Reviews by
Addiboy
116 reviews
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Well....a very short and sweet one. It started in a major explosive way and it cept me interested all the way to the end. The characters are a very interesting mixture and makes the mystery and the plot better in every way. I wonder if the book would have been longer if there would have been a chance to explore the plot and characters even better. All the same, a very enjoyable book and a great as such (Iceland – 2017) -
This book has almost non stop action from start to finish and it kept me interested all the way through though I felt the end was rushed a bit. From my point of view I couldn´t picture Kamal as this big time mean ass terrorist as his mind and motives here never explored in the book. Other support characters where interested specially Gorman and Marlin but from a certain point of view the characters could be been explored a bit deeper. Gorman was actually a more bad ass one than Kamal which was an interesting development yet a strange one. This book is highly recommended one so read it and enjoy (Iceland - 2016) -
A very interesting story line with a fresh start, pace and plot and never had a dull moment :) The big man goes through the worst prison in the country, like only he can, hurricane style from start to finish using his wits, the ability to control people and he basically owns the prison after a few moments inside this hell hole. The support character and my yet very realistic and interesting and add a very nice flavor to the story line. Without them............the book would not have been as good as it turned out to be. This is a totally different angle to the classical yet often lame jungle settings fighting lifeless characters which leaves nothing in the end. The book does leave a huge mark after the reading. Chuck Rogers strikes again...........Bolan style :) This is a great author!!! Read and have fun....the book is more than worth it. (Iceland - 2014) -
The book starts out great and keeps on being great with the high intense middle part with the book high in the skies but the book starts to slide downhill till the way too rushed ending. The book had it all and It could have been a great one but lacked the killer instinct in the end. Sadly yes but that is life sometimes........ (Iceland - 2014) -
A great solid start and a very interesting pace and writing as the story went by at a smooth pace with Bolan fighting enemies of various nationalities. This is a different Mack Bolan war, a political war of power and not the usual killings left and right and that is the magic of the book. The book surprised me and was far better than I thought. Read it, if you like not too lethal book, otherwise read another brain dead too much senseless killing book. This book is a gem from my point of view. (Iceland - 2013) -
Interesting book with Bolan having a few death teams on his back while running way with an encryption nord. The flow of the book was good but there was no mystery or puzzle to solve but the only goal was to get the geek to safety from point one to point two with killings done left and right. The book was ok, though I was actually very glad when it was over and left me with little besides writing these words. If you are alone, feeling the blues and have NOTHING else to do, then read this book. Otherwise, do something else Iceland – 2013) -
Mel Odeon has written many great Bolan books........but sadly this one doesn´t quite live up to that standard from my point of view. The book starts off in an interesting way with a few cool plots being cooked up for maximum effect in the end when everything is tided together in the main plot...........or at least it is supposed to be like that. The writing tends to drag along slowing the pace of the book down which is strange since there are so many plots and circumstances going on which should have been attended for a bit more instead of dragging everything down as the book progressed. The book swifts too much between Mack Bolan private eye part vs. the KGB part with less attention made to the KGB angle till the end. The great „death wind“ could have been handled better and in a more exciting way. Strange how Kirov, who was supposed to be the mastermind behind the KGB plot, basically disappeared in the book and his real plot, ideas and destiny was unclear at best. The supporting cast of the book is an interesting one. Chase Murphy the young hot shot pilot and Drake the party man add a very nice flavor to the book and from a certain point of view saves it. If you want to read a solid, well written Bolan book which starts well, keeps you focus all the way through and ends in a solid bang, then turn your attention to another book since this one will not keep your full attention till the end. Shame, shame, shame............... (Iceland – 2012) -
A new start, a new area, yet the same war tactic though the enamy has a different name and purpose in life Bolan´s mastery of penetrate and abstract is put up to a serious test here when he has to make a very tough call of either killing or give live to an near dead agent by getting him out of the impossible situation. The way to rock....opserve, valuate and penetrate with maximum result like Bolan does in the book. The more personal touch of the book was the introduction of Bolan´s team and how each one was added to it. Their personal feelings and friendship towards the reign of terror was admerible. As soon as Bolan hits the jungle the rest of the book is very predictable, slow and been there, done that reading. I understand the author didn´t write more Bolan books. I would not have written more of them with this poor initial writing in mind. The author didn´t belong in the Bolan world. Plain and simple. (Iceland – 2011) -
Well, well, well..............what should I say? A climatic book was my initial thoughs with Mack Bolan on target for the big one, the total wipeout of the NY bosses with a added flavor of the head of the Aces. I always love Bolan´s Ace persona who can fool the stupid Mafia boys left and right which makes me wonder HOW stupid can they really be. The real twist was the head of the Aces, the many behind the curtains controling the field and the bosses. Funny that finally Bolan found out there was actually something called the head of Aces. It would have been a real kicker for Barney Matilda to be able to ecape Bolan´s fire and surface again later on to make his Mafia war from that point a bit harder which he both saw his face and knows his MO as the Black Ace. Bolan´s blitz was short yet effective and it always amazes me how well he can fool the Mafia boys double crossing everyone and making them tremble with fear and worries and then cutting them down one by one. I just can see him fly through the window and cutting down all the NY bosses on one sweep. Just picture moment for sure......They were sweept away for good in one swift moment....Bolan style!!! An end of Bolan´s first installment of his war against the Mafia but overall a good book yet it could have been a bit better from a certain point of view. (Iceland – 2011) -
The book starts out as a huge mystery with some shady characters along the way but I would have preferred to have the mystic of the plot a bit later in the book in order to keep the suspence on going as Bolan is tearing through the web of traitors and lies. The book is fresh, with a compeling and exicting roller coaster of mystery og very descriptive surroundings making me feel like I was part of the cold and dark enviroment there. The KGB angle ties in nicely with his previous war against the Soviet terror machine and his former arch enemy there, Greb Strakov, though I would have preferred the main villain here to have been a more close to Strakov with full knowledge of who Bolan really was. Now..that would made the book even more interesting. I wonder if Bolan ever made good on his promise at the end of the book regarding going back to the USSR?? The book is compelling, exciting and very chilly as the reader can actually feel the cold, the ice and the numbness of the surroundings. One problem and major flaw is the ending is a bit rushed and after the missle is launched the book started to miss its mark like the missle did in the end. General Mishenka´s plot was also thin and badly written since the result of his attack and how it would restore the USSR was never explained. The end result is a very good book...if you don´t think too much of the plot and just live the book as it is....a cold one!!!!! (Iceland – 2011) -
This was flat out dull and just plain average at best. It seems Bolan lack this honned cold harded skils of wiping out his mortal enemy and leaving the Frence king pin alive was a very strange display of weakness and so out of character for Bolan that the book was more of a drama one than suspencefull one. Bolan´s way of working around the personality of the lookalike actor was a good one and the final chapter was the only highlight of the other wise boring book. In the end.....most likly one of the most lame Mafia war books I have read so far and actually this is the second worst one so far which is not a good thing but still most likely the next one will be a much better one. It can´t get much worse than this.....(Iceland – 2010) -
Great concept, good plot...but lame execution of the story courtesy of of Mike Newton. The process of the story is soooooooooo slow....it makes you fall asleep in a easy way and hopefully dreaming of something else than this book. This is a very weak effort to write a book outside the Mike´s traditional Mafia books area but those are usually lame also so in the end a new area is not a ticket to success....the only new area is outside the Bolan world for this writer. The best part the Bolan´s infiltration of the Ku Klux Klan and their cousin organization but still that didn´t save the book in any shape or form. From my point of view.....look for another book than this one........unless you have sleeping disorder, then this is the perfect medication for that one. (Iceland - 2009) -
Let´s make this short and sweet. This book has been done time and time again and nothing fresh here so the book is just flat average, nothing more, nothing less....but, well....it lacks all and everyting. No character building, no real excitement, no mystery....nothing. This Bolan blitzing is so brain less and lacks all general interest and in the end I really didn´t care what happened to all the characters or how the book ends. If you want a flat and dull book to read and you have NOTHING interesting to do, then worst case you can read this book. If you like constant battle and blitzing then you can perhaps like it but if you want more....go read a different book. This one is not worth it!!! (Iceland - 2009) -
Initially...I though...well, yet another over rated book but it took me a bit by surprise with the breathtaking but at the same time a very sick and brutal start. This was a very intensive way to start a book but sadly the book took another and traditional non-stop action track. It is strange to see how much Bolan takes of beating and being wounded left and right. The Boneyard part is so amazing one and really the most stand alone one in the Bolan sage but there is also a short but great moment in the story when Bolan answered the mobile phone in the middle of a battle to answer the Iceman’s recruiting call while battling his soldiers at the same time. Amazing and fresh idea to say the least. Iceman was sooooooo bad to the bone. He is cool and calm and very secure yet at the same time sick manic with a twisted mind and a brutal way of thinking. Iceman and his gang are in reality the evil alter ego of the Stony Man team in every way and from a certain point of view Bolan is battling himself and his long time friends The end was a twisted and original one to say the least and it can truly be said that the justice comes at the end of the barrel. Original and fresh for most parts and well worth reading. Enjoy and have fun. (Iceland - 2009) -
Ok.....let´s be honest here. This book is not rocket fuel in the entertainment area but still it is still better than most Mafia war area ones since it does not have the usual punch of self secure and brainless Mafia boys who always tend to run around like headless chickens. The pace is good with the usual Mafia hit and git attitude with constant offence against the loan sharks who are sucking everyone dry which added a different touch to the usual Mafia money laundry and whore business storyline. In the book Vince Carbone is introduced as a cocky hit man supreme and will turn up later on in a much darker and dangerous role but strangely enough his part here is very intensive for a short period of time and then he vanished without a trace. Perhaps the temporary disappearing of him couldn´t be fitted in this extra short book which is strange though since it could have added a much more intense and mystic feeling to the book instead of adding the mini story at the end. Well, I would have done that but still I was not the author of this book. Oh...yeah...speaking of mini story of Council of Kings at the end. It was a good and sentimental stand alone one. It was just there though so that the author could get his full payment for this book and stretch the it over the average pages. The house of pain and horror was an amazing and fresh thing and really made this book more worth that it actually was. Man, this was great and lifted the book to a new hights in this otherwise lame Mafia war books. This one part just makes the book worth reading. Trust me on this one. The book will keep you interested as long as you read it fast and in a short period of time so if you are looking for a short and sweet time and don´t have a date, then read this book. It will only leave a short term hunger for you but in the end, it is just another book. Nothing more, nothing less. (Iceland - 2008) -
Ohhhhhhhh...........slow motion one. Jarnnnnn...it sucked for most part but the good part is that I fell asleep every time I was reading it so as a treatment sleeping disorder, the book was the perfect medicine. It is strange how easily the hero of the day can walk into enemy base without being detected and without the need to speak the native language and how he can walk around in a country in despair with the world after him just like he is the only one in the world. I kind of wonder if Bolan had a clocking device on him or otherwise invincible. Oh, yes, by the way, I wonder if it is common for the natives of Beirut to speak English? Kind of strange from my point of view. The villain of all villains....Greb Strakov is only in minor yet important manipulating making all the war factions run around like headless chicken much to his delight and of course plans. The plot was weak and Greb's plan and reasons are quite unclear apart from the revenge issue with his old nemesis in mind. The sentimental part of the book was corny and out of touch with the main flow of the book and action and it actually slows the readers perception of the on going action and feeling for the surroundings in general. The potential of the book didn´t add up in the end. So in the end the facts speak for out load. If you have trouble sleeping, then this book is ideal for you and you should not be groggy in the end like sometimes after a sleeping pill but still though you might end up being groggy after this book. It is too lame to keep you up all night. Iceland - 2008) -
Hmmmm….what should I say about this book? Confusing is one word with the constant shifting of the story line to and from various elements of it, confusing because of Bolan´s involvement in a war that should not appeal to the US government, confusing why he didn´t just get Galvin out there, confusing why Calvin was not more active pre and post Bolan´s arrival…..and more confusing but let´s stop here though. The book was like a rocket without any guidance system. The females in the book had little role. The spy was only as lustful satisfaction for Bolan and the other one with her amazing description early in the book actually didn´t mount to anything after that. The mixture of professional mercs and pirate thugs was a great contradiction in fighting style and way of mind. Still in the end the book was in many ways a confusing one, too confusing to keep ones interestthrough the book. (Iceland – 2008) -
This is an emotional and personal battle for the weary warrior delivering his wrath Bolan style from coast to coast in one day. I did find it strange how well Bolan has the underground information intially in the book since hehas been jettsetting from San Fransisco to Boston in lights peed. It is clear from the beginning that Bolan will do anything to find Johnny and Val and if that meant burning down Boston in the process then so it and no one was going to stop him from delivering his message anyway possible. The Mafia boys have always though of Bolan as a menace or a bug to crush but making a fatal mistake like snatching someone close to him is a fatal mistake in every sense of these words. Instead of burning Bolan they burned their own ass and their future in a hell fire never seen before with Bolan out to kill no matter who was in his way while the Mafia boys were sitting on their hot prisoners and making mistakes after mistakes in the process. With wrath of anger in his heart and being fast and furious Bolan delivers execution style those ever stupid Mafia boys to his knees. This book was not a solid as I had hoped for and there are much better one during this Mafia war time but I am not complaining now. Read this one and enjoy the pain, the anger and the intensive feeling of a man on a personal mission…the mission of life (Iceland – 2008) -
The book starts out as an interesting one though the airplane planned hijack didn´t do anything for the story except to show the army ranger how good Bolan was but it didn´t have anything to with the storyline and plot. The book flowed well but with a very slow plot and the action scenes were not overdone as so often before but still I felt is was strange to have Bolan stumble around clueless without any leads. It would have been a much more interesting thing to have Bolan and the hightly trained army ranger kick some serious butt finally when Bolan has a real partner who is not in his way in every way. He was the perfect partner for Bolan, fast thinking and quick reflexes and not the usual partner burden these books usually have. The terrorist “mastermind” is a merciless stupid who kidnaps a nuclear expert with particular plan in mind yet he doesn´t know how the expert looks like. Strange or stupid, this terrorist goes down the hall of fame as the lamest one ever. Check out the most stupid villain in these books and you will laugh a lot (Iceland – 2008) -
This book is a bit over the top with past praises. It has some great things though….sure. One of the most vile villain of the series, nice action and exotic locations. Yet the book was a bit long. It started out well but stated to slow down as it progresses and lack the cohesive writing throughout since the book was stressed a bit to make it longer than is should have. Usually the villain is just some wannabe thug with big dreams and little brain but let´s face it, the Vulture has earned his spot in the hall of the famed villains. He is so bad to the bone, merciless and kills just for pure rage and joy. It was nice though to see his personality developed through the book from the mad dog to the count of a small place in Swiss, like a king of a small town were everyone was praising the protector of the town. The ending was very fitting as Bolan finished him off in a very similar way the book started The settings of the Swiss part of the book is something more from a James Bond like Her Majesty Secret Service. One of the magic part of the book is the Vulture´s breakout in the beginning. This was a beautiful scheme and very well written but sadly this was no the case through out the book. The ending was very nice and again Bolan is the man of mercy when it comes to the regular johns in the world. The final result is some great writing, nice and exotic locations and very memorable villain. Great ingredients for a good book? Yes, from a certain point of view yet not good enough the give the book a top notch praise (Iceland – 2008) -
Fresh and interesting plot but sadly thinned down a lot with a weak story that is stretched too much making the reader actually turning the pages faster in order to keep up with the plot faster over the way too many pages of just detailed description of Bolan´s surroundings. Due to this the flow of the story making it like a bad hic up. Tufik was an essentric interesting character with a very strange moral for a person in his trade. Good thing that creed doesn´t overshadow some people´s great moral these days. So in the end you are reading down grated version of an old James Bond movie with the story being stretched way beyond anything, making you sleepy and not so excited. From my point of view you have much more to do with your time than read this book. (Iceland – 2008) -
I can´t understand all the hype of this book. It was just a regular Mafia story with nothing new added to it. As always Bolan´s Omega impersonation is the greatest part of the Mafia war area but still it was not as spectacular as in some of the previous books. I think the bridge between Bolan and Phoenix should have been done a lot better since this is a very important point of no return for Bolan at this point of his war but yet the bridge was short and just like taking another bite of a hamburger, same bite, same taste and nothing different. My expectations were very high for this important conclusion which I hoped would be nothing short of amazing yet it was lame and rushed and didn´t leave nothing left in my mind. This is a must read for the end of this particular area but as a stand alone book….this is not worth reading. (Iceland – 2008) -
Interesting, interesting, interesting….nice plot with Bolan being infected with the doomsday virus and only has limited time to solve the puzzle with future mankind min mind. Well, that is the only thing that is interesting. The dialog was long with too much effort made for ever standard action. The book started to thin out in the end making it predictable One of the key things that made the book not a believable one was the fact that the terrorist leader was present where the final virus dumping took place at the end of the book. Well, normal scum would have stayed out of the harms way but no, this one wanted to be present to witness the result of this action. The Russian agent was a nice touch and a very formidable partner and the part with the energy bars and the why Bolan breaks her was great and actually this is the only standout point of the book which is not much in the end though I would not read this book if I were you if you are looking for something a bit more different than the average action and lack of plot but then again it´s up to you if you want to read the book (Iceland – 2008) -
Well, what should I say? I am a bit torn over this one. Why? I have a feeling it could have been a much better book with more focus on the serial rapist and less on the Mafia/police corruption angle. Why did the author add the lame Mafia boys to the story line? For me it is like he didn´t have enough ingredients to make the story a solid one based on the serial mental case which would have made it a much more scary one and at the same time more unique one. The only true thing in the book is the fact that though Bolan is a killing machine supreme, he is very emotional when it comes to his friends and helping them out in need and he really goes the distance every single time when something personal to him is thrown in the line of fire. Still an average book in general which was basically something I had anticipated initially but well, you can´t blame me for trying to like it. (Iceland – 2008) -
Extensive shootout book with Bolan blitzing thought Detroit in his one man mission of death against the stupid Mafia boys. This is just the same cliché over and over again with nothing new or a fresh approach to the Mafia war saga. To spoil the fun both for Bolan and the reader, Toby Rangers arrives on the scene with here “usual charm”. Why is Toby Rangers popping up sometimes? She is a very lame character with her constant name calling when it comes to Bolan. It is very tough to take her serious as an undercover cop and instead easier to take her serious as a dumb blond chick more willing to spread her legs than being a serious cop. I really love it when writers allow Bolan to think outside the box using new methods in his quest. One of the fresh yet too short part of the book was when Bolan walked into the police station and got the low down on the law inforcement strategy against him and the places being tag for watching and patrolling. The end was personal and very emotional one for Bolan and I would have preferred to have more made out of it in the end but well……..it was still a very one written part. I would have preferred to have this book a more solid one from start to finish, especially with the emotional part of it in mind. (Iceland - 2007) -
Good, suspenseful book with nice twists and turns. I really enjoyed this one for a change and it held my interest to the end all though it did slip a bit downhill on the last remaining pages. The plot was good and there was a small puzzle and a brain teaser for Bolan to work on. I would have though wanted to have the main characters made a little deeper but you can´t ask for everything nowadays. Read this one and get lost in a world of maze and mayhem. This book should warrant your attention for a small time. (Iceland – 2007) -
The book starts with a band following with a great intriguing mystery and a lot of promises yet as the book progressed and the action was turned over to the ship the book started to slip a bit For some strange reason Bolan´s sixth sense has been deactivated in the book when he follows blindly his former brother in arms from Vietnam without doing some background check on the guy. I kind of felt Bolan was loosing his touch in this book being a puppet on a string for an “old buddy” from Nam who has unexplained wealth and power which doesn´t strike Bolan as odd. One thing struck me as odd. Bolan was in Mannering´s mind a lawyer from New York get Mannering didn´t find it odd how a “lawyer” could handle himself in combat and handle all sorts of weapons and situations time and time again. The plot did have some nice twists and turns with a maze of betrayal and double crossing around the corner but still I can´t help but feeling that the author could have used these ingredients a bit more in order to make the book more solid one. The book is a mixed bag suspenseful scenes and dull average and badly written shoot out scenes but still there is the mystery of who´s who and who´s double crossing who though it was rather obvious who was the bad guy and in reality Bolan´s target of elimination. This is how the cookie crumbles........so to speak. (Iceland – 2007) -
Strangely enough this is one of 15 Mack Bolan books that were translated from English to Icelandic and while I was reading the book, I kind of got the feeling that some of the plot was lost in translation and more effort put into the action translation since this book has a huge potential but for some reason the plot wasn´t very solid or made interesting enough. I wanted to see more of that Unseen Power brutality, mentality, the masterminding thoughts and the background of the organization and their way of power The key issue of the book is in reality what was Kuro´s motive for his attacks against Jaico?? What was he going to use the information he gathered from organization? This was never really addressed in any shape or form yet this is the plot of the book. Perhaps the translation over to Icelandic kind of lost this part initially??? Yukiku was a nice psycho feeling to her and it would have made the character of the book more interested if her dark bitch side would have been explored in the book as she was controlling Kuro behind the scene in her seductive manner. In this book Bolan is viewed as an inhuman fighting machine walking through trials of fire against master warriors of the Unseen Powers but with other books in mind this is kind of unrealistic and even more unrealistic is that Bolan seems to be able to use and handle a few Japanese weapons as well as any Japanese weapons masters. This is an “OK” entertainment but there is nothing memorable about it. If you want constant action then this is a good book to read but if you want to a plot that is visible and characters who have some depth and are not shallow and have some characteristics and not just a name, then stay away from this book. (Iceland – 2007) -
Hmmmmmmmmm..........Interesting book for those who are into occult and magic and the unknown....but too long description of magic and enemy ground penetration which are way way too long and in reality I think this book could have been a killer short one instead of being stretched to a Super Bolan with the stretching done way way out of bounce. The plot was very tough to put together since it involved a few characters with no real back ground but of course are only motivated by greed and the lust for the colour of the money. It is hard to make a clear picture of the mansion and the surroundings since it is so unclear and very tough to get a clear view of the battlefield in the book since the better part of it take place in the same mansion and the ground surrounding it. Trust me on this one. This book is not worth reading. I honestly thing you have much better use for your time than reading it. Even tough you don't have anything to do, this book will not entertain you in any way. Stay away from it (Iceland - 2007) -
Seriously lame and boring book from start to finish as it was way too complex book with way too many long dialogs that really didn't add anything to the story There was absolutely no intelligence behind the book, no suspense, no mystery and no plot and so many questions kept popping up throughout the book. Questions like; Why torture the defecting persons? Why exchanging the defectors instead of trying to get more information out of them? Why was Bolan on this case? Was he sent of behalf of Brognola? Why did Bolan want to execute the American traitors instead of interrogating them? Was they to be executed on Bolan's initiative or on orders from Brognola? Why were the Long Nives gang of misguided "warriors" in the book at all? Too many questions after a book not worth reading at all haunting ones mind……………… The long final battle on the mountain site was too long, too complex and too dull to give any rise to the book at all. So the end result…………stay way from this book. However, one thing made the book interesting and that was the asylum plot and that one should have been used in a different book as a main plot and not a sub plot but still, this was the only good thing about this book. Now, the asylum plot was a very interesting twist and fresh one but still, not enough to make the book interesting. As always, what a shame!! (Iceland - 2007) -
Fresh and exciting plot with a blast from the past. I have rarely liked the Mafia books in general but this one was very interesting from the first page and kept me going on till the climatic flaming end. Man, Carboni was like a wild beast, raw and very dangerous and he is up there in the hall of fame for the best villain in the Bolan saga so far…….. being the jing of Bolan´s jang, like an evil twin brother who´s out of control with hatred and rage. The guy was just bad to the bone to say the least!!!! I really love the classic Omega role Bolan uses time and time again to infiltrate and manipulate the Mafia boys and here this role is very well done and not overplayed as often has been done in the past. The tender moment in the end between Bolan and Val was a tender, personal one which added a special yet fitting touch to the end of this exciting book. The verdict……..highly entertaining book with a different, exciting twist. Read it and you will enjoy it (Iceland – 2007) -
Man, this book was a bit confusing. The story jumped from one part of the story to the next one constantly making it loose and lacking direction and consistency. The plot was loose and unclear with too many different players each with unclear agenda, motivation and interconnection but still they all had the common thing of greed and power in their “hearts” The pace and the flow of the story was constantly fouled up time and time again and I was very happy when the book was finished with hope in my heart that the next one I would read would be a much better one!!! I wonder if I did read the same book as others who have reviewed this book??? I wonder if I should read it again in order to see if it gets better second time around.....nah, not worth it!! (Iceland – 2007) -
Lame, lame, lame……………….or for most part lame!!!! The book started out in an explosive way with Soviet hit team trying to take Bolan out for no real reason at first though that changes as the book progresses. Sounds interesting??? Yes, but sadly not from my point of view and I hate to admit I really didn´t dig this book in general. After the praise other readers have been giving the book it is a very overrated one in my mind. It dragged a lot during certain parts with endless pages of survival of the fittest in the Arizona mountains making me loose my interest time and time again and in the end I was really very happy the book was finished so that I could turn my attention to another and hopefully a better book. The real plot of the book was never quite made into any details and questions like these kept on haunting me; “Why all this set up? Why was this called a “firebase”? What was there to be smuggle between the US and Mexico? What was the Tyler´s end game? Where did they get all money to back us this huge operation? I would have preferred some one on one between Bolan and Baibakov giant and more personal showdown instead of that flat old western shootout in the end. I think that both the author and the character were muddling around with too much smoke to cloud their vision to make this book a memorable one. (Iceland – 2007) -
Interesting story of Bolan being in a very tight spot with few means of escaping and having to improvise on every corner pitting his wits against the brainless Mafia guns. Sounds interesting?? For the most parts.......yes. A short but sweet rampage through a Mafia trap which leads the Mafia boys to be the trapped ones and slaughtered carefully one by one by the man in black. Man, the Mafia boys are always so secure in their own numbers against the one man war machine and yet time and time again they are beaten at their own game, “outnumbered” and out witted to the point. The stronghold penetration in the end was short and sweet with maximum result which really made the book more worth reading but I still wasn´t very happy with the lack of general information about the big Mafia king pin Sir Edwards as there was no information made available regarding him. The real interesting part is that here Bolan is on the defense for the whole time when the Mafia have him on constant run cornered off on a small island with very few ways of getting out or getting any assistance........ The real gem of the book is the growing relationship between Bolan and his main future fighter Grimaldi. Still, more than average book though I am not very interested in the Mafia war area for some reason. Perhaps because the books usually seem to be very similar with too little fresh approach to the story line each time. (Iceland - 2007) -
For some reason I didn´t like this book. It started out quite well but after the action was moved to Libya, the book went from interesting and promising to plain boring right away with chapter after chapter of just flat average impersonal action sequence. The book picked up in the end when Bolan went through the torment moment of bidding a personal friend the last goodbye and as a result of that turning into a killing monster from hell, wasting everything and anything in front of him. It was a very touching and heartbreaking moment for Bolan to see the horror of his old lover and fighter and this was short moment but very personal one and so far one of the most personal moments in the Bolan saga so far. The villains had very little characteristics making them just some substitute players in Bolan´s frantic race against time to find his girlfriend of the past and stop the shipment of the deadly virus of ending in the wrong hands. This book was lacking some serious elements in making the book an interesting one but still it could have been make more interesting with some more inside into characters like Santos the butcher instead of having Bolan run around from one thing to another throughout the book. In the end this book didn´t do much for me besides spending my time reading a almost worthless book like this. Sad but true............ (Iceland – 2007) -
WOW………..what a great book…………suspenseful and full of surprises. The VR was a great unique yet scary twist which of course makes one wonder if this would be a reality in life today????? The basic idea for the storyline is great and fresh but I would have preferred to have the story line for the attack on Stony Man Farm a bit longer with the climatic attack a bit further in the book as the book let down a bit after the attack but in the end it was a very good and fresh one overall. The attack was a thrilling ride with twists and turns which made it exciting, intense and breathtaking at the same time were friends are fighting friends almost to the death. In the end I would have preferred to have more detailed information about the VR program and the procedure was and so on and the final infiltration was rather poor and strangely enough Bolan was sucked into a trap which in general he should have been able to avoid with more preparation. Other than this, outstanding and tense book with some of the most spectacular moments in the Bolan saga..........so far. (Iceland – 2006) -
An explosive start but sadly the book looses shortly after that the momentum and focus and therefore making the only “wild card” in the deck what happens to Thorton in the end. Will he gain his balance and memory or will he keep on having the dilution that he is a major player in this motorcycle gang of death with only a very foggy idea of something called his past yet being unable to put his finger on the past personality and life? The best part of the book was actually Thorton and his “mind blackout amnesia” and how he dealt with it loosing his reality and personality and how he was hovering between realities and his past and present struggle was a great writing and really gave the book the only positive thing about this book. The mafia part lacks some serious consistency in the writing but it could have been dealt with in a different and more memorable way. The last few lines where cold, precise and to the point and a fitting way to finish the book After the explosive beginning the book thinned out very soon after that being confusing and very average till in the end when the book got some momentum again but sadly for me a bit too late to make any real impact. What happened to some of the key players in the book is beyond me as they just disappeared in the end without any explanation? If you want to read a good dialog about someone tripping on the razor sharp edge of reality and dream then this is a good book to read but for those who are not looking for just an average and passable reading then stay away from this book. (Iceland – 2006) -
Instant entertainment from start to finish!!!!!!Why.......? Well, this mission was a major puzzle and brain teaser for Bolan and actually for the reader also with enemies on every corner and in every bed and not being able to trust anyone. Trust is here a major luxury Bolan which he can´t allow himself to have and the list of friends is very short and constantly changing to the end. The book was well written with several interesting characters that were written well and made interesting and memorable ones. One thing did have a bit of a negative feeling to the book and that was it didn´t seems to be a issue how much injuries Bolan sustained during the final stages of the book since he kept on going no matter what. I kind of feel that any ordinary man would have been out of it having just had part of those injuries but then again Bolan is no ordinary man. Short and sweet………….read this book and you will have a blast from the first page (Iceland – 2006) -
Strange and yet fairly entertaining book………..!!!! It was very easy to be in Bolan´s shoes during his encounter in Russia as you can really taste the surroundings, the cold, the smell and the general atmosphere in Russia. It was equally strange yet interesting twist to have a book where Bolan is without any arms or belt of gadgets to help him out on his mission. The female scientist was actually a kick ass fighter and wasn´t portrayed as another wining female screaming for Bolan every other page or so being a liability for him with her own agenda in the end. The instant Bolan´s mortal enemy, Strahkov, noticed Bolan during his limo ride in Russia was priceless and that little scenes added a lot to the book and was actually priceless one which added a bit of a bright flavour to the otherwise fairly dark and cold book. Bolan´s constant bad breaks and misfortune was interested and he was actually moving with his back against the Russian wall in every page constantly down on his luck searching for a way out of the fire just to step into another hotter one just around the corner. Read this book and prepare yourself for a trip to the cold in Russia (Iceland – 2006) -
I always prefer the mystery, enigma plot instead of the shoot out books with tons of bad guys being taken down each page. However, this book didn´t quite live up to my expectations as it was kind of fuzzy and unclear from start to finish. The reason for this mission was a total mystery. Was this “official” mission or was it a self proclaimed one as it starts with him on the mission without any flash back to the origin of the mission?? The story line is often too loose and lacks consistency most likely due to the length of the book and I have a feeling this book could have been a much better as a shorter one. The characters in the book were running around aimlessly without knowing what do, who was who and who were working together. Also, as the book progressed friends and foes were introduced all of a sudden without any or little background information about them. The Hitler “clone” idea was never explored in reality and the full plot and the extend of the fourth Reich operation was never revealed. This was an interesting idea but made in the book very unclear as if the author didn´t quite know how the book was supposed to flow information wise. In the end ………………….. after allt hose 320 pages or so the end was short, rushed and not a satisfied conclusion to all those pages as the Hitler “clone” “escaped” too easy as Bolan didn´t have any interaction with him but only to his minions in the end. The potential was there, the plot was there, the characters were there but still the book didn´t deliver in the end. What a shame!!!!!! (Iceland – 2006) -
Lame, lame, lame…………………are the only words that come to my mind regarding this book. This second mile in the Mafia war is only a pale shadow of the earlier Mafia books and this second mile has been a huge waist of time to read so far and I can’t see any big changes in those few remaining ones for me to read!!! These books are bad copy cats of the other wise often fairly entertaining Mafia war books in the Bolan saga. Way too much space is used for Bolan´s philosophical thoughts instead of tighter focus on the plot and play. It seems to me like Pendleton was running out of fuel and didn´t have the material to make this book a good one but instead fills it up with nonsense like this. These books actually hit all time low with those strange sexual thoughts Leo has about “getting between the sheets with the guy”. I wonder what Pendleton was thinking with this part?????????????????? The only good thing about the book was Bolan´s black ace penetration which displayed time and time again how stupid those Mafia boys were and how easy it is to manipulate them and have them running around like headless chicken around their Bolan…………. their mortal enemy. To summarize this book………..it was lame from start to finish (Iceland – 2006) -
Different, dark and for most part mystic and fun…………… Gould was a very psycho villain with a twisted mind and sick way of live and a bit of a mystic aura around him with his blind hatred and inner rage and it is rare to have a great devious madman like this one who is made very clear as a person in these books. Man, Gould was sick to the bone and didn´t have any remorse in killing innocent people just to satisfy his mad personality or just to get away from Bolan. The best part of the book was actually every time Gould appeared whether is was with his own thoughts or interacting with his patients and their “conditioning”. Gould is one of the most memorable villain the Mack Bolan saga so far and a rare gem among many lame villains in many of the books in the past. The book does suffer a bit as the Gould appearance was so strong and powerful that the non Gould part of the book was much lesser instead so the extremes of the book very clear and clean cut. If you want to read a book with a very strong and powerful villain presence, then read this one. The Gould is worth it!!! (Iceland – 2006) -
What a waste of time!!! Slow moving tale of a CIA man gone rouge cashing in his job for easier money and faster live. This has never “been” a plot before!!! However, this plot never worked in the book as it failed miserably in every sense of those words. This book didn´t flow correctly as way too many pages were used having Bolan running around doing nothing and describing his weapons over and over again along with constant flashbacks to past relationships and friendships. It is like the book was being extended to 180 pages with very little material to cover those pages in reality. This could have been a decent 50 page short novel!!!! The basic part of the plot was interesting but nothing was done to explore that one in any details and also there wasn´t any character building in the book The result of this will be in the end that the reader looses all interest in the book and in general shouldn´t care less as to how it will end. Why wasn´t there any other female agent in the book instead of Toby Ranger. Man, she is annoying with her constant lame name calling every second line or so. I wonder why anyone would want to rescue a person like that. It was strange to have the mega villain yet there wasn´t anything done about his character, way of thinking and general interaction with his men throughout the book. Frank Edwards actually didn´t have any appearance in this book til after page 150. Strange thing!!! Basically I don´t understand why this book was released as it didn´t do anything for me and apparently for other readers also. A strange writing.......so to put it very simple, stay away from this time wasting book (Iceland – 2006) -
This book was very suspenseful and it lived up to my expectations. It rocked and was a great fun from the beginning and highly entertaining to the end. An exciting and fast paced race against time were the stakes were personal in more than once sense Highly entertaining book and well worth reading (Iceland – 2006) -
This book was actually very good for most part as it had that special edge of Bolan running around the Mafia boys and infiltrating their bases and making them look like fools time and time again without too much average brainless shoot outs as so often in the Mafia war series. It always great to see how well Bolan can make an ass out of the Mafia boys who are so self assure that they will be the ones to catch the mortal enemy number one. Being secure in their own abilities is always their downfall in the end. This book is a classic sample of Bolan´s ability to infiltrate the enemy camp and pit everyone against each other to do the dirty work for him. He is a master of manipulation and improvisation and in this book he uses these abilities to the fullest with maximum results for him in his one man war. The pace was a chilling one sometimes. The more snow was the bigger the stakes become for everyone in the book and this is the beauty of this book, the tough weather and how well Bolan uses that to his advantage as so often. Why isn´t there any real challenge for Bolan among the Mafia boys in the form of a real mastermind instead of the usual stupid boys running around in their brainless quest of capturing Bolan. Bottom line……..good book with a good pace and some interesting twists. (Iceland - 2006) -
An explosive start in every sense of those words is the best way to describe this book. It had a great plot and it was great mystery for the first 80 pages or so with a constant twist and turn of the plot and the pace of the book. It was strange though how the villain always knew here to find Bolan like there was an army of drugged out minions on every corner in France This book is actually two segments........the first one a exciting mystery and a brain puzzle and the second one is straight and very dull infiltration action sequence and this second part was way too average and downgraded the book in my mind. The conclusion was unimaginative and disappointing and I was actually glad that the book was finished. With the huge potential in the beginning this book could have been a great one........yet overall it failed to deliver and with the huge body count in the end it crashed and burned and left nothing in the end. Shame, shame, shame. (Iceland - 2006) -
Going into this book I didn´t have high expectations but it turned out to be a fairly sold one and for most part entertaining. A lot of fireworks but not any real mystery besides the one surrounding the real motives of the female KGB agent who was a sneaky one but still childish for most part and she should have been made more cold blooded instead of sometimes plain stupid as to how she handled her emotions under stress and kept falling under grace during her mission. The action was sometimes unusual like the chair fight and the chase through the Paris underworld but yet sometime Bolan seemed to be a bit out of touch in the cat and mouse game. The climatic end at the Eiffel Tower was great one as the place was unusual for tense moment like that but one question was burning on my mind after the book which was how was Dorsalrov planning on escaping the lethal dosage of the nerve gas he was planning on releasing from the tower??? The end result………….a sold book and fairly entertaining one. (Iceland – 2006) -
This book was for most part great and exciting one building up the pace to the climatic end and it was hard to let the book down each time as it had that special edge and suspense a lot of books are lacking these days. Yet there are a few "minor" negative things about the book but from my point of view there should have been a bit more put into the past of Becker and the platoon of thugs and with some deeper characterization the book would have been an even better one. However with the length of the book and how it was build up in mind it would have been impossible to add these elements to the story so I kind of feel that this should have been a Super Bolan with added touch of characterization and more insight into the terrorist and the reason why they turned of the path of evil and greed. I really liked the cat and mouse game between Bolan and Becker and how Bolan managed to trap the over-confident Becker into releasing part of his grip on the hostage situation. Still that was strange as Becker had everything worked out to the last possible detail and how in fact Bolan didn´t have to put too much effort into outsmarting Becker in the end. To add some more negative issues..........there were some question burning in my mind at the end of the book, questions like; What really made them into the evil persons? Who was the backing man of the operation? The shadow person finiacing the whole operation? What was CIA´s possible involvement in the plot? Oh well, sometime one needs to go through life without getting answers to every question on one´s mind. Still though..........read this one and you should have a good time!!! (Iceland - 2005) -
What can I say about this book? Mostly negative things as it was sadly yet another dull reading and overall a rather bad book. The only positive thing was the black ace theme in the beginning, which was a great one and was an explosive beginning of this book but this kind of faded out as the book went along as it really didn´t catch my attention after the initial battle in Kansas. Man, I think Smiley Dublin has made it as the worst Bolan sidekick as she didn´t seem to do anything right from start to finish in this book and the presence was quite annoying and her actions as ridiculous oness since she is supposed to be a federal agent. Why have a love sick agent running around as a loose "cannon"? I wonder who would have made her an agent in real life?? Short and "sweet" the book is very boring and flat and didn´t leave anything apart from the opening. Yet another dull Mike Newton book in my mind and is from my point of view hardly worth reading. (Iceland - 2005) -
Man...........what a disappointment this book was!!!! It had all the right elements for a killer one with shadow conspiracy trying to ruin the tunnel between England and France, plot against plot, lots of shady characters and lot of potential. Yet..........the book turned out to be weak effort which dragged along with its poor setup and plot and not worthy of the ingredients that were in place but were very badly used. This is just a standard Furst story.............with too many characters that usually make the story in cohesive and loose which be it hard to keep track of who was with which group in the plot. I am still wondering why all these characters were created for this book as most of then didn´t have any real need to be there in the first place. Speaking of the plot; It dragged along with various unnecessary twists and turns making the progress of the story loose, slow and fairly average with little suspense or grand explosive parts Some of the chapters often made little or no sense to the overall story and plot. This is most likely due to fouled up editing and bad writing and this had a lot of impact on the book and the slow progress of it till the end. My hopes were high but sadly the book didn´t deliver in most ways....which is sad but true!!! On the back cover of this book it is some statement regarding “a Bolan blitz". Hm...........I am still searching for that blitz now but I can´t seem to find it. I wonder if it is in the next book?? (Iceland - 2005) -
WOW..........what a book, what a story, what a fun reading!!!! Finally a great villain with a very twisted mind and strange taste for killing people in a very sick way. Bocker and "family" is one major fucked up wacky "family" with a strange and abnormal taste for blood, mayhem, killing and torture for the pure pleasure or for other kinky sexual reasons. What a great characters and great writing of this unholy family of violence!!!!! Bocker was a very cold assassin killing without any thoughts about it and making him one of Bolan´s worst and memorable enemy and surely one of the toughest one so far. The cat and mouse game was very tense, chilling and suspenseful and was very well written as each part was not dragged along with too much description and the book changed fast and often between Bolan and the Bocker gang making the story run smooth in "real time" The plot was suspenseful one till the end when the reason for all the killings was revealed as it was a fairly surprising one. Bolan´s dealings and interaction with the Senator who he was supposed to protect yet who wanted to fire him and the Secret Service hotshots was done in a great way and really added more suspense to the book. As usually the "hotshots" thought they could cover the whole situation within their own ranks and it was very crystal clear how much Bolan disliked their weak effort of protecting the Senator and their disbelief in the assassination threat. This book had all the right stuff and this is how Mack Bolan books should be written. Read this book and be amazed!!!! (Iceland - 2005) -
Boring, boring and boring..........are the correct words to describe this book. This is not a regular Bolan book as too much space and time is allocated to the endless introspection of Bolan as a person and his past which is done book after book these days but not in the same extend as this one and this is only done to stretch the books and make them longer, confusing and disjointed. This book started out fairly well but sadly that is the only positive thing about this book but it got worse by each chapter. The plot is unclear and confusing and the book ended with a lot of questions and basically up in the air. Some of the questions are like...........What happened to Paradine? Why did Bolan give Paradine a change to escape instead of finishing him off? Why didn´t Bolan´s injuries stop him in any way? What was the Russian's real part of the plot? Why was there nothing about Paradine´s past? After reading book number 55 it was noted there that Paradine had been a tough evil man and that he was only the shadow of his past in that book. Well, with this in mind and the fact that Paradine wasn't any real threat to Bolan or showed this "true color" of being a menace, Paradine goes into the book of one of the most lame villains in the books so far and yes, he was only a shadow of the best ones in the series in this book as well in the later one. This book was hardly worth reviewing and surely it wasn't worth reading from my point of view. I just don't understand why it was ever written. (Iceland - 2005) -
What a strange book!!! The plot is fuzzy, the characters are fuzzy and Bolan´s involvement in this case in the beginning is also fuzzy!!! This book didn´t leave much after the final page and a lot of questions were left from my point of view in the end. Questions like; Why was Nick Cope left up and running his business at the end of the book? Will he reappear later on? Why was the chemist at the beginning of the book busted out and therefore exposing Bolan´s soft probe? What was SOGs real angle here? I did find it really strange and yes, fuzzy why Nick Cope was left alive to run his business as he was the main Mafia man in Tennessee. The only part that really rocked in this book was the Bolan/Omega infiltration into Nick Cope house and how he manages to work his way around the Mafia boss and pit him against other Mafia soldiers in attempt to get to his goal and rescue his friends. That part was one of those rare gem in the Mafia war books and was very well written and exciting. Needless to say a very fuzzy book which doesn´t leave you anything in the end except the fact that you should have chosen another book to read instead of this one. (Iceland - 2005) -
For a change………….a very short review as this was a very solid entertainment but not much more than that. The book started out well and had a great pace and fairly interesting characters at that point like Shepard was but after that the book slowly goes downhill from the point Shepard bites the dust. This Dupre character and the Black Skulls were supposed to be a major terror force but in the book they only looked like your average ordinary street punks but with a major revenge on their minds. If you want mindless action and little mystery, then this book is just the right one for you......(Iceland - 2005) -
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) -
What a disappointment!!! Day Of Mourning was an amazing and personal one full of promises of a major trilogy but this book basically crashes big time and didn´t leave anything in the end besides questions like; Why was this book written? Why wasn´t it just made a made as a short regular book with more focus on the KGB Bolan double issue? Now that book would have been a killer one instead of having chapter after chapter with boring, flat stuff that didn´t do anything more for the trilogy. The first part of the book was boring and didn´t serve anything besides making the book too long and disjointed and the issue of Strakov´s son could have been intergrated in a different way. The second part starts out great till Bolan was on the run and then the book kept going down the drains literally and ends up in a way too long escape for Bolan after the assassination. The third part was the best one but nothing more than that. The KGB plot was a very interesting and fresh one but why drag it along with the very dull, slow and way too extended chapter with the dragon fire and the escape after the assassination. If it was to enter the main issue of the conflict between Bolan and Strakov and fuel the hate between them but that could have been done in a different way but otherwise this was not an important part of the book and didn´t have anything or very little to do with the main plot. If this book had been an Executioner focused strictly on the aftermath of DAY OF MOURNING and Bolan´s search for the truth behind the raid on Stony Farm instead of having him running around Russia and Afghanistan and therefore doing nothing to keep the pace for Day of Mourning, it would have made a great book. Perhaps this should only have been a two part series then again I haven´t read Dead Man Running so I don´t know yet how the plot will progress. This book is a waste of time besides being a bridge in the most important trilogy in the Bolan saga.............so far (Iceland - 2005) -
What can I say? WOW.......is the first word that comes to mind and that is the correct one for this exciting beginning of a new area for Bolan in his lone man war. The explosive start reminded a bit about the James Bond movie Thunderball and this set the pace for the rest of the book, namely loud, fast, exciting, mystic and highly entertaining. The treachery is a major mystery and puzzle that is not solved in this book all though there are some potential characters there can claim that bad guy "prize" but I presume the plot will become clear in the book Dead Man Running. From page one everything leads up to the breaking point in the books series in the end which starts a new chapter in Bolan´s everlasting war against terrorists and other scum of the earth. One part of the life ends here but another one starts at the same time as Bolan´s government job comes to an end and it seems that for him this is a blessing as his mind seems to have been wandering into the "private" sector and his past war with the Mafia during this book. April was for most part a good supporting character who added a personal tough to the series and that is often an element that some of the books lacks, that personal touch to add a special spice to the book in general. She will be missed as she was a very worthy side kick and could hold her own usually. Bolan´s way of working against time to reveal the plot and the players behind it was exciting and well written as one could feel the time ticking away while Bolan was trying to work his way to the next piece of the puzzle fully aware that the time was running out and that he should really be at Stony Farm. The front cover basically says everything about this important milestone in the series which is very a dramatic and personal one and for many parts the best Mack Bolan book I have read so far. What else do I need to say? (Iceland - 2005) -
This book really sucked from start to finish and with the connection of the plot to Colorado Crisis which was a very good book, this is just a pale shadow of that one. Why, do you ask? Well, too much effort in explaining the general landscape in the book, no character building, confusing story line and unclear plot. It was great to have Bolan´s old "friend" and nemesis back in action as they were bound to clash again after Colorado Crisis but I would have preferred to have more one on one between them and more presence of Harrelson there and perhaps get some inside in his thoughts about having Bolan on his trail again The plot and how it was conceived and executed was very unclear and how it was tied up in the end was done in a simple way without giving any further information as to what was really supposed to happen to the goods after they were successfully taken away. The book has already passed my mind and didn´t leave anything there for the future.............and I just finished it a few minutes ago!!!! (Iceland - 2005) -
A very strange book........great plot and a nice treachery in the end but a lot of the smaller details were way off base here like physical injuries which didn´t really slow Bolan down, use of weapons and few other things and those small details really made the book much less that it really could have been which is sad as the story was a very good and interesting one. Bolan´s feelings regarding the KGB and working with their agent was very well written and the huge conflicts within him so shortly after April´s death. Strange was though the fact that Bolan "beds" the KGB woman in the woods so shortly after the death of April Rose and this does indeed contradicts his personal anger against the KGB which is displayed in this book so well. Who was the Yamagushi guy? What was his background? Why did all the soldiers in his army look like him? How stupid was Dr. Dunning not noticing that something was wrong around him? It was also strange how Yamagushi could out smart Bolan in the end when he falls into from my point of view a very simple trap which a man with Bolan´s experience should never have fallen into!!!!!! With a better writing and more attention to details this could have been a killer book as it had a great plot and potential So the result is an entertaining book for most parts but with little attention paid to details and due to this a much lesser reading overall........................ (Iceland - 2005) -
This book is overrated and I can´t really understand why other readers have been hyping this book. After reading all those reviews before, I really had high expectations when I started to read it but needless to say I never got in to it all though the idea of constructing and using a body armor was a fresh one. I wonder how the drug lord in the end was supposed to be an ideal one to strike at for the Juggernauts according to Stony Man intel? With the size of country there must have been many criminals who would have fitted the profile of a lucrative target for the Juggernauts so why were Bolan and company so secure that this one would be the right one to monitor?? Is it just me or didn´t other readers find this strange? The fresh concept of the Juggernauts was a new direction and actually made it a very interesting one and what was just about it for this book. From my point everything helped out to make it much less than I thought it would be, issues like plot, characters, background story, reasons for the grand plan and so on The Juggernauts proved to be a great and different adversary for Bolan but I kind have the feeling the book could have been much better with more inside into the Juggernauts, their personality and reasons for some of the characters to join the rouge group. It was great to see Bolan struggle against an enemy which is very rare. The book was a huge disappointment but then again I am used to it sometimes from some of these books (Iceland - 2005) -
What can I say?? Basically a very good book from start to finish which is a personal one focusing on the relationship and feelings between Bolan and April with the added element of a very good flow of action. The story line and the plot moved along well and consistent to the end of the book. The book was great and it kept my attention the whole time and to the last few pages and didn´t have any dull, low moments. I really like Obstfeld as a writer as those few books he has written about Mack Bolan have been overall very good and it would have been interesting to have more books from this author instead of some of the other ones who keep turning out lame book time and time again. It was great to have April in full action in this book side by side with Bolan and not like the whimpering blockhead she was portraited in Paradine´s Gauntlet. Here she was a determined crime fighter with extremely interesting back gound and she really kicked as in the book and gave it a special yet personal edge to the story. This is a highly entertaining book.......... so read it and enjoy. (2005) -
What a strange book and with way, way too many confusing and badly developed characters popping up on a regular basis in the book and basically are thrown in on a regular basis in random order. I was looking forward to read a good plot book instead of a non-stop action one and yes, I got what I wanted with plots upon plots throughout the book but each one was confusing and strange to the end. I think the author wanted to twist things so much around that he got tangled in a web with no clear way out of it and at the end of the book it made me feel like........wow, what was the book really about? The plot was thin and confusing and didn´t wrap up at all in the end and after the final page a lot of questions were left unanswered like: This Hacker guy was a key figure in the book but who was he really? What was CIA real involvement in the whole plot? Why was Susan Landry mentioned if she never made any appearance in the book? How did Mack know where to look for the rogue force in Combodia? Why did the rogue force really go after the gold now after all this time instead of trying to find out who was killing them off? As usually, I had my hopes high for this one especially since it was supposed to me a book with plot(s) and less shooting and yes, the book did live up to this but that was just it and sadly nothing more than that. A very disappointing book from an author who´s written great books before but this book is still tangled in the web of plots with no possible return. (2005) -
Yet another Mike Newton book and yet another dull one from this author. From my point of view the books of Mike Newton seems to be interested in the beginning but that changes after the first few chapters and sadly his writing style doesn´t appeal to me. What was then wrong with this book then? Basically the action was too much and didn´t focus enough on the showdown and prelude to it between Bolan and Paradine but instead there was very little suspense or mystery and instead was non-stop and badly written action. The strange twist and badly explained one in the storyline was the greedy European hard men and Mafia boy after the ransom payment. This was a strange element and out of context with the story line and made the book incoherent and out of order instead of doing more for the Paradine element especially in the beginning when he hijacked the plane. Speaking of Paradine..........well, he was just a small time mental case which never really showed his true hate and boiling rage for Bolan and was basically a coward trying to save his own flesh in the end instead of fighting Bolan with his boiling rage. War wagon was nice but it is kind of difficult to get the final picture of it in my mind with all the rockets, gadgets and leisure stuff in there but the wagon is well stocked in any possible way but I wonder the estimated size of it to manage to withhold everything in there??? Confusing book and badly written storyline are the key issues here and yet another disappointing book to read (2004) -
Well, well, well........this very highly praised Mack Bolan book was too good of a challenge to resist so I picked it up and dug into it. The result? I really can´t understand why the book is praised as much as it is as it was too long and I felt it strange to mix together those two story lines of the book as the one didn´t have anything to to with the other. The teenage lunatic hit man didn´t have anything do to with the plot at the army school so why add this element to the book? It would have been much more interesting to have this book a bit shorter and do another one with Grady the dark lunatic killer as the key person of the book which would have been a very interesting one especially if his character would have been explored a bit better!!! The guys, Dysert and Fowly, were not evil enough to warrant a place in the evil guys hall of fame and they strangely enough didn´t have any world domination plans in their minds with the drug in questino but just plain old greed!!!! The real magic of the book was Bolan´s interaction with the kids at the army school and it shines through how well he can work with children in very human way which really shows the human part of him that is displayed on a regular basis throughout the series. This part of the book was very beautifully written!!!!! The idea of using the mind drug on the teenagers to spy on their parents in order for the gain some secrets to sell was a nice twist but it would have been even better to explore that twist futher in the book. In the end the result is a way too long book, with interesting story line and a mystery that could have been much more interesting.........if only it had been developed a little bit better. From my point of view the book didn´t live up to the praise from the other reviewers then again I often don´t agree with people in my every day live (2004) -
Sometimes books appear have all the right spices to be exciting one by reading the back cover on those books and with this book this should have applied here but.............sadly the book doesn´t quite live up to a great potential. This could be an entertaining one if you overlook all the details that don´t add up along the story line as the twists and turns of the plot are very confusing and badly explained. The mind control job on Dr. Ludlow was a very interesting tale and masterfully written and is the only interesting thing in the book and it really colored this otherwise confusing book. Strakovs entry in the end was a good way to finish off with a bang............so to speak but it happened way too late as his involvement in the plot should have been made earlier. The book never really rises to any heights and the pace is flat and pretty average..........like the storyline and all the main characters of the book. A major disappointment!!! (2004) -
Why do I keep reading these Mafia war book? Perhaps to torture myself or with hope that finally I would get my hands on a good one. All of a sudden it FINALLY happened...............a really good Mafia war book and needless to say this is by far the best one from that period that I have read so far. Why is this one better than the others I have read from the period in the series? The answer is; Outstanding plot, entertaining storyline, interesting characters, never a dull moment and last but not least the amazing nerve that Bolan displays when he infiltrates the enemy force and works within the group to shatter it with stealth and calmness. . The plot of luring Bolan to Colorado to hunt him down as an exercise for the real mission was a great twist and using a former military officer as the hunter was kind of a cool way for this cat and mouse game. I wonder if Harrelson will make good on his treat against Bolan in some future book? It would be cool to have a one on one fight between those two!!!! One of the highlights of the book is the fact that it seems like Bolan was questioning his mission and if the bad guys really were those or just some military outfit trying to bring him to justice. This was the first time that I didn´t try to rush through a Mafia war book just to finish it and really enjoyed this one. It is a real shame that other Mafia war books that I have read so far have not been as great as this one...............but there is hope for this part of the series yet (2004) -
My 50th review!!! WOW........but sadly this is the only positive thing about this review as this book really doesn't cut it as it's just yet another mafia war book with nothing spectacular about it all though the story line is rather interesting........... One thing though is positive and different and that is the Bolan duo fighting together all though Johnny Bolan only had a short cameo role in the book but all the same it was a nice touch and made the book a bit more personal. It was also a nice touch to have Tim Braddock, Bolan old "enemy" there during his final days on the force and this also added a more personal touch to the book. Well, this is just about it for this book................ (2004) -
What a strange book...............with confusing plot and characters!!!! The plot is wage and the storyline very weak for most of the book but with a little more effort this book could have been a good one. Characters.........well.....for a change Grimaldi has a major role in the book and portraits a humorous Italian with a great charisma which I haven't seen from Grimaldi in a Bolan book before. We are treated with a small imformation about Strakhov and Bolan's long battle with his mortal enemy. The CIA female spy was a cool character and I wonder if she will return later on in the series? Short and sweet...........weak book which really had some potential, if it had been given some more effort in the writing process. (2004) -
I really really hoped that this book would be a great one and half way through it I thought that it was a killer one with a great pace and excellent writing but then...................it started to slide a bit downhill around the time that D´Angelo was killed and didn´t finish with same quality in writing as it has started with and the loose ends started to pile up fast. The reactions of the KGB guys when they found out that they were up against KGB´s enemy number one was a very strange one and like they only thought the Bolan was a mere common criminal and not a huge danger for everyone associated with KGB. The lady assassin could and should have been a much more challenge for Bolan and the very end of the book instead of being killed as early as she was as she was supposed to be good yet she was only a mere annoyance before she killed herself.................a very stupid ending for this character!!!! I wonder why she was ever introduced as she was knocked off way too early?? This book had great potential but it didn´t quite manage to live up to it inl the end..............which is sad.......... but true (2004) -
What a disappointment!!! What a boring number 100 book which should have been a monumental one for the series!!!! The plot was lame and full of holes and left me with more questions in the end than the entertaining of reading the book. I was always waiting for the suspense after the Brognola family was kidnapped yet the book failed to get into the potential heights and instead kept on being flat and boring. A lot of question were left in the end and among them are; What happened to Susan Landry as she dropped out of the book after being very much in the action early on? Why didn´t Nicky Gianelli try to go after Susan as she was a potential treat to his plot against Bolan and Brognola? What kind of a dirt did Nicky have on Cartwright? I wonder why Nicky went to all this trouble "just" to get Bolan by using the very shaky back up from the CIA? One thing would have made this book a bit better and given it more dimension and that would have to introduce Helena and the kids to Bolan after they were rescued by him!!!! Now that would have been interested to read.......... Sadly, a disappointing book which had way way too many pages of boring reading but it would have been a more tight and focused one by just being around 180 pages. I was actually very happy when I finished the book so that I could turn my attention to another and hopefully a better one next time. When I picked this book up, I thought it would be a monumental one in the Bolan saga but it turned out the only thing monumental about it was the fact that this was book number 100. Nothing more....................!!!! (2004) -
WOW...............Bolan in prison and some ladies break him out of it!!! This storyline was just too good to be true so I really had to get that book and with great anticipation I read it and well...........the book rocked BIG TIME. The idea of Bolan entering a prison on a bogus charge just to save a teenager from a KGB assassination was a great and fresh idea and a change from the usual terrorist or arms dealer of the month. The characters were very interesting in the book....Shawnee was a cool partner who could kick some ass and I wonder if she will ever appear in another Bolan book? Clip Demonies was a very nasty and cold hearted mafia boss and not one of those careless and cocky ones from the early mafia war books. Zavin, the KGB assassin was a great character who should have been explored a bit more in the book and it would have been great to have him popping up later on in a future books instead of getting killed and last but not least................Hal Brgonola in live action saving Bolan from a near death of the hands of Clip!!!! The plot is a stunning one yet too relatistic with reference to the work issues today but I will not reveal the plot details here so that I will not spoild someones reading of this book. Yes, this book had it all..............stunning plot, fresh story line, very interesting characters and hardly a weak point from the first page to the last one. Read this near perfect Bolan book and you should not be disappointed with it!!!!!!!!!!! (2004) -
I must have slept through this book as I found it confusing and without a decent, clear plot and story line. Here, Bolan is wandering from one corner to another in Washington fighting "different" group of enemies in his crusade against the Mafia. The book left me with a lot of unanswered questions like; What was Lupo´s ultimate goal? How was he going in reality going to achieve it? Why were different Mafia groups fighting it out killing each other because of the Boston chick? One thing was though interesting to say the least and actually was the only interesting thing about this book and that was the Mack Bolan impostor which was a fresh idea. Why didn´t the Mafia think about this twist sooner as it would have made Bolan´s crusade much more difficult? Sadly yet another dull Mafia war book but this one is the worst of those I have read so far. Hopefully I have reached the bottom of those bad ones now. (2004) -
What should I say about this book? If I had written this review after the first 120 pages or so, I would have written WOW...........but sadly this changed as the book progressed. It has such a potential with a great plot and interesting story line as there were a few interesting characters with different motives running around but after an explosive start and great pace of the book it kind of thinned out in the end leaving several loose ends hanging there without further explaining them. This along with the fact that sometimes the pace was too fast for the storyline makes this book in the end just another average Bolan book. The combination of the team members of Force 90 was very strange as one though have thought it would be more affective to have more combat trained members in that team or even drop a call to the Able Team or Phoenix Force. A lot of characters are introduced in this book and some of them just disappear without further explaining their fate in the end which is sad as some characters were build up early in the book quite nicely making them interesting like for example the federal agent Shondor was a cool side kick and really spiced up the book. Sadly, the book didn´t quite managed to keep the good and interesting plot to the end. Oh, what a shame!!! (2004) -
A great book of conspiracy and double crossing to the very last page with enemies everywhere and every step Bolan takes is like he is being used as a pawn in a sick family game and power struggle. Sounds interesting? Yes, is should, as the book has a fresh approach to the usual arms dealers book where is he facing enemies in every turn he takes and they are usually one step in front of him to the very end. The writing is also fresh and interesting from the start to finish and has a great plot that differs from the usual arms dealer of the month plot!!!! This book was a huge mind game and puzzle for Bolan while he is market as a target by unknown enemies on every turn who are using him one way or the other. One thing bothered me though in the end and that was how and why Jones turned to Bolan´s side without any clear reason and this was really the only strange thing about the book. Still I would have preferred to have more inside into Carlile full plan and the reason why H. Boll was started the first place but sometimes some things remain a mystery............sometimes on purpose and sometimes not!!! Overall, a great book with an interesting, fresh plot and lots of twists and turns along the way. What a shame this team of authors only wrote together two book in this series as they seems to have the right stuff to write books about the big hero (2004) -
What can I say about this book? Well, it had a fresh and exciting start but sadly the rest of the story was rather average without the magic of the first few chapters and like most Mafia war books I have read so far the books just flats out as it goes by and doesn´t leave much in the end. One thing did however stand out in the book and made it much different and special than other ones but this was the personal issue with Bolan´s brother and that part was great and beautiful yet sad and tormented at the same time as Bolan can´t have another person involved in his everlasting war and this was a huge struggle for him during this book but was solved in a beautiful way which enriched the book and took it to a higher level than the rest of the book was on............ (2004) -
Well, first of all...............I really can´t understand why this book has received the praise in the past. From my point of view it is a little above the average all though there were some high points throughout the book.. One thing this book though which too many lack and that is a exciting great ending but often the ending of the books is short and simple like the authors run out of breath during last mile in the book. This one was to the point and a great finish to the book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is always great when the villains find out that they are up against the man and how intimidated the name "Mack Bolan" is. I didn´t have any high hopes for this book so it lived up to that one but nothing more as it was not often very entertaining and didn´t leave much after the final page. Sometimes that is life.............. (2004) -
I didn´t have any real expectations for this book as the last few ones I have read have been very disappointing but good things sometimes happen and this book was much better than I had hoped for. The reason, well............ good plot, interesting characters and great infiltration by the main man all though it was copied from Bolan´s Mafia war days but it was great all the same as the situation was different all though the war was a similar one. The psycho twins, Tanya and Thomas along with Rudi the sidekick, were very interested characters but it would have made the book even better if these characters would have shown more "depth" in their personality. These three are in the "hall of fame" of the weird villains in the Bolan books. I liked the way Tanya controled her little army of thugs and terrorists by having sex with them. That was a new twist in personnel control!!!!! A great first Bolan book for this author and it will be interesting to read some of his later books in the series. (2004) -
This book should have had it all........great plot and interesting story but sadly it failed to delivery so yet again the description on the back of a yet another Mack Bolan book didn´t do it justice. Why? Well, the book was a confusing one to read as it was disjointed and badly written and throughout the book it was very difficult to tell who was a friend and who was the enemy or both. The plot was very slow, too many characters made it very confusing and the "action" kept on shifting from city to city without explaining how one can go between these cities as fast as it was constantly done. The book started out great but most of the book and the end was terrible. Why do people get paid to write books like these? (2003) -
This book was a bit of a surprise as there wasn´t any real mystery and the plot was very simple. Yet the book was an entertaining one!!!!! What made the story simple is the fact that Bolan was making his usual "magic" in one place instead of flying around the world with confusing time frames as so often in the books. His constant penetration to the enemy camp was amazing yet again the enemy were as always very secure that Bolan wouldn´t try to penetrate them again. Of course this was their downfall!!!. The villain of the book, the "fanatic patriot" Thruston Ward, was only portrayed as a rather mild criminal hoping to create a new "heaven" for him and his gang and similar criminals. The pace of the book is fast from the first to the last page and almost no stop action throughout. The book was rarely dull all though it only happened in one place and over a course of one day. The verdict............well, entertaining and simple book yet it leaves it´s mark on me. I really didn´t expect it before I started to read this one!!! (2003) -
How easy it is to ruin a great potential reading with inconsistency in the writing, plot and timeframe? Well sadly this was the case with this book all though it had a huge potential with a story line what was great and unique in a certain way. The villains were very stupid and confused and instead of building up this grim menace that had been working up a hate for 40 years, we have instead a love sick puppy running around and using his time to find is "lover"/sister instead of executing his plan with some better results. One of the burning questions regarding the plan must be why involving the Mafia in it????????????? There were a lot of inconsistency in the plot and it was never explained why and how Bolan´s cover was blown in the beginning and the plot kept on being confusing as the book progressed after an explosive start and the climax..............well, there wasn´t really any climax as this was a shortie and the finally came fast and left nothing to remind about it for the future. The plot part of killing the people in the Witness Protection Program did take too much part from the whole story and therefore it would have from my point of view made the book more interesting to have the plot only about the Witness Protection Program instead of the thin, dull and inconsistent Nazi plot. This book was a huge disappointment and it proves that you should never judge a book by the cover. (2003) -
This is a book with a lot of promises yet it didn´t quite deliver all the way through. Rocha was never displayed as this so called sadistic kingpin of drugs but just a small time hood and drug dealer with a big time vision.. The most interesting character was however Josefa the hooker with a "heart" was the one with all the plans dealing on both sides of the law for her own personal gain and pleasure. The RAT team had some interesting characters which should have been allowed to develop a bit more but I wonder if Bolan will work again with that team as it did fit his fighting profile.??? It was rather good reading and fast paced action but it could have been much better and it didn´t capture my mind like I had hoped for..........which was a real shame!!!!! (2003) -
This book was a rather good Mafia war book compared to the other dull Mafia books I have read so far. Bolan´s penetration into the Mafia coronation and how he managed to pit the Mafia families against each other keeping them on their toes by raiding them one by one in a fast blitz of attacks was great and the highlight of the book as this brings the coronation ceremony to a trembling grounds while the Mafia boys are running around like headless chickens. Sounds nice but still I can´t get into the Mafia books in general................I wonder why?? The pace of the action was almost non-stop without being too much or senseless till the end when all the Mafia bosses were wiped out almost in a single blow. This is the best Mafia books that I have read so far but still there must be a better one out there that waits for my reading. At least I hope so................ (2003) -
As always with the Mafia books there is very little mystery or plot in this book but only straight forward penetration, action and killings. The great change from the usually rather average Mafia books is the plastic surgery Bolan has and that part was well written and did give the book more depth. The way Bolan penetrates the Mafia in the book is great and it shows time and time again that Bolan is a master of penetrate any group for a maximum result every time. If you don´t like the Mafia war books then this will rock your world.................from a certain point of view. (2003) -
The book was a rather strange one. It had a very interesting plot yet the players in the puzzle were a bit too many making the progress of the story rather confusing sometimes. There was also a new twist in the book in the form of killing off the main villain around the middle of the book. Strange but true!!!! Sadly the book was not as suspenseful as I had hoped for and it was not as great as for example Sudden Death which was also about a planned execution of the American president but in this book the ending was way too short and not the climax one it had been building up to be from the first pages. Yet another book with a lot of potential that yet fails to deliver!!!!!!!!!!! (2003) -
I wonder why I keep reading these Mafia war books as I rarely come a cross a good one or even a rather good one . So did I like this one? Hardly!!!!!! The pace was good yet the story line was sometimes unrealistic like the secretl tunnels at the hotel and Bolan´s penetration through the Mafia defense.. Why couldn´t the Maffia boys recognize Bolan as Mr. Ruggi? Surely they must have a detailed description of his face or so I would have thought!!!!!! One thiing made the book a better one than it actually was and that Leo Turrin´s involvement in Bolan´s war this time around since he has been way too often in a small cameo role in the books but this time around he is on the front line with Bolan fighting and fooling the Mafia back to back. Their friendship and mutual admiration is special and it always lifts the books up to a personal and special level in Bolan´s lonely war. The formula for the Mafia book is here; Bolan penetration, Bolan fooling the stupid Mafia boys, The Mafia being very secure that they can finally capture Bolan and traditional shootout in the end so there wasn´t really much new here as most of the Mafia books are the same from the first page to the last one. I keep hoping to read a great Mafia war book but I wonder if that happens? (2003) -
Boy, this book was a huge disappointment. It had a lot of potential but it never made the impact I had hoped for but instead it left me with way too many questions and loose ends. Some of these questions were; How did the "elders" know where to look for Amy Culp in the safehouse? What happened to Amy´s girlfriend from school who was going to help her? Why didn´t we get any insight in the Unversal Devotees cult? What was Nguyen´s big plan? Why was the KGB helping him? What were they supposed to gain from it? The plot was thin and leaked BIG time and only displayed Nguyen Van Minh as a dull and weak cult leader instead a powerful villian but of course the story is weak overall so a powerfull and interesting villian wouldn´t have made much difference here.. Again..............a huge disappoinment (2003) -
This book was a fast paced one with a simple yet entertaining plot where Bolan has enemies in every corner and his allies often rather questionable and even seem untrustworthy. The book seemed to be a promising one but it lacked some "punch" along the way to make it a great one. (2003) -
Why are books like this one written in general? I can´t understand the importance for Bolan to take on the Lucifer´s Ladder as he didn´t have a clue about it in the beginning so why add Florida to the week of his final Mafia war since he didn´t really have any clue to the Mafia activity in Florida till he arrived there. Anyway, this book could have been much better and interesting as a short novel as this book was too long with too much detailed information about the hydrology and oceanograpic and the geologically issues of Florida which made the book flat and dull for most of the reading. Bolan´s surprise penetration to the Mafia iceland was amazing and he sure did make his entry specatcular and the mafia boy´s were running around stupd as ever believing everything Bolan told them to do. The book really ended nowhere and with questions like; What ever happened to Papriello? Why didn´t we get the pleasure of Bolan going after Santelli himself during this part of the mafia war? I still haven´t read an amazing Mack Bolan book from his Mafia war. I wonder if I will manage to find an amazing book from that time??????? (2003) -
The book started out as an explosive one with Bolan walking by chance into shoot out between the Colorado law inforcement and a few members of Right Hand Of God. After this the books continues through almost non-stop action with Bolan and few of his friends fighting members of the Right Hand Of God on various battle grounds. During this Bolan finds a small town that is being threated by a bunch of extremists who want to change America for good due to personal rage and thirst for power. The book was build up step by step for a final explosive scene between Bolan and the extremits but sadly the end of the book was a stupid and badly written "suicide" attack on the White House as that attack was too short to serve as the great finale it really could have been. The lousy ending really damages this other wise good book and left me stunned and confused as it would only have taken a bit more effort to finish this book differently and thus make it a cohesive one as the material and the moment was there. It ust lacked the final distance to make it a great one. What a pity!!!!!!!!!!!!! -
This book was just a flat average one with a predictable ending and the plot was thin and really didn´t keep me interested all the way through. Bolan was in a support role in this book on a salvation mission in a troublesome country. There was plenty of action in the book but there was really nothing more with little or no characterization. This book is just passable reading from my point of view and nothing more!!!! (2003) -
Mack Bolan fighting the Mafia with a Mafia hitman as a partner during this mission.............boy this sounds like an interesting story line but sadly this is just about it. This book had such a potential to be a great one but instead it left me with way too many questions like; What happened to the Silent Brotherhood? Who was really behind it? Who was Corporal Guss really? An undercover Marine or a Mafia boy? What was Don Peitro´s ultimate but never explained plot? The Shadow was an interesting character and it was especially interesting to have Bolan figthing the Mafia with a hitman like the Shadow who Bolan was admiring and had similar fighting style as Bolan and was from a certain point of view the Jing of Bolan´s Jang. The book has a lot of action but still it is flat for most of the part and all the questions like the ones above really didn´t help to make the book a killer one as it could have if the writing had beed a bit better than it really was. (2003) -
I rarely like Bolan´s hit and run rescue missions but this book was outstanding from the fist page and kept my interest all the way to the last page. It was an extra challange for Bolan to find a way to escape the "Island of death" with the overprotected and handycapped woman and seriously injured DEA agent with him and tons of cartel hitters on his back. To think about the fact that I almost didn´t buy this book..............that would have been a real shame as it is such a great one and you will be surprised when you read it!!!! -
This was a rather strange book. It started out as an explosive one with Bolan being ambushed and Brognola was used as a bait to lure Bolan into a trap but after this the book becomes flat and average with jungle and desert fights for the rest of the book. The book left a lot of questions unanswered due to way too many loose ends after reading it and was like the author was trying to mix together too many different forces without managing to get the story and the plot together in an interesting way. The so called "mad man" wasn´t really displayed in the book aside from the short encounter with Bolan in the last few pages and that encounter was too short especially since he knew Bolan from the past. This book could have been a much better one but instead it was confusing and flat and basically a little less than average reading if not for the great start of the book -
This book was a huge suprise since I though it would only be an average reading after checking out the back cover of the book but it turned out to be such a great and exciting one which kept me interested and entertained to the last page. There was always a new twist in the plot which changed constantly till the last chapter. From the desciption of the book Rosey Tosca seemed to be just yet another small time criminal hoping to score big time but he turned out to be a very sick and twisted one who´s into everything that meets his personal needs and goals. Bolan is even in a supporting role in the book which makes it an even more interesting and unique one. He never managed to get into a battle with Rosey Tosca so I wonder if he will appear again in a Mack Bolan book?????? -
This was a good reading with some high explosive beginning which sets the pace for the rest of the book. The support characters were great. It is always great to have Leo Turrin around Bolan but the jewels in the story are the three women bail Bolan out of a difficult situation at the beginning of the book and it was such a shame that one of them had to die. Freddy Gambetta was one piece of scum but as usually Bolan takes out rats like that fast and efficiently all though this time there is a lot of burning rage within Bolan after a friend was been brutally slain which pushes him even further in exterminating the Gambetta gang. -
This was a good book in general. The plot wasn´t a difficult one to figure out but the connection between the CIA and the Thai criminals was an interesting twist and added some flavor to the story. Carson Radke wasn´t the usual insane crimnal of the month but just a "normal" petty criminal with a personal plan to get rich along with few of his friends by adding some fuel to a long time war fire. All though the book still left several unanswered questions in the end, it was still a great entertainmaint as such without any brain twisting puzzle to figure out during the reading. -
Blood Heat Zero October 10, 2002Mack Bolan in my home country Iceland. What a hrill....... at least for the first 20 pages or so with exciting arrived in Iceland and four attempts on Bolan´s life during the beginning. After this explosive start the book became rather dull with more effort put into describing Iceland in general than making a great plot and interesting action and this book becomes a bit like Mack Bolan nr. 50, which is another dull R&R story. The author goes rather freely with certain facts about Reykjavík and Iceland in general as there were several wrong statements in the book like there hasn´t been a Danish restaurant in Reykjavík, Keflavík airport is not an airfield but an international airport, there is no mention about the American army base in Keflavík, wrong names of hotels and some even have never existed here and perhaps the most bizzare statement in the book is that murder rate goes up with increasing darkness!!!!!! I wonder where he got this information from???? Perhaps the author never expected that someone from Iceland would read the book........... -
Well, it´s rare that I like the Mafia war books. The plot was outstanding and Bolan´s plan of breaking up the Mafia hold on Las Vegas was an exciting one as Bolan toys with the Mafia boys making them looking stupid and confused and spinning his web of illusion and deception tackling the Maffia one by one up close and personal. It´s always makes me wonder how stupid and secure the Mafia boys are in catching Bolan and always there is some hot shot who thinks he can catch our hero and he uses their weakness and "security" against them every single time. It would have been great to have a major showdown between Bolan and the Talifero brothers instead of this short confrontation in the casion. One thing about the book is "funny" but Brognola actually tried to shoot Bolan his future friend and war partner and only Bolan´s Mafia "side kick" prevented that from happening. Many of Bolan´s future crime fighters and side kicks are introduced in this book like Grimaldi, Anders and the Ranger Girls. This book proves that one man can make a difference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -
This book was great and there was a great deal of suspense all though the plot in general and Bolan´s mission was clear from the start. It was great to have Brognola playing a bit more that his usual small supporting role in the books and actually being in the field with his friend for a change. This book is very similar to the Super Bolan "Onslaught" as both books take place in Russia and are written in a similar way. The characters were interesting but sadly the author found some strange need to kill of Bolan´s main fighting partner in the book as it would have been great to keep him in a repeated role during Bolan´s future mission in Russia. This was an overall great book and well worth reading!!!!!!!!!!!! -
Well, as usually I rarely find the mafia war books great ones as there is something about them that I don´t find very interesting. Maybe because the plot is often quite lame and lacks supspense and mystery? Perhaps because the mafia seems to be just a bunch of stupid secure characters who leave very little behind after each book? This book started out as a very interesting one but after general Chang was introduced to the story and the focus shifted from the mafia to Chang and his gang, the story became very boring and full of holes as the plot really didn´t add up and left me with lots of unanswered questions like; What was Chang´s game? Was he working on his own or for the Chinese government? What was his connection with the maffia? Why was the maffia working with Chang? This book though did have some interested moments mainly because of the great support cast of Anders, Smiley, Carl and Topy as it´s always great to see Bolan having a friend or friends fighting with him during his endless war. It´s also very interesting to witness the development of the special relationship between the friends for life, Bolan and Hal. Sadly, this book was just less than average reading but it could have been much better after the interesting few chapters........!!!! -
This book was a bit strange as the better part of it was about Bolan sailing from to port to port with a drunken manic and sadist on a mission for the enemy and also looking for clues to the plot of the book. This part is way too long all though it was quite interesting all the same. The end was a short one making the plot dull and very thin after all the traveling and trouble of finding out about it from the beginning of the book. It is always great when the enemy finds out who Bolan really is and how secure they become as he is "just another man" in their minds yet they fail to get him every single time as their security always ends up to be their downfall. I wonder how and what tipped Bolan off regarding the possible treat of Gus Webster and his gang as it wasn´t really explained in the book whatsoever??? -
This is how I want to have a great Mack Bolan book!!!!! Suspense, great plot and a major puzzle for Bolan to figure out as the twists and turns of each player of the plot makes the book an outstanding reading from the first page to the last one. The mixture of the CIA, KGB and the neo-Nazi group fighting the same battle but for a different reason betraying one another as it would suit each others needs makes the plot one of the most interesting ones I have encountered lately in a Mack Bolan book. The ending could have been a bit different with the neo-Nazi group finding out that the Russians were using them and there would be a shoot out between the two parties. I also wondered at the end if the CIA part of the plot was only related to the American Embassy in Oslo or if it was higher up the chain of command of the CIA?? It was a great twist to have Monica as Bolan´s sidekick and what a woman............!!!!!! I wonder if she will appear in another Mack Bolan book later on??? The only negative issue about the book is not related to the story but the back cover of the book but there it is stated that the story takes place in the Netherlands which is wrong as it happend in Norway which is a bad oversight on behald of the puplisher!!!! -
Why are books like these ever written?? The plot was confusing, unclear and unconsistent throughout the book making it not a very exciting reading and I just wanted to finish it off in order to try another and hopefully better book to enjoy reading. The characters in the book where too many with unclear ties with each other and events were often unexplained as the book progresses leaving you with way too many question marks in you mind throughout the book. The story and the action goes from phase to phase without being explained in order to tie the story, characters and plot together. Hecktor Gurrola was never show as a true villain and a drug lord that "rules an empire that thrives on kiddie porn, prositiution and narcotics" since he was basically in a supporting rule in this book making him basically dull and really a powerless 2nd rate criminal. The beginning of the book was a very good one but had really nothing to do with the rest of the story. Overall an little less than average reading yet confusing one that could have been so much more.............!!! -
Mack Bolan´s early Mafia war continues here with the development of the long-term relationship with Brognola and Turrin who are always a sheer joy to have as a support characters in single books throughout the years. Funny how simple and basically stupid the Mafia seems to be and how Bolan can toy around with them and killing them off one by one or a bunch of them if that suits his needs each time. This time around the Mafia boys are so secure that Bolan couldn´t get to them and this is as usually their downfall as he gets them every single time often without much effort. It´s always great to witness how swift Bolan is with his instinct reaction, decisive and ice cold actions towards the scum of the earth who pray of persons, countries and the world in general. Toro and the Cuban gang made an interesting support to Bolan´s Mafia war and it´s always special to see a more personal side of Bolan instead of the non-stopping action from first to last page as it often is the case. Brognola´s package was interesting and his way of making Bolan "an export product" for Uncle Sam but this is a challange too tempting for Bolan to resist at this point in his everlasting war as the next two books will show clearly. For some strange reason I rarely find the first few Mack Bolan Mafia books interesting but this one is though rather good one compared other similar ones. Read this one and enjoy as it´s one of the best I have read from the Mafia war so far!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -
Deep and Swift is just an average gang war book with lots of action yet little mystery which is what I prefer to have in a Mack Bolan book. However it is always special when Bolan has an "side-kick" or someone fighting with him on his missions like we have Doctorow in this book giving the book a bit of a personal touch which always adds more magic to the story from my point of view. Anyway, this book is a fast one but leaves me with very little in the end making it just an average one!!!! -
Well, what should I say about this book??? The truth and that is the book is very flat and not as interesting as I had hoped for. There is too many pages basically covering the beauty of the land and the details of each part of the river making the assination plot stay in the back seat of the book until in the end where Bolan´s confrontation with Vigoury ends without them ever really meet face to face. It blew my mind that the final battle was short and Bolan never really caught up with his assassin wanna-be. However what gave the book a certain charm was Johnny Kerr and Bolan´s thoughs for his own brother reliving part of his past meeting with his brother. Also what added a certain flavor to the story was the Stony Man part like April, Brognola and Kurtzman and their brief but touching part of the story. Anyway, this is a book for those who love with wilderness and river rafting but sadly the book didn´t life up to the promises it made to me during the first few pages!!! -
This book was great as it was a different mission for Bolan fighting a splinter group from the IRA instead of the usual world dominating terrorist wannabe of the month. The plot was clear but it was only in the end that all the pieces made the final picture of it. I love the Carl Furst books and I wish he would continue to write more!!!! -
Well, I liked this book as it was a total surprise for me. I prefer to have a Mack Bolan book with a major riddle, plot, and mystery for our hero instead of the straight action books. The plot in this one is very straight forward and obvious from the beginning and Bolan´s mission is very clear from the start but the action part of the book is outstanding and very well written making this book a great reading. It was great to have Leo Turrin back in action with Bolan and it is always great to have some of Bolan´s friends fighting with him back to back like Leo does in this book. What also made it a special one was the brief but personal words between April Rose and Hal Brognola about Mack Bolan and his personality giving us a more of their personal views on Bolan. This is a great book and hopefully there are more of this kind out there!!!! -
This book is unique because usually we have the "typical" terrorist of the month but we can only once have a book about zombies, voodoo and organ harvesting as a theme and therefore the book should have been a bit better one but unfortunately it wasn´t as good as the plot and the place could really offer. With a better and more concentrated writing with some more inside into black magic, voodoo and the mystery behind New Orleans this book could have been one of the best so far. I love Mack Bolan books when he is in a maze of mystery with not clear view of who´s the enamy really is until late in the book and the plot of this book was good one with interesting twists and turns making Bolan´s job much more difficult than often before. I wonder how someone besides Mack Bolan would react to a situation of facing few zombies in a group like he did in the book???? -
What should I say?? The book was very good and the plot was great and had it´s twists and turns making Bolan´s task a difficult one as he really can´t trust anyone and no one seems to show its true colors during his war against the London mafia. It was great to have Leo Turrin again on Bolan´s side and it is always very special when Bolan meets his friends in his everlasting war and Leo has always been special as such for Bolan. This one is well worth reading after all this time!!!! -
Well, is book was a very promising one at the beginning with a chance of having a great plot and a major mystery for Bolan to figure out but no, the plot was thin, not interested and badly written. The book kept going from one part to another without answering questions like how, who and why making it flat and predictable in every way. The concept of the acid bath was great and it could have a major issue for this book and made a unique one but the acid bath was only a minor part of the book just like the "horrible" dictator Wandte and I really didn´t understand why he was supposed to be "horrible" as it was never really shown in the book. To put it in simple words.....This is not an interesting book from my point of view!!!! -
This book is simply great as Bolan is being framed for murder and is caught in a maze of deception and mystery without knowing who´s who and not being able to trust a soul. The mission is clear yet the whole picture is hidden from him as he is cold and alone and constantly running in to dead ends. Bolan is just a puppet in a sick game of persons who ain´t what they appear to be. The plot is great making the book a difficult one to put it down until it was over!!!!!!!!!! -
This is an outstanding action packed book that left Bolan in a situation where he knew parts of the mystery puzzle but not all of them with a Russian trator running things and pulling strings making Bolan a target all around Russia with the wild man Jake Pool on his tail who believes he is an old western gunslinger. It was very hard to let this book down until it was finished as there was never a slow and boring moment in it!!!!! -
Firebase Florida is an action packed one without any real mystery or enigma for Bolan to find out. The enemy is very visible so the only question is; how will Bolan shut him down once and for all?? This is yet another great book by Carl Furst and I wish he would write another one soon!!! -
The plot of the book was great and had it´s twists and turns making Bolan a pawn in a sick game he didn´t have any control over until later on when he managed to put some of the pieces of the puzzle together. The book was a long one but the suspense was well kept until the last pages making it difficult to stop reading the book until it was finished. -
Outstanding book with great plot and amazing action. I love it when Bolan is caught in a battle where he doesn´t know the plot and the key players involved. The plot of this book was great and varied as there were players like CIA, KGB, Vietnamese and indivitual like Stuart Wingate running the game from a different angle and with different vision and motive. It was very hard to put this book down before it was finished!!!!!