Shadow War

By the end of this adventure Phoenix Force are down to one man and Able have two. Everybody else is in hospital having their limbs replaced and vital organs transplanted. The adventure rushed along and I mainly enjoyed Calvin James' solo adventures in France and Venezuela. The lawyer scenes with Calvin James were very funny. Rafael and Gary Manning hook up with the remnants of Able to launch an assault on a Zeta compound in Mexico where Gary breaks his leg (and then somehow manages to get himself to France to assist Calvin James and gets around okay with a leg in a cast - bizarrely the broken leg is credited to Calvin for a paragraph before Manning gets it back). The plot isn't very clear, there is mention of the main villain speculating on the US dollar and hoping to sink the currency by launching chemical weapons on the U.S. but this is only in a single sentence. But where this story fell down for me was the old time & distance equation. One moment Phoenix are in Marseilles, France, and then we hear that McCarter is on a medical ship in the Gulf of Oman and the prisoner is on Diego Garcia - all of which are half a world away from where they were. Then two of Phoenix show up in Stony Man and off they are to Mexico. It kind of felt like Game of Thrones' final season where characters moved effortlessly around a continent. Characters would move vast distances with out regard for time. Very off putting. Love the cover but not sure what it had to do with the story as no missile was fired at the little UAV that Carmen was controlling. Also Mack Bolan puts in a cameo.

This is a bit different in the series where both of the Teams have been decimated with injuries to such an extent so early in the title that the surviving Team members join up together to continue on with the mission. The title the first in this series from this author is well worth your reading as many fine action scenes are introduced and the storyline flows along nicely. Couple of stars added for the Calvin stuff in France on his search for the wounded TJ very enjoyable reading. One star deducted for an ordinary ending, I personally don't like to see the bad guys being given a free pass no matter what and the Farm doesn't and shouldn't have to put up with the crap that results in one of the bad guys getting one even to the chagrin and rage of Ironman and I am right with him. So all in all you would most likely enjoy this title if you gave it a go I reckon.

In his first Stony Man entry, the author spares no time in decimating the teams. It’s clear who his favorites are, because the survivors are characters he used before in other entries. Gary Manning is clearly the favorite among favorites. Somehow he even outranks Carl Lyons in a combined Phoenix Force and Able Team unit. The unique nature of seeing a unified team, under unusual circumstances has to place this entry as something more memorable that it probably should. The fact that a team member needs a lawyer is worth the price of the read. Just to warn you, I liked the first escape from France, but not the last one.

Shadow War is a fast paced read. Nice to see an author step away from the norm, teams down so many men they have to combine efforts, and Gary as lead continuing on the mission. It was also refreshing to see the combined team train together prior to the next mission. Action sequences were well written and with enough intensity to keep you reading.

Contains spoilers This Stony Man was great. Able Team and Pheonix Force gets their butts kicked but still manage to save the day (of course). The action sequences were very well done and excitiing. I feel weird saying this, but it was nice to see things go wrong for both teams and result in injuries and agents missing. The story arc with the remaining healthy agents of both teams joining together and going to Mexico was really well done. Also, Calvin James one-man mission to try to save T.J. was very well done. Overall a good read.