Leviathan

I thought Leviathan was a very unorthodox but enjoyable outing for the soldier. Mack is called upon to investigate a mammoth oil rig in the North Atlantic – a rig so large it has declared itself a sovereign nation, not answerable to any law but its own. Thus, the Cassiopeia Platform is secure in its pursuit of not only oil production, but incredible levels of Meth production as well. It seems everyone has a piece of this pie: The mafia, rogue CIA agents, and a bizarre cult that worships the giant squids that roam the nearby ocean depths. And that is where this Executioner adventure veers into some very unusual territory. Mack and all have to battle squids so huge and ravenous these pages read more like an adventure from Jules Verne than typical Executioner fair. I have not read to many Executioners from the pen of Gerald Montgomery, but I enjoyed this unusual effort a great deal. I thought the descriptions of Man Vs. Squid were thrilling. Yes, it veered at times into near science fiction, but I didn’t mind at all.

Oh well here I go again as the odd man out bar one :-( This is pure unadulterated garbage and this would be praising it up. Is this series an action/adventure series or a science fiction/quasi bullshit far fetched,ridiculous write any crap you wish series and somehow it is actually published ?????? The opening section actually grabbed me with Leo walking his dog and being tagged by a Mafia crew and the ruse to get Mack to the place they wanted him. And then............... Questions, questions WHICH ARE NEVER ANSWERED throughout the book !!!!!! How did they know to contact Leo to get to Mack? How did they know who Mack was? Who betrayed Mack in the CIA supposedly? How did they know about Stony Man Farm? How can someone buy an oil platform and declare it a nation? How could they possibly even do guided tours through their drug manufacturing operation for the public? So the rest of the world says okay you can do what you want contrary to every law ANYWHERE on the planet? Who is Wesson? How does Wesson or whatever his name is control the squids? Why was Able Team included in this book? Why was Johnny included in this book ? Able Team's involvement in this title.......... Pol - one line (sorry man) Carl - one line, one shotgun blast and a knife jab to a squid's eye from memory. Gadgets - couple of lines and a blast of a floor with C4. Johnny Bolan's involvement in this title......... Umm well after the preview he features in quite a cool interrogation of someone who has nothing whatsoever to do with the title as such. AND as a result of that interrogation for vital information........??????? Well who cares as it not mentioned throughout the rest of the tile save the epilogue when Johnny starts to ask about it to Mack and Mack replies it's taken care of. The book is so hard to read it seems to have hundreds of plot lines and thousands of characters I was constantly confused on what was actually going on. At the end of the tile it was obvious the author had left multiple openings for further titles of this genre (in his idea of what should be written in this series following his trilogy and his idea of what a Mack Bolan title should be). Mr. Mongomery hasn't seen fit to grace us with anymore of his workings/masterpiece's to date and I for one am very gratefull. IF you wish to read a good Executioner novel I would suggest you give this a wide berth.............

It's been about a year since I read this one, but I recall that it was one of the best I have read. I wasn't sure how the Leviathan concept was going to work in the Bolan world, but it did very well and made for an awesome story. I hope that Mr. Squid-man returns again somehow.

I was a little aprehensive to read this book - I like adventure books and sci-fi but generally like to keep them separated. After holding on to this one for a while I finally dove in and I am glad I did. The charachters were great - Leo, Able, Johnny, Special Agent Harmon Mallory; all done well. However, the story could have been about 50 to 100 pages longer to allow for adequate character development/ involvement. For example, I'm not even sure if Pol actually said anything in the story. I'd enjoy seeing more of Harmon Mallory in future stories... The premise was interesting, but as other reviewers have said, many questions were left on answered. Why exactly was this trap set for Mack? Why did the squid cult want to destroy this nation? Can't quite figure out if that was a hatchet job editting, or if the author planned to write a sequal. Regardless still a good edition to the series and completely off beat. Felt more like a Stony Man meets XFiles than Executioner book.

The last of Gerald's great books. It's a great new perspective in Mack's world. Going up against evil humans while having to face an evil almost supernatural force of evil that's so great that it makes those humans seem insignificant. It almost seemed as though Mack wasn't going to get out of this one alive, but his skill and determination see him through (like always). Cool book!

Not your usual Executioner type storyline, but that's not a bad thing here. Bolan books like this published every so often make for a good diversity to the series. Mack Bolan himself was written very well in this story. It was great to see Johhny Bolan once more. The submarine vs. giant squid battle put me in mind of the old 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' sci-fi TV series of the 1960's.....I loved it! My only complaint about this book was how it left alot of loose-ends unexplained and that may not have been the fault of the author as much as it may have been just how the book was edited. So I can live with that. I never fully understood why they had set such a trap to lure Bolan to the oil rig in the 1st place. I also felt this story was more of a foreshadowing story and had GAM stayed on with GE as a Bolan writer the squid cult would've been showcased alot more. All in all, an excellent(if not highly debated on MB.com) entry into the series. I give it 8 out of 10, had they explained or followed up on the loose-ends I would've given it a 9 or 10.

This book started with a good premise and went downhill. Leo was brought back, but for such a small uneventful part. No one was identified as the mole in the agency that betrayed Mack. There were to many characters that weren't fully developed. What was Wesson's motivation, or how did he control the Squids? The stripper (and the whole Johnny scenes) didn't really tie into the rest of the story. Able Team was underused and Gadgets scenes was like watching Down Periscope (w/Kelsey Grammer). The author seemed to want to connect this piece with others he had wrote, but it just off as the victim of a bad hatchet job in editing.

This book most certainly did have it all, and at times seemed over crowded. To start with, Johnny Bolan does return, in what almost seems to be a non-related story, and it is only by the epilogue that we learn that Johnny's adventure was related to a sub character that has half a paragraph dedicated to him in the final battle. I felt that something was missing here, perhaps a piece that ended up on the cutting room floor. What stretched credibility rather thin was, not the sci-fi aspect, but the oil rig being declared a country. I cannot see the UN ever saying that an oil rig was a legit country when all that country did was manufacture drugs. Hmmm! To my mind it would have been better to have the oil rig being a hidden base for drugs manufacturing. The giant squid attack was probably the best part of the whole book, and once again Montgomery writes an exciting story. The battle between the USS Seawolf and the 'king' squid had all the overtones of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and the battle inside the oil rig was no less exciting. There were many loose ends with regard to the returning characters. The journalist (Garrison) was only a shadow of his former self, and came across as a whining wimp, when in Iron Fist he has chasing UFO's with a whiskey bottle in one hand, and spouting incomprehensible sentences that I couldn't make head or tail of. Dr West is also just a shadow of his former self. What happened to the scientist who injected a wounded soldier with Splatterpunk's nano-probes? Why was he even invited to join the mission when it was obvious at the outset that he was a liability? Able Team were in the book, sort of. Gadgets had a little to say, Ironman had a sentence, and Pol..? The oil rig battle also ended abruptly, what happened to Cassandra and Dandridge? Dandridge was shot by Bolan, but it was unclear if he survived or not. Probably not after being shot with a .50 Desert Eagle that Bolan was using. Another small confusing point is why was Turrin contacted to start with? It was to trap Bolan, but for what purpose? However, these small details can be overlooked in a story that really does put EXECUTE back into EXECUTIONER. Mack, at one stage in the story, wishes that he had a marksman medal to drop on to a corpse!

As a story, this is great, and I have no complaints. But... this didn't seem like a Gerald Montgommery book. A certain journalist was in it, but he was nothing like the character in the middle book of the COMCON trilogy. It's like Gerald didn't have his heart in this book, or it was heavily edited. The journalist in question: no references to Gonzo, doctor of journalism, or any of that other stuff that took us on such a wild wide in the COMCON books. But it was still a great story.

Mobsters...spooks...gang bangers....Sea monsters...loose cannon lady feds...Leo Turrin actually being a useful character...Johnny Bolan kicking ass...the return of certain demented journalist...oh,my! Like the COMCON books, written by Gerald Montgomery-one of the people who put EXECUTE back in the EXECUTIONER-this breaks new grounds, and boldly goes where no STONYMAN has gone before.(Except PATRIOT,who has written a BOLAN fanfic with supernatural overtones in it,quite cool one,I might add and has done that later one with his own crew, EXODUS) Did I like it! I did, a great deal. It had plenty of thrills and chills, but, again, it all boils down to characterization. When Bolan shows up,in this books, you almost feel sorry for the villains. Mack Bolan in full Evil Smashing mode. Not just a spook or an operative, but a hardcore Spirit Of Vengeance. Also, a cool supporting cast, including and especially agent Mallory Harmon (picture Agent Dana Scully, with some Clarice Sterling and a touch of La Femme Nikita, with a Fox Mulder-like system of beliefs)And the interactions between the characters were great. I like Mack hooking up with Johnny towards the end. A favorite moment of mine in what I'vae read of the series so far. And, Johnny Bolan shows up, briefly, but better than not at all. And IRONMAN joins in on the monster killing fun. My only reservations: Mack does not kill enough people and the book is a bit crowded with all those characters, but hell, its like having a party with all your best friends, except the appartment is too small to hold all these people: no room, but still plenty of fun. And besides, Mack uses the 50 AE DE!!!!!WOOHOOO!!!! In short: carange,chaos,mayhem, snappy dialogue,big guns,cool babes, great use of the cast, and great characterization. This book might rekindle the whole sci-fi in Mack's world debate...I just say...Don't sing it...BRING IT!