Scorched Earth

Really I could just say ditto to Gunslingers review of this title as I was disappointed as well for all of the same reasons. Probably one of the things that really annoys me when I read one of these titles is when I come across a name I don't recognize or can't picture in my mind of one of the characters introduced previously. This requires a flick back through the title to see who we are talking about more often than not and completely buggers the continuity of the story. This happened so often in this title I gave up and just ignored it and continued plowing my way through this. Spaghetti plot where the overall aim of these guys which is not revealed until very late and is well WHY? Some good action scenes but truly most of the title is very hard to read maybe a pad and pen next to you if you read this one so you can keep track of the characters introduced. Not recommended from me here.

This was a disappointment. I enjoyed the opening scene of the terrorists bombing the Nato meeting, but Bolan's scenes of tracking the terrorists in Pittsburgh didn't have the writing punch that I always got from Schmidt in his early Bolan novels. I thought there were too many names of villains to keep track of--they all sounded alike. I found Ceasavic's character to be too much over the top as far as his rage went. And the weakest part of the book was the characterizations of the traitors. I do have to say though, that the final battle with Grimaldi was exciting and on par with what Schmidt has done in the past.

Dan Schmidt wrote the best Bolan novel ever which was Devil's Horn. I have read couple of others by him and not one lived up to that book. This book had potential. 1) The Serbian colonel was a pure psychopath. His scene with in the car with the dead Karina was pure lunacy. But I am not sure why he wanted to use the dirty nukes on Macedonia and start a Serbian war. He was Serbian so why start a nuclear exchange with Serbia in the middle. I understood his going after the Iranian mob, Italian mafia and that African-American mob but the nuke story didn't make much sense. I know it could have started WW3 but if the world knew the cause it would have been nipped in the bud. 2) The action scenes were very well done. The casion scene was great. 3) The Russian mob boss and the underboss had really great phone conversations. The underboss was also a fun character. Totally annoyed with the circumstances. As he would have put it a runaway train. 4) The scenes with the Secretary of Defense, Gray Man and the general was really not needed. The characters were so undeveloped and didn't really make sense what place they had in the storyline. Yes they would have loved to have seen WW3 because America wasn't great? We could have done without these 3 or place them at the end when Bolan came knocking. 5) Speaking of the ending why did Bolan go in after the General, American Colonel and the SecDef? Two were killed - one suicide and he cpatured te SecDef. Why? Shouldn't this mop up be done by the Feds? Hal had the info which he could have just handed to the FBI to book them. With Bolan capturing SecDef it just seemed like it needlessly risked Bolan's cover. If I was the SecDef's lawyer at trial I would have called Bolan as a witness for the arrest and as the shooter. It just seemed stupid. 6) When two people are on the phone for 3 pages it would be nice to know who is talking. I hate having to figure out who is who. Two chapters were like this. Bolan/Hal and the two traitors at two points i had to count back to see whose dialogue it was.

A decent plot with more than enough action in it. My only complaint was that whenever the traitors within the US Govt. met each other all they ever did was talking in circles and riddles.

interning plot

I like how bolan did a heck of a body count!! a decent plot. and awesome read. spectacular action.