BolanFan_3_29

Pure page turning excitement. From the opening sequence this one jumps in to high gear and never lets up. All of the players are involved, Leo Turrin, Charlie Mott, Katz, and a whole team of blacksuits play a very intregal part of this VanCook-Creation. Bolan has some great inerrogation scenes, Able Team almost sacrafices a few black suits to get the job done, and Phoenix Force clash with the secret service, after pulling a Presidental Security detail. The entire Stony Man crew stay in the continental US of A for onece, a nice change of pace. Everything comes to a head in Washington, DC when a Presidental hit is narrowly foliled by the Stony Man team. The villians for the most part seem very realistic, none of them are too extreme, and most of them come from circumstance, rather than insanity. The writing was spot on and VanCook paints a wonderful story with a perfect flow. The last half of the book seemed to only take me about 10 minutes, but that was only due to the fact that I lost all track of time wiht this one. One of the BEST.

A valiant Stony Man effort, “The Eye of the Ruby” was a great quick read. It had well thought out action sequences and delivered quite a few exhilarating moments. I am a huge fan of Stony Man novels that also involve Mack, but focus primarily on Able Team and Phoenix Force, that is the first of my two minor complaints. This adventure seemed more like a Super Bolan, that featured Able Team and Phoenix Force. If I had to break down the novel, I would say that Mack was featured in about 40-50% of the whole, Able Team and Phoenix Force were about equal, with about 15% each, Stony Man Farm, and the “villains” were predominantly featured in about 10% of the novel respectively. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Mack teaming up with AT and PF, but most of the time Mack was styled as the “lone wolf”. My second problem was that the “Eye of the Ruby” story arc didn’t begin until the last half to quarter of the book. Now on to the positive aspects of the novel, I found this to be a very action packed novel, even by Stony Man standards. The fighting sequences were well thought out and paced throughout the entire book. And once the Ruby storyline was brought in to play, the consequences for failure were immense, either PF and MB had to take out the Nuclear Reactor powering the laser weapon, or WWIII would begin with a mushroom cloud if the United States had to use its trump card. Second, Able Team, and Phoenix Force when used were used correctly, meaning that both teams strengths and each respective character’s traits, skills and mannerisms were used. For example, Lyons was the typical hard case, Pol kept him in line, and Gadgets used his infiltration and computer skills. Able Team kicked in doors state side, while Mack used his triad connections to break multiple leads down in Taiwan and China, and Phoenix Force used their cover story for all it was worth, and followed Mack and McCarter through to the end. Both Mack and the teams were nailed down pat by the author. Third I loved the Triad connections that were used on both ends by AT and MB w/ PF and the supporting cast of characters that helped AT and PF throughout were well written and used to the best of their abilities. Finally, the enemy was well written, from every foot soldier to the leaders. The enemy tactics and the laser weapon were used liberally and creatively. And the blatant disregard for innocent lives and private property that the laser destroyed, helped make the reader loathe the enemy. Overall I will have to say that this one gets a passing grade and my seal of approval.

One of the best. To make this review both short and sweet, “one of the best” would be how I would describe this Stony Man entry. The action was spot on, and flowed well throughout the entire novel. I always love when a Stony Man book can incorporate pretty much everyone that has ever been involved in the Mack Bolan universe, with cameo appearances by memorable characters like Leo Turrin, Charlie Mott, Felix O’Prinity (Special Agent and Friend of David’s) and a whole lot of Black Suits. The action sent Able Team chasing down eliminator leads in New York, Louisiana, and Alabama, decimating biker gangs, the KKK, and the “Falcons,” a street gang with deep connections. Phoenix Force as usual were busy half way around the world, running all over IRA country chasing down their own leads. While the lone wolf, Bolan, was going international to chase down some leads of his own in Australia, Japan, and Jamaica. My one disappointment, however, was the somewhat under-whelming ending. There was no real EPIC final fight with “Mad Dog” Maddox or his cohorts. Out of the three major evil doers, the Native American, Staggs, and their boss Maddox, only one was even slightly challenging, the other two went out like a summer breeze. This is the one thing that held this entry in the series back a little, and lead me to give it a solid rating of 9, close to perfect, not quite close enough.

I too have to agree with the previous two reviewers. This book, although a noble effort just has too many flaws. The first major flaw is in character development. There are too many inconsequential characters that never really grab you nor are they described well enough to remember from one scene to the next. I have been reading these series’ of books for as long as I can remember now, and I rarely write a bad review, but in this case I can’t seem to find anything promising or positive to point out. I have the ornate ability to see these novels in a way that is almost indescribable, as I read a Super Bolan, Stony Man, or Executioner, the action and characters when written well or even above average literally jump off the page and in to my mind. I see the action play out like a movie in my head as I read the words on the page. That is the power that the Mack Bolan character has. That is the majesty that Don Pendleton brought to the world so many years ago, the ilk that so many wonderful writers have been able to capture over the years in the various series, be it Abler Team, Phoenix Force, Stony Man or The Executioner himself. When I got this book in my bi-monthly shipment I was excited to turn the first few pages, but that excitement quickly died off as the pages began to blur together, and I was forced to look back to previous chapters to even remember where a character started. I can say that I have never fallen asleep, when reading a Bolan novel in the past, even when I have stayed up all night reading, forcing my wife to come in to the den looking for me at 3 am, until now. I am proud to report one thing… I seem to be the first person to review this book that actually saw it through to the end, and that was a chore. I did however get some much needed naps along the way. -Dan Schmidt, please do not feel that your efforts were in vain, I hope that you take this criticism and can produce some more great characters in the future, but in this effort, I just couldn’t make that character to reader connection. Please know that I will read your next noel and hope it captures the magic for me! Thanks, and as always keep frosty!

INTENSE ACTION! I absoloutley loved this book from start to end. The imagery was incredible, the action constant, and the plot very believable. I could feel no aompassion for the people that were mowed dowm by Able Team. THey were doped up and out of their minds but wow even that is no excuse. I haven't read any book in these series' with such brutal imagery. I can't help but wonder why Flor was killed off you would think that she had some very useful qualities that could easily convert into a support role in future books. I mean there isn't much of a chance of April going in to the field for any extended period of time and she is the closest thing to Flor as far as a plausable support character / femme fatal is concerned. But anyway back to the review, the svene at the apartment complex that featured 2 Attchison assault weapons aka: "The Lyons Crowd Killing Device" was awesome. I guess it was a favorable coincidence that Pol and Gadgets brought one and Lyons happened to already have one for the academy demonstration in LA. Way cool. I also loved seeing Lyons' old partner being brought in to the mix as a support character. The hospital scene provided much needed comic relief. Slam those commie news reporters guys. It was also interesting to see how the entire city of Angels shut down because of these crazed drug enduced homicidal maniac street toughs rampaging as if they were zombies. I cant say enough about how great this book was.

From begining to end this book rocked. The action sequences were everpresent and the pace kept the pages turning. The novel also links previous books together with connections between Unomundo and the Salvadoran death squads. I always love that. I also like the fact that All of ableteam is equally present in this one. Lyons' Crowd Killing Device (The Attchison) also stole some thunder and you gotta love that. All in all one of the better Able Teams.

I read this book and found that it revolves mostly around one character... Lyons. This isn't necessarily a bad thing and this entry still had a very good flow. You have Blancanales using his knowledge of Spanish dialects to the teams advantage, but he remains in the background as more of a support character. Gadgets, well he really stays in the background and is a support character. His creative mind is never really used to give the team any electronics assistance. I did think that the scene where "Pol" uses teh barbed wire to take down the gunship was very well written I have to admit this book is an average read nothing really stands out as extraordinary or groundbreaking. I also like the fact that all of the first Able Team books have pertinent information from previous books show up in. I thought it was very funny when the villagers passed around the photo of Carl in his warrior garb from Able Team #4 Amazon Slaughter. I think that this book pulled off the escape of the bad guy in a very action packed and believable manner. I can't wait to see how Unomundo shows up in the next part of the series.

This was a really great entry into the series. I loved all of the action sequences, and the book flowed really well. I did have one major problem with the book however and that had to do with the same thing many people saw and that was Carl Lyons' moral code. It seems to be the forst time that we see a member of the Bolan series' coming off as cruel and possibly racist. He A. shows no mercy, which is okay but generally is not how Carl is written. B. He uses the phrase raghead like its going out of style. C. He makes a few "turkeys" of his very own. mmmmmm... turkey. The other cool thing about this book is The silenced Colt .45 that Konzaki developed for carl. All in all a good solid read.

I liked this book for its pure orrigonality. Able Team teams up with some locan indigenous people (indians) and is led by their local guides to the neuclear plant. Along the way Lyons takes some mind altering halucinagens and is basically adopted as one of the tribesmen. Very cool. Along with the appearance of the Atchisson this book is pure action from start to almost end. I didnt like teh fact that the book slowed so much near the climax to tell you all about WeHo and his rise etc... if it wasnt covered in the begining of the book it probably didnt need to be in the end. and entire 6 or so paged chapter that half way through the droning i skipped due to a total lack of intrest. Highly recomended!

Able Team is mobilized into New York to deal with the terrorist takeover of a skyscraper on Wall Street. The Terrorist have seized the building and are holding hostages... Send in Able Team Lyons, Schwartz and Blancanales must stop the terrorists on a 48HR deadline and without any major interferance they may be ABLE to do it. I love the fact that throughout the book Able Team is almost entirely on their own and has only some help form the FBI, and later Konzacki (Future Weaponsmith) The finale of the book comences from the roof top and the terrorists are prepared to make it very difficult for anyone to follow them.

A MUST READ! The trial documets many ideologies and principals that The Executioner follows. If you are new to the series or even if you havnt read many of the first half of the Executioner's tales, this book not only fills you in but also explains so much about our favorite character Mack Bolan. The trial scenes were tense at times and you could really tell that it took quite a lot of convincing before the prosecution began to see that Mack was on the side of justice. (although that did not change her preception of what Mack does for a living) JUDGE JURY AND THE EXECUTIONER.

Great Boook with lots of action sequences. One thing I didnt like too much that has an effect on my overall score is also how Mack comes off in parts of the story as a cold blooded killer. Sure he and Katz want to find all of the info they can on the slaves and free them as soon as possible but Mack has morals and lines that he cant cross. I agree that he would never kill a drunken sentry that is passed out just to kill. If he was a viable threat more likely than not Mack would disarm and restrain a person in this position. It just seems almost too easy for Mack to just kill. I loved the addition of the female companion to the Katz, Bolan combo and her addition adds some value to the story. We all love when characters are added that can be assets to any Stony Man, Bolan adventure. I also feel that the Stony Man involvement in this book was unnecescary at tinmes and forced at others. Everyone can agree that we love to see the Blue Ridge base involved whenever possible but not when it gets pushed at us at every turn. All in all, a good solid read and worth a look. 8 of 10.

Fast paced action sequences through and through. Pheonix Force minus Katz for almost the entire novel had to realy pull together to thwart the KGB and assasins plans. I almost couldnt bear the thoughts of what was going to happen to Katz throughout the book, and Macarter taking over Pheonix force to save not only the Phillipene President but Katz was awesome. I loved the dragon slayer helicopter scene on the water... Pheonix Force surronded and out gunned had to call in Grimaldi for some airborne supremecy!

One of the more memorable Bolan books to come out lately. The hostages have been taken by a fundamentalist terrorist group led by yet another foe that Bolan must defeat. The grizley way in which one of the hostages is killed brings back very bad memories for anyone that cares to remember that brutal beheadings that we have all seen form the middle east in tha past few months. Mack must do anything and work any leads he can find that will give him the break he needs to rescue tha rest of the hostages. To put it simply. Beautiful Imagery, Loads of Action, Plenty of Supporting Cast. All allow me to give this book an easy rating of 8 out of 10 stars. But the fact that the book moves along at such a brisk pace forcing me to finish it in a two day marathon of reading pushes this Bolan Novel over the edge and makes it a solid 9.

Another page turner in teh series. I enjoyed it very much. I can say that after finishing the book and reading the reviews I can justify some criticisem of the book but I personally enjoyed the infiltration of the group of commmies planning to get Mexico and the USA warring it out. I agree that the leader of the Teaxas based merc squad was quite silly and did come of as a Montgomery Burns esque character... and also no if you had read the book 15+ years ago you would think of him as a legitimate character. I agreee whole heartedly. I like very much seeing the relationship of Able team develop in these first few novels. I also like the way in bothe #2 and #3 the author alludes to teh previous story arc. For instance the scar on Lyons ribs from the M60 wound obtained in Hostage Island, Able Team #2.

Incredible book. I enjoyed reading it from start to end. The way that the townspeople are written kept the book flowing. I loved the fact that some of them had the courage to stand and fight, and they did it in a way that didnt compromise them too much. Hiding in an attic to avoid unnecescary confrontations etc... I also loved the way that Able team came together and fought through the whole book. I was really worried about Carl after he took some serious hits.

While this book was a decent entry in to the Bolan series, I felt it was lacking some major entertainment value, and the development seemed way to slow for a Super Bolan novel. This book quite frankly didnt hit the spot for me in most areas, I felt it lacked action untill the very end and didnt seem to have much in the way of a background character development. In many ways I struggled to finish it.

Wow! Simply an amazing piece of writing. Simply put if I could give this book an 11 it would have it. There were no moments in this book that didnt flow, the action, the suspense everything screamed BOLAN TO THE MAX. The graveyard scenes were unnerving, especally for a person as arachniphobic as I am. I cant even imagine being thrown in to a grave and eaten up by vicous little spiders like DelCaprio and the Narc in the begining, Kip. And that sick and sedistic Iceman ( the villan ) never a moment that I didnt lothe his existance. WOW!

In my opinion this was an average entry into the Bolan Executioner series. I liked the fact that Bolan had to team up with some mercs, in order to retrieve his only possible lead and then to get back teh objective's. The nerve agent as well as the sonic microchip. I was a page turner, fiinshed it in one day. I would recomend this book to all.

I tought this one was a very good entry in to the Stony Man series, my one complaint as stated before, PF gets the most attention, and no Mack, which isnt nesescarily a bad thing considering that he has his own two series of books, I would rather have little or no Mack in a Stony Man book than too much. And what did happen to Randolph?, I did like the way the book builds and builds that Randolph is one of the bad guys then boom he takes revenge on those that the Stony Man forces and AF IA think Randolph is helping! Bien Phyr was an aewsome villan, but his elimination was underdeveloped.

Another Stony Man page turner. Dan Schmidt did a number with this one, form begining to end the action and well thought out story lie was present. I for one favor a good Stony Man that showcases AT and PF with some Mack Bolan strewn throughout and if I had one minor complaint... and it is very minor, It seemed to me as more of a Super Bolan that also featured AT and PF. That being said... when you read a book and can actually lothe the foil, the enemy, the bad guy you gotta love that feeling. The whole book paints some beautiful imagery. One Big Thumbs Up!

I won the three Executioner comics in an ebay auction about a week ago and jus recieved them. I couldnt wait to read them through and through, Not only did the comics stand up to the accuracy of Mack's war but they increased my love for the Executioner collection of books ten-fold.

This was a very very good Stomy Man, one of the best Ive read in a while. I was actually worried that Mack might not be coming back, and wow what a page turner.

This book was suspense filled and a realy fast read. I too loved that Bolan had to use what he had rather than what he was accustomed to. I also liked that he went out on a limb and trusted that little affrican scam artist. Avery good read.

This book kept me very interested, I was constantly wondering what was going to happen to Mack and when is he going to get caught, a great "cover" story by bolan wass foiled in the end though. All in all a very good, action packed story.

Sorry, I was typing and not thinking when I wrote that review, Mack went to Sudan not syria. I hate when that happens.

This book was a good entry in to the early executioner series. It was relativley fast paced and had a good plot with many turns. This was one quick read.

This book begins fast, lags a bit of action in the middle and picks it back up in the end. Overall a solid installment in the Mack Bolan series. Bolan jetting all over the map to stop terrorism again. The scenes in syria were very electrifying and so was the ending, I give it a solid 8.

This is the book that started the whole Stony Man genre and that and that alone is enough to justify a 10 star score. But that is not why it deserves a 10 it deserves a 10 because it has all of the aspects that any Stony Man fan should look for. 1. It had Phoenix, Able and Mack all on different missions in the begining that led up to all of them combining forces (for the first time as a unit) and the story all comes together. 2. Aewsome action. The book had very good descriptive scenes. 3. A great bad guy (oxymoron), but that bad guy was prepared to make Hydra succede even if that meant that he would have to kill his compatriots and start over again. All of this and much more makes this one hell of a book.

A very good entry, I wish that the girls were un affected by Bolan touching their lives. He dose a great job saving them in NJ. But turning one of those girls in to a turkey was prety sick. I gues that Bolan has had an affect on every life he has touched since the very start.

Good entry, lots of great battle sequences, I loved how Mack used the Capo's and played them acainst eachother. The final battle scene was great and Bolan escapes by the skin of his teeth, Woo Hoo!

This was an average reas in the Mack Bolan saga, I didn't like the way it ended but it had some interesting battle scenes.

This book was a bit below average for a Bolan / Pendleton book but hey they cant always be perfect. I enjoyed reading about Bolans fiest battles against the Mafia over seas, but I was let down when bolan let the bad guy walk away, only to have him shoot out the windows and wound Cici. Big let down, Bolan should have zipped him from crotch to neck and back again before he had a chance to take Bolan and Cici out.

This was a great book. I enjoyed the scenes with Mack infiltrating the mafia. I also thought that this book had some real gruesome and descriptive scenes that realy painted a picture.

Just got done with this one and boy was it good, I sort of wish that Mr. Pendleton had kept death squad together a bit longer at least untill the third or fourth entry in the series. But all in all one of the best bolans.

I was born in 1981 and being so young and not around when most of the early books were published I never had a chance to fully appreciate the series for what it is, because there is a lot of things that you cant piece together. But recently I won an auction and have just recieved the first 100+ books in the executioner series and boy what a well writen and extrordinary book. I loved every minuite of it. A great fast read.

This was an average The Executioner book with many wists in it. I thought that the Rio PD could have searched Mack a bit more thouroughly but who am I to criticize. The ending was nerve Racking, I thought it all might be over for the executioner but once again Mack saves the day.

This entyr in to the Stony Man collection was very well written and had lots of action, I especally liked Able Team's fight to the finish with the terrorist sect in NY. Phoenix Force also had a kick arse encounter in the Middle East. I couldnt put this one down, But what was up with everyone saying "arse" are the Stony Man teams trying to be hip or something? Any wat read it and love it.

A totally awesome end to the trilogy. It is a must read if tou want to find out where Mack must chase Stuben next. I this book has plenty of action, but why :WArNING SPOILER AHEAD: do the people that work with Mack usually get killed, it realy bugs me.

WOW this was an extremely good book, I enjoyed it from start to end.

I thought that this was a pretty good entry it dealt with some of the crazieness in the good old USA at teh end of the Millenium.

Wow! a stupendous entry by Mike Newton I cant wait to finish the series, Stuben is a memorable villian and he is writen well, you realy come to despise him!

The grand finalle to the two part fall of the west book kicked some major butt. I was glad to see that Barb recovered. I was also glad to see that JR Rust wasnt killed off as are many of the opperatives that work with the stont man team.

This book was an average enstallment in to the Stony Man Series. It had some deffinate action but lacked a thriller ending in my opinion. Worth a read.

This was a very good Bolan Executioner novel. I enjoyed the Non-Lethal fighting scene very much and I also liked the twist with the France at the end. The part with Gadgets ans Pheoinix Force was a welcomed twist as well. You could feel the pain as the francs submersable delivery system was pinged by the US Sub. Great story!

An extrordinary book with an excelent plot woven in. I found it a little less than convicing that the theft of the Patriots was seamingly so easy, even with inside help but this one is definatley worth your time.

An Excelent and quick read for a 340+ PAGE BOOK. I like the addition of JR Rust although I know that he probably wont be in any more books once this two part series is finished.

Outstanding! I loved this Michael Kasner entry from start to end I Finished it in one day and was left craving more. Even though I am not a big fan of books that take place in space, or that lack tons of action, I could feel the Stony Man support team's agony in not knowing the fait of their family. An outstanding page-turner

I wa just glad to see Bolan Bring the BIG BAD AUTO MAG BACK IN TO PLAY IF ONLY FOR A WHILE. The Desert Eagle is great too but it has no real persona. Good book overall.

I have to disagree I thought that this book is worth a second look. It had many action sequences and it is the book that got me interested in the Mack Bolan, Stony Man, The Executioner, Able Team, Pheonix Force genre Since then I have been reading every executioner book that I can get my ands on. It deserves at the very least an 8, because it wasnt at the level of the most dissapointing stony man book ever (imho) Tactical Response.

I am not one to bash a Mack Bolan book or to rate any commendable effort with less than a 5, but boy that book was bad. I have to admit that I do not like the way that some of these books are headed, mayby the authors are just running short on ideas. I had to force myself to finish this one and am very disapointed in how it ended. I was also disapointed with Tactical Response.

I just finished Vector Three two days ago and it was one of those books that left you begging for more and had me hell bent on finishing. It was only lacking in the end. But made up for it with the use of Able Team and Pheonix Force, but Mack's part wasnt as in depth as I would have liked all in all a good read.

This book was far from the best Stony Man that I have ever read (All of them). It seemed way too out there for my liking, I occasionaly watck the X-Files and this had way too little Stony Man action. I would have liked it better bossiblt id it werent so "back and forth"

This book escelates the war waged against Grehard Stuben and the Temple of The Nordic Covenet. Bolan Teams up with a Mossad agent and wreaks havoc on Stubens foreign nazi sect. A must read by all means. But read the first book, Destinys Hour to fully understand the plot.