Dixie Convoy

Mack is back and this time it's in Georgia. I thought this book had potential to be something good. It had some good supporting players like David Ecceisfield. I thought he was a good character. And I hope his character turns up again in later books. Didnt like the C B jargon to much. I liked when Leo called for help. Good set up for the next book. 6 stars.

The Big Guy's primary goal, when first he descended upon this Southern stronghold, had been to harass and disrupt their trade lanes. He'd come in with heroin from Mexico and quickly found himself confronted with a billion-dollar annual traffic in other unlawful commodities, as well. Enter the most confusing and hard to understand titles in the Mafia Wars series where trying to figure out what is going on is close to impossible. The introduction of a Black Ace and his disciples was good but brief apart from that not much good to say. Bad to say lots and lots but wow the CB talking crap is the biggest turnoff of the lot (do people actually talk like that up there?) surely not. Like other reviewers have said I also when approaching the end of the title skipped through the CB talk looking for english to read. Very disappointing title the worst in my opinion of the original series I hated it first time I read it, I hated it when I reread it quite some time ago and I hated it having just finished it again for this review. Certainly nothing to recommend in this title read ANY other title in the series.

Bolan battles a large operation based out of Atlanta in episode #27. This was the second in a row I'd rate slightly above average ("7") after four great books, #s 22-25. The Executioner stumbles on a massive operation of trafficking, to include everything from drugs to stolen goods, etc. These items are being moved from the east coast to northern Mexico, and Bolan intervenes to disrupt the mafia's service. Bolan works along side a young fed name Ecclefield, which creates some good dialogue and some insight into Bolan's thought process as he educates his partner. They join forces to take on mafia mogul Sciaparelli and his minions, while Bolan also has a run-in with four "Aces". The one significant drawback from the book was the overabundance of CB talk, as was expressed in other reviews. I too found this a bit much, rather boring, and not adding much to what could've been a real quality story. All-in-all Dixie Convoy wasn't a terrible book. It had moments that I really enjoyed it and was flying through the pages. However, the over-the-top trucker sequences ... for me ... took away from the story.

After three very good books in a row comes a real letdown in Dixie Convoy. It starts out great with the hit on the warehouse and the introduction of the black ace Domino, but after that the story really fizzles fast. As mentioned, the CB talk is such a waste and I found myself skimming the last couple chapters trying to ignore all of it. I didn't really get the whole "Us vs Them" setup either. A very average offering here.

Painfully annoying CB radio lingo throughout ! and a confusing plot to top it all off. Its cool to see an "Ace" show up, but alas Bolan just blows him away in seconds. Only thing it has going for it is it continues on to the next entry ....

I just didn't get into this one at all. Didn't have any plot that I could find, and the action was sparse, I don't remember much from this one.

In my opinion, this book is the start of the end for the Mafia Wars for Executioner Bolan. It was great to see another Blak Ace enter the story and the play by play with the truckers was also a great touch.

Another below par effort by Pendleton. It seems after 20 or so books, he has run out of steam with Bolan. The plot concerns smuggling and some sort of intra-mafia rivalry, but Pendleton describes that only as "us vs. them", without being too clear as to who's on what side. The biggest redeeming value of this book, however, was the large role of CB's in the novel. The "break-a-break good buddy, catch you on the flip-flop, 10-4" jargon was like a flashback to the late 70's. The discussion Bolan has with about CBs could be applied today to internet chat. Other than that, the book had little merit. Turrin is thrown in as an afterthought. One or two good battle scene, but the end disappoints. This book was a fair read, at best.

Bolan takes his war to Atlanta and the surrounding towns. Why is never exactly spelled out. I suspect is was a good way to work in more southern slang to go along with the embarassing CB radio stuff. It's obvious that Pendleton wrote this during the CB radio craze of the mid seventies, a time when the song "Convoy" was a hit on radio and pop culture was thick with "breaker breaker" and "10-4", everybody had a "handle" and "Smokey and the Bandit" was considered grand entertainment. If you can read this book without cringing you're a better man than I am. The plot: I still don't know what the heck was going on in this one. The action: a good opener with Bolan's hit on a trucking center. Another good bit when he breaks up a mob ambush. The last firefight seemed to be thrown together as an afterthought. The other characters: Reynolds might have been OK except for all that CB trucker talk. Jennifer was less than memorable. Ecclefield was OK. Domino and his crew of "black aces" were a bit hard to believe in. This review is better than most of this book deserves. Some of the action is good but there are long stretches between the good bits. This one gets only 4 stars.

This was the first Bolan book that I bought (I was initially attracted to the British cover where an 18 wheerler is being torn apart by heavy machine gun fire!) and the second Bolan that I read. It was very nearly the last one that I read as well. Then, way back in 1985, I was confused by a)the fact that I had no idea who Brognola etc was, having only read book 1. b) the CB talk lost me completely. c) The plot was extremely unclear. Today, points b and c still stand. I was still lost by the CB prattle, and even though I knew that books 28 and 29 were going to continue the Mafia power struggle, I was still confused over the plot. This is not my favourite Pendleton book. Two of the four stars that I have given are for the British cover.

NICELY DONE!

Average effort.

Nothing great about this one. Like the front cover. Overall, an average effort.

I grew up where this Bolan adventure is set. This book makes alot of references to CB radio's, so it seems kinda of dated when read in 1998, "Good Buddy." Other than that, a good book to read.