Rampage

I thought this was pretty much a weak terrorist of the month story as far as plotline goes. Cowboy, Jack, Phoenix Force (but why remains a point as apart from Katz very briefly a couple of times the other guys are only mentioned by reference) are all included here along with Hal in the field. Unfortunately a lot of wanking on where the author just seems to waffle on and on for extended periods which leads to a very fine but very short brief ending. No honor among thieves here folks everyone is out to stab someone else in the back and some good reading interspersed among the long sections of the above but unfortunately too few. Bolan does very little as the title plods along and this is not one to recommend for reading I reckon.

This book starts off rather ordinary, then later develops in some good action scenes and fast paced storytelling. The plot is intricate with two different parties with their own agendas doing their thing, with Bolan and his allies mixed in to stop the badguys in the country of France. The Blood Against Oppression is a group using terrorism to achieve their goals, and the Russians use more covert means to achieve their agenda. These two groups are linked in complicated ways, and along with a large cast of characters on both the good and the bad sides, I thought this was a little too complicated to digest as I read. But Renauld keeps the story moving, with several good action sequences and detailed focus on the variety of villains in this novel. I really liked the hostage scenes at the airport. Mack Bolan himself doesn't accomplish much though, spending much of his time riding in helicopters and cars and getting involved in the action in only the most minimal scenes. Team Stony, as I like to think of it, consists of Bolan, Grimaldi, Kissinger, and Brognola. Each of these members get as much part of the action as any other, and one thing I did like was Brognola getting involved, which is something rarely seen in the series. As usual, Renauld has a very story oriented tale, with a good focus on the badguys, but I was disappointed with the ending of this book, it was very rushed, with an interesting but not much of a brief climax, with Bolan again not getting more than a paragraph of the action. All in all, Rampage is a decent book, but I liked Renauld's other superbolan novel I read, "Firepower", a little better.

Terrorists threaten the Cannes film festival. Bolan ventures to the Riviera to protect the wealthy and punish the terror mongers. Average effort on "Rampage". The writing is good and crisp and moves along nicely. The brief battle scenes are inter-connected and keep Bolan and his allies moving. However, several logical flaws keep this one from being the best. First of all, Bolan as a protector has always been a tough sell. It's not the best use of his special talents. He should be causing mayhem, not reacting to it or trying to prevent it. It also is an unusual assignment for Bolan. Yes, taking down terrorists is in his job description, but it seems that US interests are minor, here, at best and that Bolan would not be the first person called in a situation like this. Other minor points nag as well. Kissinger travels with him and is fitted with a leg brace that hampers his mobility, yet has no trouble negotiating through a storm drain. The lead terrorist flees to lick his wounds, and finds the same hotel room open where he had a romantic encounter. Gosh, would you believe that the same paramour shows up the very next day? Overall, the book's writing and plot are held at bay by more logic flaws than usual. "Rampage" entertains, but only if you don't look too closely at the details.

Loved the setting of this one, a film festival in Cannes that becomes the target of terrorists. Great plotting here and top-notch dialogue. A lot of attention was paid to fleshing out the characters, too, which is something that's missing in a lot of the books in this series. Bolan shines, of course, but gets some good support from Kissinger and Grimaldi. Even Brognola gets his hands a little dirty in this one. A must read for SuperBolan fans.

This was actually a good Renauld book. Maybe he's more suited to writing longer novels. There was good action all the way through, including a suicide attack on Cannes, and an interesting attempt to kidnap the President's daughter. The villain was well-developed, too. The only drawback was a very Renauld-ish final confrontation that, like his old Able books, you'd blink and it would be over. But, overall, a decent effort.

Good cross-cutting in terms of storytelling here and I especially liked the way the Hollywood types at the film festival were shown as being tiresome and self-absorbed instead of cool. Ali-Jahn was a well-crafted villain, too. Great climax and lots of good dialogue.

Found this at a used book store while on vacation and balked when I saw it was by Renauld, who gets mostly bad reviews here. Liked the idea of a shoot-em-up based around the Cannes Film Festival, though, and decided to give it a try. Good call!! Renauld gets a little too literary at times and he's more work to read than most, but it's worth it. RAMPAGE is well thought-out and choreographed, not crammed with the usual filler and stock scenes. The characters, especially the bad guys like Ali-Jahn, felt more three-dimensional than usual, too. A little more gunplay and action would've made this a 10, but as it is I'm going to look for some of Renauld's old Able Teams to see if they're better than the reviews.