Jack Grimaldi

Tight, authentic characterization and a well-written, original plot contribute to making "Devil's Guard" one of my favorite Executioner novels of all time. This is apparently the book that started GE's recent fascination with Bolan opposing neo-Nazi groups with occult overtones, but none of them matched this one in my opinion. The Order of Thule, based on a real organization and the belief Nazis were descendants of Aryan gods is presented very credibly. The Thulists come off as professional and intelligent adversaries. Heinrich Heine, the aged evil mastermind reminded me of Montgomery Burns for some reason, but that made him all the more enjoyable as the main villain. The touch of the metaphysical with Bolan's and Heine's spiritual connection to the ancient artifact, The Dag, was very well-handled and very original. The pace of this novel is headlong, tinted with violence and terror, but it's not without a sense of humor, particularly in the some the dialogue between Bolan and the heroine Ilona Wezhart. She was a welcome change from the usual damsel in distress, a German citizen who is half-black who the reader can sympathesize with as her country seems to turn more toward institutionalized racism. The action is fast and furious and Bolan has rarely been portrayed more maturely and driven. High-tech but believable gimmickry and hardboiled dialogue abound in this tour-de-force. The battle scene at the mental hospital were fantastic! "Devil's Guard" is full of action and colorful characters and real nail biting suspense, particularly during the climatic "countdown to destiny" at the end. Bolan's philosophy comes through very strongly in this book which was another thing I appreciated about it. Although he works with the US military and German government, what gets him involved is coming across a massacred village of Amazonian indians. And even so, he's not their yes-man...he steps on toes and even gets arrested by the German secret service. I don't know why Mark Ellis hasn't written any more Bolan books since this one, but I for one hope that he returns to Mack Bolan sometime in the future, either with an Executioner or better yet, a Stony Man novel. "Hellfire Trigger" and "Devil's Guard" shows he has an instinctive grasp of not only the character but how to write a compelling book.

"Crimson Tide" was pretty much "Bolan by the numbers". It wasn't bad but it wasn't one of the better efforts put forth by Mel Odom either. The pirates of Caribbean plot was interesting but it wasn't handled in a particularly dramatic way in my opinion. Even the aspects of Bolan allying himself with the mob to fight a more vicious foe wasn't dealt in a very vivid manner. There was a sort of tired feel to this novel with every little energy in it, which was unlike most work by this author.

This was an amazing book. Author Will Murray managed to make it seem as if he were channeling the spirit of Don Pendleton. "Red Horse" wasn't a big menace book, but Bolan's adversaries were just as vile as any terrorist. The pyschological war he played with them which was reminiscent of "High Plains Drifter" was very compelling. Bolan's own "Kill Car" was a really nice addition to the book as well. I wish he kept it. I know Murray wrote the Destroyer for many years and even Doc Savage novels. It's a shame he never wrote another Executioner novel since he seemed to have a real feel for the character.

I've been back-tracking through all the 200 numbered books, reading them in no particular order. Hellfire Trigger is a big surprise, an excellent entry in the series. It's probably has the strongest James Bondian flavor of any Bolan book I've ever read. Kudos to Mark Ellis for creating a fascinating and loathsome villain and a credible threat. The way the story bounced back and forth between the standard Executioner type of scenes we've come to expect to the Bondian sequences--like on Deveroux's island and the aireal assault on his building--flowed extremely well. I really enjoyed the scene set in the strip club in Tampa, where Bolan recognizes one of the "customers" as an old Mafiosi who escaped his "Boston Blitz" way back when. That was a nice touch of continuity. It was also a nice touch that Bolan was pretty much on his own during this mission. He got a little help from the local FBI field office, but it was for the most part Bolan's show from start to finish. A very enjoyable book from the first chapter to the last.