Death Trail

I liked this one. The plot is great and the setup for Bolan to be recruited into the arms dealers employ is very well done indeed. I also enjoyed when they finally found out it is Bolan they are dealing with and the change of attitude in the relating characters. Just one thing I found it unlikely the would have been able to identify Bolan from his fingerprints. A great read and highly recommended. my two bobs worth........

Another entertaining entry from VanCook. His novels seem to form the backbone of the series around this time. Although this book was nowhere near as good as Cayman Strike, it is still quite good and I enjoyed reading it. A major portion of the story is an undercover role for Bolan. I like these kind of books, and Bolan's "Al Giddings" persona puts him through some suspensful moments, some explosive action, and some crazy times. Gus Webster was a well written villain, and his three underboss badguys were interesting. Much of the book Bolan is paired up with one of the more memorable badguys in the series. Deetlev Van Doorn is a vile waste of human flesh, the author really piles on a cliche of an alchohol swigging racist woman beating lowlife, that it is a comical addition to the novel. You can really feel Bolan's revulsion to have to work with this loser, and the ultimate fate of this pairing of our hero and this scumbag is predictible, and chapter seven of this book alone is worth the price of admission just to see the great scene of Mack's takedown of Van Doorn. I also liked Bolan's taking action to save innocent lives near the boat when a plan he devised was about to backfire. It's good to read about these kinds of twists in a hero's plans, a story where everything works just the way the hero wanted makes for a less interesting adventure. I found myself going "oh shit, now what?". A good scene, as was many others in this novel.

Bolan hears of an arms dealer stockpiling weapons. The dealer has far more weapons than necessary -- something is up. Bolan goes undercover to figure out what's going on. The plot was alright. The bad guys were a little over-the-top. The right-hand man, for instance, is a tall, blond Scandanavian who uses a battle axe. And while nobody trusts Bolan, they keep giving him leeway to do his thing. However, the writing on this one is very good. The book flies along. Action scenes are well done, and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the pages turning. Overall, a solid entry in the series.

This book was a bit strange as the better part of it was about Bolan sailing from to port to port with a drunken manic and sadist on a mission for the enemy and also looking for clues to the plot of the book. This part is way too long all though it was quite interesting all the same. The end was a short one making the plot dull and very thin after all the traveling and trouble of finding out about it from the beginning of the book. It is always great when the enemy finds out who Bolan really is and how secure they become as he is "just another man" in their minds yet they fail to get him every single time as their security always ends up to be their downfall. I wonder how and what tipped Bolan off regarding the possible treat of Gus Webster and his gang as it wasn´t really explained in the book whatsoever???

GOOD ENTRY INTO THE SERIES. LIKED THE CHARACTERS IN THIS ONE. LIKED EVERYONE'S REACTION WHEN THEY DISCOVERED WHO BOLAN REALLY WAS.

A GOOD ONE. JUST THE PART WHEN THEY FIND OUT THAT GIDDINGS IS REALLY THE EXECUTIONER IS WORTH IT. ACTUALLY, ANY BOOK WHEN THE BAD GUYS FIND OUT BOLAN'S TRUE IDENTITY IS AWESOME BECAUSE THEIR CONFIDENT ATTITUDE CHANGES PRETTY QUICKLY.

Just your standard, run of the mill Bolan. How lucky can one guy get. Did that hammer fall on an empty chamber with Mack in his sights?