Ring of Retaliation

And once again I am going against the flow here. Things I liked - The cover painting is great. I love the look of determination in both characters eyes. Things I hate - All the rest of it. The book starts in Thessaloniki, a Greek city that I have visited. The story then moves to Athens, on to Britain then back to Athens. This is not a Greece I recognize. Even tho this book is 20 years old it is still not a Greece I recognize. It is as if the author did either zero research or referenced a guide book that was from the 1950's. The Greeks are all peasants who cannot afford rail travel. We are constantly reminded that 'Athens was a dirty city'. Seriously, did you see New York 20 years ago (before 9/11)? Pot calling the kettle black here. I hated every bit of the Greek side of the story and would not pass this book onto any of my Greek friends. It was so bad. Then we move to England and once again we are treated to a lack of research. The author gets British politicians titles wrong, and there is no need for this. There was internet and Google in 2001 when I assume this was being written. We have a character call Sir Ridley Brigmart and the author constantly refers to the character as Sir Brigmart instead of Sir Ridley. There is a singer called Sir Tom Jones. It is Sir Tom, not Sir Jones. There is MI6 operating and investigating on British soil - that is the job of MI5. Then we have a wonderful moment on page 152 "..that is punishable by death here, you know." The British have not had the death penalty since the 1950's. I wanted to throw the book across the room. After that we return to Athens for more rubbish and hey ho, it is all over after taking me a week to get throu.

Must admit I was having similar concerns as Dan Xavier at the start of this title with a sameness creeping in with this author's titles but after the start the title goes off on it's own course which is original and very worth while reading. I loved some of the characters introduced especially Helanos and also Mette who features big time at the conclusion. The British female agent is also a good inclusion. This title just glides along so smoothly that you can very easily lose yourself in what is happening (which I love) well done to the author but he is unfortunately let down by some well sloppy lazy editing which just should not happen. Example imagine you are editing this title for the publishers and presumably you are actually doing your job and not just going through the motions and come across the following.... Page 115... "Bolan sensed the trouble as he sprinted for the front door, snagging his Beretta from shoulder leather on the run." "He put his foot to the front door and it crashed inward, splintering on the hinges." "Bolan followed through with the Desert Eagle .44 clutched in his fist and looked for a target." HUH ? Is it the Beretta or the Desert Eagle in his bloody hand ? Little thing yep I know but when you are rapt in what you are reading and enjoying it this sort of a thing brings you to a shuddering halt. (Well it does me anyway, disappointing I reckon and shouldn't happen if people are doing their job properly). Recommended reading here folks.

Okay, so you are an ultra secret Greek terror outfit that has been operating for decades and no one even knows who the members are, and on the eve of your biggest attack ever you bring in a new member, oh did we mention this new member is an American , who doesn't speak Greek and is a half brother of someone you barely know, then you put him in charge of the tactical aspects of your big attack ... hmm ... to be honest , for some reason I didn't buy this at all. Sorry but they went on and on about how super secret their membership was and how NO ONE had been able to infiltrate it ... I know the author tried to give us an explanation for this, but I still didn't buy it. There were some good action scenes and some great little escapes here and there and even some likeable characters, but overall it was a little far fetched. Eh Kay , says half good ( or half bad , whichever you choose )

Another decent Bolan entry by Jon Guenther. The action scenes were interwoven nicely into the storyline on this one. The '17 November' group along with all the corrupt players in the Greek govt. made for some interesting characters/villains. My only complaint was the female British spy charater was built up as an ex-lover of PF's McCarter, yet that aspect of her character never went anywhere....McCarter should've at least made a cameo appearance in this book.

Lets see Warbird - a scientist is kidnapped with his daughter. Mack and a German female agent have to rescue them. Lets see Fear Rally - a diplomatic is kidnapped. Mack and a French female agent have to rescue him. Now lets see Ring of Retaliation - a diplomat is kidnapped. Mack and a English female agent has to rescue her. Gunther uses the same premise for Mack to go on a job - kidnapping all with a different female international agent. The way he uses to kidnappings to weave a story do make the stories different. I like RoR story the best but the agent being a former lover of McCarter just goes nowhere. Why didn't McCarter go to Greece instead of Grimadli? Wouldn't it have been nice to see a bit of character exploration in terms of how he deals with an old lover. I really liked the character of Helanos. This was a really interesting villian. In many ways it seemed like if he wasn't a terrorist he and Mack would have been great friends. Gunther does a good job in showing the thin line between good and evil. Helanos was not a pure villian. He genuinely cared for 17 November members and did really try to be a friend to Mack. Even his goal for Greece seemed noble but somehow his way of doing it got twisted. Yet he treated that elderly English diplomat rather brutally. If it wasn't for the fact that when reading the start I just thought "didn't I read this before - twice?" just annoyed me and the fact that the agent and McCarter's past was just barely mentioned then forgotten really seemed like a lost opportunity. Also Warbird's scene with the German agent and Jack saving Mack at the last minute in a car was repeated here except of course a different setting. One more book by Gunther that starts off with a kidnapping and Mack has to rescue the person will be the last novel I read by him.

I had read Cyberhunt by Jon Guenther ,really enjoyed it and had high hopes for this story. Unfortunately I was little disappointed. The action was good but the plot lagged at times and information was discovered a little too easily. My biggest problem was that 17 November was a group that had operated for 30 years without ever having one of it's members captured, yet they seemed almost completely incompetant. Don't get me wrong, this was still a decent story. The supporting cast was interesting (I wouldn't mind seeing Dina Taylor show up in a future story) and Jack Grimaldi was in it, which is always a good thing.

A lot of undercover plots usually don't have as much action as other ones, but this one had enough of them, and was very suspenseful to make this one a winner. Guenther continues to impress. It was a bit scary to find Bolan thrust into shootouts where the people he was shooting at COULD HAVE been on his side.

I REALLY ENJOYED THE RELATIONSHIP MACK SHARED WITH THE CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK. AND TO SEE HIM SO DEEP INTO THE ORGANIZATION AND WORK THE ANGLES TO KEEP ALIVE WAS GREAT. THAT ALL BUILT THE ACTION OF THIS BOOK. I STILL MISS THE GIL COHEN COVERS.

This is what Bolan is all about. 1) He's given a mission and some setup, but from the very first chapter he's on the ground, he's thinking on his feet and working his own angles. 2) The conspiracy and mystery in this one actually made sense, and wasn't some "deus ex machina" plot device. The relationships of the conspirators came naturally. 3) Fists or guns, the Executioner proves as deadly as he's ever been, and yet is not some invulnerable Superman - he's actually pressured and distracted by an enemy armed with a sword. 4) I'd have knocked some stars off this book for silenced revolvers... but... 5) Bolan at the end actually acts like a human being and offers the hand of redemption to one of the supporting cast. That blew apart the formula, and made Guenther, once again, the voice to beat in the original flavor Executioner stylings.