Judgement in Blood

Well the start is brilliant and I am thinking how good is this going to be. Sadly I think it just plodded along from there, I know that this title is setting up the finish of the duology and is necessary but nothing happens here. Page after page of filler on what could happen YAWN! Didn't like it at all.

I had high hopes for this after reading the first chapter- talk about starting off with a bang- but those hopes weren't fully realized and ultimately I found this one to be a little disappointing...surprisingly enough from Michael Kasner! The good points- plenty of Able Team, hell, the first part of the book seemed almost like a classic Able solo adventure...that is until Mack shows up out of the blue where he wasn't necessary. Bolan's appearance almost seems forced. The villian, Betancourt and his "straw bosses" Givens and Miller were well done and Betancourt's master plan actually made sense and seemed fairly plausible. And last but not least, having the crew go out unsanctioned was good to see, but it did seem like they were holding back. The bad points- you want action? Nope, not here, the action comes fast and ends faster, a couple of shots and the bad guys are down...end of story. All-in-all it seemed like the threats were handled way to easy, figured out way too quickly with some lackluster detective work, and put to a halt with a couple of well placed slugs to some inept Rainbow Dawn goon. If you are a fan of TJ, you might enjoy his extended scenes, but all in all I found him to be slightly annoying (as usual)... In the future, instead of trying to make Stony Man into a Tom Clancy's Op-Center wanna-be, just let them be what they are...the "determined warriors" the cover blurb speaks of! Hopefully, the sequel will show to be an improvement...

I am in two minds on this story. On the one hand, the villain's motives were, to my mind, understandable (although his desire to destory the three historic sites are not). I though that the Millar character of the security force was great, along with Mitchell and Givens. On the other hand, the characterizations of the good guys was way off, particularly Lyons. Since when has he been content enough to sit around and wait for somwething to happen? Also, why did Able Team need Bolan as support, when the mission was going so slowly? However, it was good to see Able overseas again. Quite a slow moving story, but not to bad, in my opinion.

I'm kind of torn over this one. I was engrossed by the plot, and thought the 3-way story arc was handled well. But, it was lacking in action scenes. Having those triple doses of Bolan, Able and Phoenix action is what defines the Stony Man series.

Another well-done book by Kasner. Even if you never looked who wrote this one, you would know it to be a Kasner book pretty quickly as within the first few pages a senator really gives someone a good chewing-out. :) Anyway, this is also a good one to read because the farm is undergoing a move and a lot of good farm description is put forth. Highly recommend. For the action-fans, though, this one is pretty tame...

I always liked the Pendelton book, but hey with Mack Bolan kickin' arse, who wouldn't? But then again, having a hotte ex-stripper like Melanie Mitchell don't hurt.

Great book, up till this one most Stony Man's sucked but this one was really good.

This book was awsome. The ending was a blast. I hope the next one is good as well.

A real ass kicker!!!