Missouri Deathwatch

St. Louis Showdown part 2. The plot of this one is virtually identical to the above but I guess why burn some brain cells coming up with an original plot when you can just follow on from the original like here. Having said that there are a couple of inclusions which capture the imagination the biggest of which is that the Aces are being resurrected. Terrific and this being one of the Big Guy's worst nightmares he feels obliged to investigate further using the Black Ace card he has used so many times in the past to infiltrate the bad guys. Only this time it backfires in his face when the new Ace leader Stone examines his card and calls him a phoney resulting in a hasty retreat which he just manages by the skin of his teeth. So WHY is the big question and NEVER ANSWERED, in case you are unaware the Black Ace card that the Big Guy has used on so many occasions was actually taken from a real Black Ace that the Big Guy took out. One look at it and Stone knows it is false (HOW and WHY?) I was extremely annoyed that the author couldn't be bothered to inform the reader as there must have been a reason. Now the card is gone left at the location when he manages to escape so it will be interesting to see if he manages to come across another on in his travels and discovers what has been changed on them or indeed the ignorance of any further author who has him using something that he no longer possesses. The rest of the title is standard Mike Newton material which has been done many times before but the ending is okay and overall the title entertains.

The Mike-Newton-Mafia-War-Revisited Tour continues in St. Louie. Like the previous Mike Newton books of this vintage, this edition is centered around Mack revisiting the location of a Mafia War's vintage "shake down". Old friends and old enemies are about. Bolan is blitzing in classical Pendleton style. There is an intriguing little day dream by a Mafia Don of his life with Bolan inducted as a member of his Family. How he would be safe as no one would dare to risk the wrath of the "Bolan Demon" that he has on a leash. Newton amusingly lampshades his constant plot-device of having Bolan steal a car during a soft penetration gone hard and shoot his way out of the enemy's estate...while being pursued by at least two enemy limousine crew-wagons. It is nice to see the Black Ace ploy finally really fail in a major way. Pendleton always pointed out the danger Mack was running by doing this...but I think the only other time Mack couldn't pull this off is when he came up against Barney Matilda - the creator of the Aces. The whole struggle with the Aces in this book is nicely done. How Mack sees a resurgent Ace corp as a major reversal of his war against the Mafia and how the Aces are maneuvering in an effort to secure a place for themselves in the breathing space that Mack's relentless assaults have opened up in the wider world of the Mob. I really liked the scene where Mack walks into a Mafia bank and cleans the place out without firing a single shot. Anybody can spray lead all over the place...it takes real talent (in both the fictional character and in the writer to pull it off) to write a scene like this that is tense and fun without resorting to a bloody shootout at the end. Mack's armament is the traditional 93R/Big Thunder, M16/203 and a MAC-10 modified down to 750rpm.

Let me sing the praises of Missouri Deathwatch, an actual, real, honest to goodness Mack Bolan adventure. Not just a book with Mack Bolan in it. Oh, no. This is a clear the decks, exercise the guns, burn some powder adventure with Mack on a mission to stop the New York families from taking over the St. Louis territory. Yeah, it was kind of done before by Don Pendleton way back in his prime. And, yeah, OK, it has a lot of similarities with this author's "Shock Waves" (and "Blood Dues" for that matter.) I don't care. This is an entertaining and exciting chapter in the Executioner's story. Similarities? Yeah, of course: why would Mack change tactics that work? Great action scenes abound and some actual suspense. Particularly good is the scene where Bolan's attempt to pull off his Black Ace impersonation in the heart of goomba-land is thwarted. He gets out but it seems for just a couple paragraphs like it isn't a sure thing. Nicely done. And a very well done sniper attack was a good return to one of Mack's most potent tactics. The supporting characters are pretty well done with the old fool Giamba being maybe the least of them. But he serves his purpose as do the rest of the mobsters: they keep Bolan's lead from littering the landscape. Maybe I'm thinking this is a better book than it really is because of the books in recent memory. The last Executioner book, Hammerhead Reef was pretty damn lame and I just finished reading the sensationally bad Phoenix Farce adventure, Tooth and Claw. <shudder> So maybe Missouri Deathwatch looks better because of its surroundings. I was thinking this might be a 9 star book but Don Pendleton's original story was a 9 and this one didn't quite get there for me. So 8 stars it has to be. Try this one and let's hear what you think.

Nowhere near as good as Shock Waves 81. Here is why. 1) Repeating scenes from Shock Waves. In SW he goes into a money operations place and says that the police are coming and walks out with the money. In this book he was to a gambling place tells them that the police are coming and walks out with the money. 2) Giambi had to have been the stupidest Don ever written. He and his heir storm the NY bosses joint. He knows Mack is doing the work for him but nope he has to fave the boss himself for some vengence. Although the phone calls between Giambi and Mack were funny. 3) Stone made for an interesting enforcer and liked how he read through the Omega scheme of Mack's. 4) Doesn't the mafia get it by now that kidnapping is not wise when Mack is in town. You would think they would know by now. I am not a fan of kidnapping stories. Too cut and dry and lets face it kidnapping tends to be more dumb then anything else. 5) I did like Mack's practical thinking that a small hood like Giambi was far less harmful then having a NY boss take over a small base like St Louis. Not as good as Shock Waves and nowhere near as good as The Trial or Blood Testament. Although Trial and Blood Testament seem to be continuations of these stories. Still this book is just a slightly above average mafia story. Read book 81 first though.

Bolan returns to kickin mafia butt in here, and I must say Newton can write the mafia stuff as good as Pendleton did. A great story and I like how the cover art shows a scene that actually happens in a book, unlike most Bolan covers.

A decent entry with Bolan returning to his mafia roots and taking care of business once again in St. Louis. It was interesting to see someone finally calling Bolan's hand on his Omega bluff.

NOT ONE OF HIS ALL-TIME BEST BUT IT WAS SUPRISING TO SEE BOLAN GET BUSTED FOR THE FIRST TIME UNDER HIS OMEGA IDENTITY.

Along with Shock Waves, this was one of the great efforts from Mike Newton. A good companion piece to St. Louis Showdown.