Dan S.

Three strikes and you're out! This is the third Dan Schmidt book I've read and I've disliked each one of them. The first was an Executioner that I read all the way through, but the second was a Super Bolan that I punched out of at page 100. I stopped wasting my time with this one on page 66. The problem is the same as the prior books, overly long rambling sentences/paragraphs, poor/confusing plot flow, meaningless asides in the middle of sentences that are confusing and make you forget what point the sentence was trying to make, etc. I was hoping this book would be better than the prior Schimdt books as I found the synopsis of the book interesting. The first few chapters weren't bad, but there was the occasional problem like i mentioned above and my frustration began to grow. THen I hit the section where Phoenix Force is introduced and it was page after page of brutal reading. At that point it was time to throw in the towel and move on.

I agree with the prior review in many respects. The book got VERY confusing in multiple areas, specifically it delved into who was good/bad, who was working for who, who was betraying who, etc. I had no idea what was going on much of the time. The bit about the policeman getting shot bothered me as well. Also, the last couple of chapters of the book are completely out of left field with characters being introduced at about page 200, simply for the purpose of having Mack & Sable take them out. That said, there was much that I did like in the book. I felt the new author had a good grip on the character of Mack Bolan (with the exception of the aforementioned cop killing). I liked the action scene, which flowed very well and were exciting. Large parts of the book were very engaging and fun to read, but then it would just hit a brick wall of confusion. All in all, I'll give the book a 5, but I do look forward to Nathan Meyer's next contribution to the series. I think he has potential to write some interesting stuff.

I liked this book quite a bit. The plot intrigued me right from the start and the book kept moving at a good pace. The characterization was good and there were some good action scenes, especially in the snow. I would agree with the prior review that my major complaint would be the super human nature of the Stan Reader character. It was a bit annoying to have a character who has unlimited money, knowledge, weapons, abilities, snowmobiles, etc. all at the drop of a hat. Any problem that sprung up was easily solved by Stan. But I can forgive that if the story is good and this was definately one of those cases.

I agree with the prior reviewer, although I would rate the book a little higher. I did like the flow of the book and the action always kept me interested. My main problem with the book is how completely unreasonable it is that the terrorists kept the hostages alive long enough to be rescued. (They can't identify which of the hostages is the one they really want because they all "look alike". Very implausible.)

I agree with much of what the prior reviewer said. I have not read the Able Team novels yet (I will soon, hopefully, since I have the first 20 or so which I recently purchased off ebay). So I was not familiar with all the references to Able's prior work in South America. A few references would have been fine, and I liked getting a glimpse of the old books. But the vast quantity of references became off-putting quickly. I also agree that the plot was a bit of a stretch, though like you I can forgive that easily. More grating was the continuing adding on of terrorist groups to form conglomerate villain of the novel (again, associated with the references with old Able Team novels.

When I read the plot description I was excited to read the full book. After the first 30 pages it just wasn't grabbing me. I plowed on, eventually making it 100 pages before I threw in the towel. My problem with the book is the same as with the previous Dan Schmidt book I read (Assault Force), the writing style. The author insists on writing in long, disjointed, run-on sentences that make for frustrating reading. The way the plot is constructed is not reader friendly and although there were some passages that engaged me, they were short and few and far between. Based on the two strikes against him, I will not be looking forward to the next Dan Schmidt entry in the Bolan/Stony Man saga.

I enjoyed this book. I was a little wary as I have read some reviews of Mike Newton's books saying that the books have become repetive and cookie-cutter. I can't speak to that since this is the first of his books I've read in years, but I found the plot interesting and moved along well. I liked Bolan's CIA contact in India, although the occasional overtures towards romance were unnecessary. All in all, it was a worthwhile read in my opintion.

I enjoyed this StonyMan entry. The action was compelling and fast paced and the story held up. I liked that the mission was not a complete success on the part of one of the teams, which required a last minute save from the US Air Force. My only complaint were the apparantly pointless investigation Hal instigates into the NSA Director. It was only mentioned in passing and dropped immediately after finding nothing. It just seemed unnecessary. Also, the ending seemed a bit rushed and abrupt. All in all, a good entry from Jon Guenther. I liked his last StonyMan and I look forward to his next book.

I agree with the prior poor reviews. This is my first new Executioner novel in about 12 years. I've just gotten back into the series by reading War Against the Mafia and a couple of other early books. I figured I'd see what the new stuff is like these days. Unfortunately, this was the first one I selected to read. I found the book very poorly written and confusing as to the action and who was doing/saying what.