Dead Man Running

What a great book, This is old school Bolan. He's a very cold customer in this one, and He's not going to be stopped until He find's the traitor. I liked the way Mack was able to Infiltrate the white house as a news reporter. And the later use role camouflage to impersonate the Black Ace. I was kind of upset that the little boy and his family was killed. I didn't think the Author needed to kill them off. this book had so many good things going for it. Susan Laundry getting herself kidnapped was kind of lame. And then killing the KGB agent and then blowing Mack's cover. I don't know why she was even in the book. Other than that I thought the book was Fantastic. Just the very Mack executed the traitor right in the oval office in front of the President makes this book 10 stars for me.

Perhaps my favorite all-time Executioner...this is a solid 10! The finale to the Day of Mourning trilogy has it all...including the "return" of Mack Bolan. The final scene in the White House is fantastic with Mack leaving his government-prescribed position and going back to a self-governed war...this time with the KGB. This book had amazing dialogue, spy novel-like intrigue, masterful war scenes, and that fantastic finish.

Great finish to a great trilogy! High body count and Bolan back to doing what he does best: wiping out Mafia scumbags. The Soviet angle was well handled as they are in bed with the Mafia. And I love the traps they keep envisioning for capturing Mack. Suspense was well maintained, the action fast and furious while still building towards the final showdown. The scene in the oval office alone is worth the price of admission. This is one of the superior entries in the series. Don't miss it!

Well if you have read quite a lot of these titles especially around this era of the series you would have to agree Stephan Mertz was in the zone around this time period. This is an excellent title perfectly fitting in as the third installment of the Day of Mourning trilogy with all of the questions raised during the previous two titles being answered in a very satisfying way. You will be impressed with the OrgCrime copper Sprague and the reporter Susan Landry who is a previous lover of the Big guy especially nearing the ending when Sprague blurts out the name "Bolan" and guess what the reporter who has had intimate relations with the long dead named Bolan looks at Phoenix in front of her imagining this guy minus plastic surgery and in "amazement/horror/lust/caring/bemusement what does she see? Take your pick a very special moment in the timeline of the big guy where he has lost the love of his life recently (and there is no Price on the horizon) yet what happens between him and the reporter is well you should read it for yourself. If you are going to read the series in some depth and want to understand the character of the big guy this trilogy is a timeline of the series. The first section of books written by Don himself narrate the Mafia Wars where the next section of titles relate to the Terrorist wars where Mack is sactioned by the US government and features in the some of the other series. THIS IS THE ONE !! From this title onwards the Big Guy is back in the lone wolf status the start of the KGB Wars section of the titles and many many titles featuring Greb Strakhov who you will come to hate big time. How good the final confrontation in the Oval Office where the mole is revealed and what happens in this title. The KGB massively bigger than the Mafia depicted as the no win war, well the Big Guy has faced insurmountable challenges before? In future titles it is changed where he assists Stony Man on occassions if it suits him until today but this is the turning point, do yourself a favour if you are interested in this series in some depth this trilogy is one of the turning points. HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended reading.

I thought this book wrapped up the triliogy nicely, and gave the series a nice, fresh start in a new direction. The good: Lots of action, some plot twists (though not so subtle, I knew who the mole was) and solid story-telling. The bad: The writing was a bit melodramatic at times, and it felt like it was stuffed with fluff to get the page-count up. Over all, still a good entry, and even though it's dated, it holds up well.

Well it took me over a year but I finally got around to reading this one, after the lacklustre Terminal Velocity I decided to give Mack a break for a while and read other stuff all the time planning that when I did come back this would be the one that I read. Solid action, great writing and Bolan back where he belongs all make this for me the best book in the trilogy. This is only my second 10 star rating and well deserved it is. This one is a must read.

Again, some major disappointment as my expectations were fairly high for this closure of the most important trilogy in the Bolan war again crime. What was wrong with this book? Well……..dull, predictable, disjointed are words that come to my mind at this moment along with unclear plot and a strange relationship between the KGB and the Mafia. The plot was fairly standard Mafia war one with a very few new and surprising elements but the back ground story of this KGB/Mafia connection was unclear but at the same time the key players like Strakov as left out of the book completely. After an explosive start with Day Of Mourning, this trilogy ends here…………..and not on a very special note as the end was very predictable as the mole was “uncovered” but still that was done in an awesome way and that last chapter really was the only outstanding one in the book. As an aftermath of the emotional Day Of Mourning I would have thought that Bolan would be allowed to show more emotions, remorse and more inner struggle after the slaying of April Rose but the personal aspect was left out of this book in favor of the action like with Terminal Velocity and this was a very wrong to set the ground for the next books after this trilogy. Now, Bolan can start again his lone-wolf time with that nice list of KGB operatives to hunt down in future books and this will hopefully be an interesting turn for Bolan´s future war against terrorism in the world………………(Iceland - 2005)

Good wrap to the Terrorist Wars.Awesome ending and a good stepping off point to start the lone-wolf days.

This is a good book but for me it didn't live up to expectations as the third volume in maybe the most important trilogy in the early Bolan saga. Yes, the writing was a cut above average and the plot had some interesting twists, but I just didn't find myself swept along as much as I did in the first two books. Still, you gotta read this one if you read the first two.

This was one of the first few Bolans I bought at a Salvation Army Surplus Store. Basically, a sweet-ass, Bond-like, sneaking and peaking, high speed chases, kick-ass book. Greatly recommended.

Back in early 84 I was drawn to a cool piece of art on the cover of #61 tiger war. it was the first bolan that I saw in a grocery store rack that i picked up and looked at. Coupla months later in the same place I found myself looking at Dead Man Running.I thought, COOL!. I told myself then that I had to read one of these. A month later I bought #65 and read it, and well now i'm up to my neck in Bolan books wonderin where to put them all! I wish I wasnt so far behind. I'm about to start Tightrope now. #64 is one of the best books, well living up to the great cover art.

"Dead Man Running" is the finale to the Day of Mourning trilogy and serves as a start to a new direction for the Executioner as Bolan leaves his government sanction and ties behind to pursue a personal war against the KGB and animal man. This book has Bolan acting on his own again for the most part, taking on the mafia in 4 bloody clashes. Mob soldiers fall by the dozens as Bolan cuts off a drug deal between the mob and the KGB and works to eliminate the KGB mole inside the U.S. intelligence circle. Bolan impersonates a mob "black ace" again for a few pages but the action doesn't slow down as it sometimes has when he uses this ruse. As the end of the federal sanction and the terrorist wars this book might get high marks from me even if it wasn't packed with good old Bolan action and some interesting characters and motivations. Mack is finally back doing what he should have always been doing: living life and fighting the war on his own terms, relying on himself and his skills and taking on which enemies he chooses when and where he sees fit. No more whiney April Rose (can't help it, she just really, really annoyed the hell out of me!) or immediate access to advanced fighter support. But this book is good. It earns its 9 stars with good and frequent action, interesting characters, a decent plot and the Bolan factor. The only thing holding this one back from a 10th star is the lack of Bolan philosophy that adds that extra dimension to so many of his best stories. But this is a very solid 9 star book.

This was a very good book, bringing Bolan back to his roots. He severs ties with the government and goes on a blitz in Washington D.C., leaving dozens of bodies in his wake. This was a good wrap-up to "Day of Mourning". Bolan identifies his adversary and terminates with extreme prejudice. The book has it all. The only reason this one stops short of perfection is the writing style of some of the action scenes. I guess ot was meant to show the quick thing, but the one word paragraphs were extremely distracting. Hard to follow. Jarring. Cheesy. Move! It kept an excellent book from being the best. Still a very good novel, near the top of the series.

A good, nearly great book that suffered only its failure to fully milk what should have been one mother of a climax, given everything leading up to it. I give the other two books in the trilogy 8s also, only because I think this whole tale would have benefited by being leaner and meaner, i.e. in the context of one of the SuperBolan books. Still, some of Mertz's best work here, at least what I've read of his.

YEAH, MACK ELIMINATED THAT....Oh, darn, I got so excited that it stopped me from saying that word. An awesome story and a great end. I'm glad to see that Mack had finally tracked the mole down and eliminated him at the end. Although it was sad to see him leave Stony Man Farm and walk out like that, it was still awesome. I loved this book.

By this point in the trilogy, I was anxious for the score to be settled and I can remember reading this one late into the night. When I first picked this one up in the bookstore (after waiting for it very impatiently!) I remember being blown away by it. The gold foil lettering again, the picture of Bolan and the Corvette (I'm a *big* Corvette fan) and the promise of major Bolan fury. . . .

A BOLAN CLASSIC! MACK BOLAN RETURNING TO BEING MACK BOLAN AND LOSING THE JOHN PHOENIX GUISE SET THE STAGE FOR ALL FUTURE BOLANS FROM THIS POINT ON. ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES.

A hard-hitting conclusion to the trilogy. I cheered as Bolan executed the traitor in front of the President.

Good conclusions. He had to rattle DC to get the answers. The conclusions proves that Mack is still dangerous even without his gun.

This is the one that started my love affair with Mack Bolan (er...the book series, that is).

The death of the traitor, John Phoenix going back to being Mack Bolan and all of the fights (with guns or otherwise), bring one word to mind: SPECTACULAR.

The last chapter just felt anticlimactic. Everything leading up to it was awesome, the return of the Executioner, and Mack Bolan reclaiming his name... but the last chapter, where he finally does in Farnsworth... it seemed so painless. So cold and detatched. Not even a sickening crunch, or a choked off shriek of terror as Farnsworth felt unspeakable agony. And... not even the war journal. This book needed Mack's war journal, dammit.