repeat themselves one after the other with little to excite when reading. I also thought the killing of the female NYPD Detective was very abrupt and condensed in the story which maybe should have been expanded upon somewhat. Recommended reading in the series ? Nah not from me but you could do worse up to you.

I think this is Furst's best novel so far, and one of the better Executioner stories I've read in some time. An outstanding action packed gang warfare novel set in New York City. Readers who liked Red Horse should like this one, it is similar in some ways to that book. The action scenes were nonstop, but more than that, they were much better written than the older Furst books like Tightrope. Not as much conspiracy, just straight up taking out the bad guys in the streets of New York, but as a pure thrilling action novel, I enjoyed this book very much. Bolan gets involved in a gang war between the crack dealing Columbians and the new gang, the Vietnamese gang dealing in a new cocain/heroin mixture called "sotty". These gangs were ruthless and vicious, and I thought a good challenge for Bolan. The villains were done very well, in particular the vietnamese drug kingpins Pete Nhu and Bob Lac. I also thought Lac's henchmen Hao and Ngu were written great. They were competant, tough, and smart Soldiers that were believable and not just ordinary cardboard targets for Bolan's gun. I also liked the way the girl Minh, who helped Bolan, was written, a definite plus to the story. The final shootout at the drug lab was awesome, an excellent finishing scene to the book, which is another improvement from Furst's earlier books when you blink and the action is over. I almost gave Deadline and Knockdown 10 star ratings, but had minor issues that seemed to be solved in Deep and Swift. One hell of an exciting entry in the series.

Mack didn't sound like Mack at times. The book was published in 1991 probably written circa 1989 and Mack used "hey, man" at least twice when to his allies like Doc. I can't recall him ever using the term "hey, man" post Pendleton and I am positive that expression was so passe by the late 80s/early 90s. Way too many characters. Some of the characters especially the Vietnamese ones could have been merged. I liked the vengence story by Lousa although Mack didn't kill her husband - well her brother-in-law. Mack was quite cruel which is rather out-of-synch. He forced a drug dealer to overdose then walked away. Mack always kills with mercy ie no suffering. This guy he let him stay on the bathroom floor to live or die based upon if a person comes to help him. I did like the fact that Mack was remembered by the Vietnamese for his fighting in the country but most importantly as his role as Sgt Mercy. A somewhat good novel. Way too many characters. I also got a bit lost in the last action scene in the rug cleaning business. A good action writer nevers lets his readers get lost. Overall a 6.

Bolan is in NYC. A gang war between Vietnamese and Columbian drugdealers has heated up and is spilling to innocent people. Enter the Executioner. With the help a NYC undercover detective, Bolan blitzes the Big Apple. This was a very good novel. It's loaded with detailed characters, but it doesn't overwhelm the reader with so many that they can't be tracked. The action scenes are well-written and satisfying. There are a few flaws, however, that keep this from getting a perfect rating. The biggest is the death of a female cop. Bolan meets her, beds her, and watches her get killed within 10 pages. The he promptly forgets her. The scene was very abrupt and didn't add anything to the book. Another flaw was that Bolan was asked by at least three cops if he had a license for his armnament. Since when is that a problem for him? Perhaps an occasional run-in with the law, but in this one he was working with the cops, fighting alongside them, and then asked if he had permits for the weapons. Unbelievable. However, the rest of the writing was excellent and the plot was very good. Excellent read.

Deep and Swift is just an average gang war book with lots of action yet little mystery which is what I prefer to have in a Mack Bolan book. However it is always special when Bolan has an "side-kick" or someone fighting with him on his missions like we have Doctorow in this book giving the book a bit of a personal touch which always adds more magic to the story from my point of view. Anyway, this book is a fast one but leaves me with very little in the end making it just an average one!!!!

A real decent effort with more ties to Vietnam.

THE FIRST MACK BOLAN BOOK I EVER READ. I OBVIOUSLY LIKED IT.

Not a great one by Furst, but it passes as enjoyable.