Reviews (15)
After 237 campaigns against mafiosi and terrorists, Bolan goes up against a new (at the time) enemy: Pirates!
Bolan's in the Caribbean here, catching some sun and bullets as he battles Sanitago Crowe, a ruthless scourge who steals from the rich on their cruise ships and holds them for ransom. After countless previous books about bad guys who try and take over the world, it was nice to see a villain with a plausible modus operandi.
While I agree that the toxic waste subplot was unnecessary, it didn't really detract from the excitement but does show why the series was better off at staying around the ~190 page mark. If this was one of the 250 page entries, then the toxic waste plotline might've worked better and had more time to be fleshed out.
Even with this pointless subplot, the book flows extremely well. From the opening shootout, to the climactic duel against Crowe, the speedboat chase with a little bit of rocket launcher mayhem to boot, Crimson Tide makes for a great read.
The whole book takes place on and in the ocean surrounding Jamaica. Oddly enough, despite a lack of globe hopping, or anything close to that, this entry in the series reads more like it might have been intended as a super Bolan rather than a 220 page Executioner. There is much in the way of plot and characters that would have been more than enough for a larger novel, yet was somehow crammed into this smaller format. While this made for a jam-packed read, it also was a little too much and kind of made it a little bit of a muddled mess.
However, this book has plenty of good moments, and the ending was terrific, which is why I am going to give Crimson Tide an 8 rating. The early part of the story focus is on the kidnapping for ransom end of the story, and later on the toxic waste part becomes the major focus, with yet more hostage rescue thrown in to make things more tense. Along the way there are a variety of lesser villains and allies Bolan deals with to go with the larger than usual cast of main villains.
I thought there was too much going on regarding the number of main factions and their leaders, but like I mentioned, I think being a larger book would have been better for this story, but still an enjoyable read, there is a lot of bang for the buck going on here, so worth the read for sure.
Well for the first third of this title even though I enjoyed Mack working with the Mafia guy I was pretty bored and was thinking this is going to be a dud of a book.
During the middle section of the title my interest was piqued as the title really picks up pace and the ending third of the book is fantastic reading.
The assault on the boat by Mack and the Seal team is indeed fine reading with the rocket launcher section at the climax of the title exceptional.
Like everyone else I was wondering about the toxic waste and agree it was not a necessary inclusion in the title as the hostage stuff would have sufficed for the plot.
This ends up being a pretty good read and I would recommend you to read this.
I thought it was a fun novel. Ok I think Crowe should have been the only villian in the novel. I thought the toxic dump saga could have been another book.
What saved it for me was the first 1/3 with Syxx. Too often we see mafia heavy's as all bad with nothing redeeming. I picture that Syxx will one day be offered a choice by either Bolan or Turrin to join the other side. Its a shame he was only in the first 1/3. I would have liked him to have remained and then at the end Bolan giving him a choice to come with him or to go back to the mafia.
Although I got the impression he probably will anyways with the mafia daughter.
I am still unsure how Bolan or Turrin will explain why the 5 million is lost to Boston don.
The ending was pretty fun. Not sure why Crowe insisted on doing both the kidnapping and storming the Japanese vessel same night. It didn't seem like the brightest idea - overreaching a lot came in mind.
Although the book overreached for 220 pages three major villians were too many. For 350 fine but not 220.
"Crimson Tide" was pretty much "Bolan by the numbers". It wasn't bad but it wasn't one of the better efforts put forth by Mel Odom either.
The pirates of Caribbean plot was interesting but it wasn't handled in a particularly dramatic way in my opinion. Even the aspects of Bolan allying himself with the mob to fight a more vicious foe wasn't dealt in a very vivid manner. There was a sort of tired feel to this novel with every little energy in it, which was unlike most work by this author.
Although there are some decent action sequences here, the characters and plotlines all seemed overly familiar. And I agree with others that the waste-dumping angle was more confusing than anything. Odom's done much better work, so this must have been an off time for him.
Another A here! Mel Odom is definitely up thee with David Robbins and Mark Ellis as my three favorite Bolan authors. I've evern read subsequent works of Mr. Odom's as a result of this book. Absolutely thrilling and reminiscent of the older Bolan reads. I enjoy when Bolan goes off on his own, on "personal" missions. Wish he'd do it more often.
A thoroughly enjoyable piece. There's so much cool stuff going on, I was run ragged. The return of Bolan's Black Ace. Gun battles with the Rastas and Mack working WITH the Mafia. The battle for the Obsidian Princess. But Murphy said it best. "The pirates of the Carribean with ninjas thrown in. Sounds like a scene from Walt Disney hell." And from Mack Bolan heaven. The three way battle between the Yakuza, the pirates, and Bolan and the Gitmo SEALs was worth the price of admission alone. Odom is the MAN!
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE WHOLE YAKUZA, TOXIC WASTE PLOT, I THOUGHT THAT THIS BOOK TOTALLY ROCKED THE HOUSE DOWN. THE FIGHT BETWEEN BOLAN AND CROWE WAS WORTH WAITING FOR AND THE ACTION SCENES KICKED ASS!!!! BRINGING CHASE MURPHY BACK WAS A NICE TOUCH TOO. I LIKED HIM IN #126 AND HE'S STILL COOL!
This one was pretty good. i liked the technical support mack got from stonyman but he was still working alone. This one had some awsome action scenes in the ocean (I agree much like deep attack, but remained orginal). The only problem was the tie in with the japanese mob and the nuclear waste confused me for a chapter or two.
Excellent book. Close to a 10. I loved the part where Bolan is on the cruise ship and holds off the pirates while waiting on the seals. Once again, it centered Mack in a tropical climate (a la Deep Attack), where I think his action is best. Buy it.
This one was kind of a dud for me. Again, I was pretty busy so I couldn't read this one in one or two sittings. I found myself quite unmotivated to continue reading this one, but I did. I thought it was well-written and had some good action scenes in it as well as some great description, but I just found the characters and the whole idea of the story itself rather uninteresting.
This one was pretty boring. I never made it past the first
A fun, fast paced read for me on this one. A solid bad guy (loved his chain) and some good dialog along the way.
