War Hammer

I normally enjoy Linaker's novels, but this one was a chore to get through for me. It started off promising, with the missing tech guy and his blind sister, but this part is over in the first two chapters. Then Mack is running around the world getting in one pointless gun battle after another. These action scenes were mostly tedious, with our boy mowing down countless cardboard cutouts in a by-the-numbers fashion. By the time they got to Iraq I had already checked out.

This adventure is a race against time to prevent an Iraqi madman from unleashing nuclear missiles. Bolan spends much of the story one step behind the stolen hi-tech triggers for these missiles as they are smuggled around the world to their destination. Lots of carnage ensues as Bolan blasts his way through San Diego, Ireland, France, Spain and Iraq. A great finishing sequence at the missile base with Grimaldi piloting dragonslayer for the exciting final scenes. If you wondered when Bolan's first experience with dragonslayer was, this is the book.One of my favorite parts of the book was the trek Bolan and his allies made across the Turkish and Iraqi mountains. One of the things that make this book more than a standard Executioner adventure was the perfect fit the author made into the series with his first Bolan story. Like he did with with Phoenix Force, Linaker's first book read like he had been writing the series already for years. The Mack Bolan in this novel is the same and true version readers would be familiar with from the Pendleton/Newton/Mertz etc. of old. Another plus is for this book is the return of a character from another novel, Ben Sharon, who makes a solid ally for Bolan. Readers lucky enough to find the Heroes compilation books will recognize Sharon from the Phoenix Force novel Survival Run, also by Linaker. All in all, another good action-packed show.

hmm not bad but not up there with the classics. The plot is pretty good and the action is not bad but repetitive. Tariq is a pretty good character in the story but as usual he is killed near the end of the story as per most of Bolan's allies. Certainly worth a read not in any way as bad as some of the junk in the series. my two bobs worth........

execellent addition to the already excellent series, mack is the man... no if, ands, or but,s about it, he rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was an excellent entry. Plenty of action to satisfy my tastes.