BARRABAS

After the abomination that was Warrior's Requiem, damn near anything would be an improvement. But this sequel is only a slight improvement, at best. It astounds me that Mike Newton could write two novels that suck so badly, let alone one right after another. In the past, Newton has written many excellent Mack Bolan adventures...Maybe he had to rush to meet a deadline with this duology or perhaps his heart just wasn't in it. But this is is glaringly unimaginative, by the numbers, boring and bad Bolan. It suffers from the same lack of characterization as Warrior's Requiem and the same lame, pathetic, cookie-cutter villains. You would think that in the wake of Katz's death that Mack Bolan and David McCarter would show a little emotion. I know they are hardened fighting men, but, come on, man, they're not fucking robots! Once again in Retaliation we are subjected to a non-plot that plods at a glacial pace. Pages upon pages upon pages describe action that should take place in a matter of paragraphs. The redundacy practically retarded me. I can barely write this review feeling so retarded! In the past, I have appreciated Mike Newton's rather crisp dialogue and strong supporting characters. There is little evidence of either in this book. Rebecca Mindel seems like she should be a cool character and like she should be interesting. Sadly, she just isn't. Her personality---or, rather, lack thereof---is about as compelling my mother's favorite fucking doily. Oh, and I forgot to ask in my Warrior's Requiem review---where in the name of fuck is the rest of Phoenix Force? Playing video games? Eating pizza? Drinking beers? Whacking it to the new Britney Spears video? Give me a fucking break! Katz is dead, these guys are NOT going to sit around with their thumbs jammed up their bungholes. Encizo, Manning, and James---and, yes, even that retarded, worthless poser, T. J. Hawkins---would scorch the fucking earth to avenge Katz's death. This book is just garbage. Lazy storytelling at its worst. In the final battle, when the villains were defeated, when justice was supposedly served, when Katz was supposedly avenged, I felt absolutely nothing at all. This book stirred not one single emotion within me. Well, that's not quite true, actually. I feel angry. Enraged that this book was so damn lame. What a fucking waste of my time. I mean, the time I spent reading this novel could have been used in a much more productive manner, like, say, staring at the dried shit clinging to the hair by my dog's dirty asshole. At least that fucking shit is real. And it isn't betraying me or ripping me off.

There's no excuse for the poor quality of this book. No, pardon me, not poor quality, that's too kind. Utter absence of quality would be a more honest description. In the past, Mike Newton has written some excellent installments in the Executioner series, but this book just really and truly sucks shit. I'll admit it, I'm a Katz fan. A big Katz fan. But the pathetic, anti-climactic handling of Katz's death is not the only problem with Warrior's Requiem. No, it's just the saddest and most glaring problem. Take Katz's death out of the equation and this book is just a big fucking snooze from beginning to end. I could barely make myself finish reading it. There is very little plot here, mostly just bland action scenes extended to ridiculous extremes to fill out the page count. The book's villains are also limp, lifeless, stereotypical non-entities that truly pose little threat to our favorite heroes and offer absolutely nothing of interest to this loyal reader. Then there was the total lack of characterization. Mack Bolan was about as interesting as toothpaste in Warrior's Requiem. David McCarter displayed all the personality of an overripe turnip. And Katz was treated like a disheveled, senile escapee from the No Longer Considered Relevant Or Hip By Gold Eagle Retirement Home. His behavior was ridiculous, embarrassing, and totally out of character---as was the way he was treated by Bolan and McCarter, who, in the past, never thought they were Katz's fucking nannies. Indeed, in the past, both Bolan and McCarter had great respect for Katz, for his military skills, for his uncanny leadership abilities, and for his overall brilliance. In fact, I'd say McCarter looked up to Katz more than any other person in the world and Bolan respected Katz more than any other warrior he's ever known. And what was all this self-righteous indignation displayed by Bolan and McCarter over Katz disobeying orders from Hal? Good God, how many times have Bolan, Able Team, and Phoenix Force disobeyed orders from the Farm? How many fucking times have they gone behind Hal's back? A hell of a lot of times. And you know what? They're almost always fucking proud of themselves for doing it! But in this sack of shit book, we're led to believe that Mack and McCarter would be willing to gun down Katz if he gets in their way---I mean, shit, the daft old bugger had the audacity to cross that fucking uncrossable line and disobey Hal, hell, might as well kill the senile old coot. I'm disgusted. This book makes me ill and I can't write about it anymore...One star is far more than this soulless piece of shit deserves. Don't believe this piece of trash, people! KATZ LIVES!!!!!!