Joel Tunnah

Uniformly mediocre from start to finish, but it goes so far off the rails near the end that I won't bother finishing the last 30 pages. A first in a Bolan book for me. The author pushes along banal plot points with little or no writing devoted to atmosphere or Bolan's thoughts. It's humorless, and suspenseless - we are told that characters are in danger, but I never felt it. One of the escapes in particular is so ridiculous, you could argue that the book is not humorless afterall. Way too much time spent on the author's high school concepts of a budding romance between the two reporters. These scenes are cringe-inducing, but luckily are always cut short by grenades and machinegun fire (!). Speaking of action, he loves using medical detail as often as possible: intestines protruding, 5th lumbar severed, etc. This doesn't make your book 'gritty'; it's clunky and distancing. Dear Gold Eagle: Bolan dialing a cell phone every other chapter to get the full resources of the US Govt dropped in his lap on a moment's notice is boring. Stony Man always working the problem in the background is boring. SPOILERS BELOW In this book the US cut an arms deal with Hezbollah to get them to fight the KGB twenty years ago. WTF. Are you serious?

220 pages of violent, nearly non-stop action, often described in excrutiating detail. This is my second Chuck Rogers book (the other being Crisis Nation), and both had the same attributes: good plot, good original supporting characters, too much action, and a nearly opaque Mack Bolan. I don't know anything about Bolan after reading this book. In fact, we don't really get inside anyone's head, as far as I can remember. Pendletonesque he is not. The book was also full of mistakes - spelling errors, missing words, and repeated description. An editor also could have suggested removing the boring, pointless target practice scene, and replacing it with some interior monologue.

Overall, a decent effort. Rodgers delivers a good plot (maybe overly ambitious for a 188 page book), and a great cast of supporting characters. The Puerto Rican cops in particular are fleshed out and three-dimensional. I'd like to see them appear in future books. Unfortunately, the Big Man himself is a two-dimensional cardboard cutout in this story. He is just a generic agent guy, giving out orders and making plans the whole time. Nothing in particular makes this a Mack Bolan novel. He could really be anyone. The few personal events that happen, such as bedding Gustolallo, are not explored at all. What does he think about her, or about anything? Who cares! On to the next ambush! The action is non-stop, which can be fun, but ultimately empty calories. Action book authors need to walk a fine line between too much action and too much development. Rodgers tips well over into too much action in Crisis Nation. Two stars off for that. One star off for the ridulous submarine warfare at the end of the book, and I'm being generous. Bolan as submarine captain, sailing a damaged, jury-rigged mini sub across 200 miles of open ocean? Sorry, this strains the willing suspension of disbelief. Where was the editor? Those 20 pages would have been better spent letting us in on Bolan's thoughts.

I grew up reading the 80's books. This is a very different Mack Bolan, and a very different presentation. Pendleton has a great economic writing style, and he does more with 180 pages than most of the authors in the series. He also knows how to put some authentic sounding dialog in the mobster's mouths. The plot is generally logical and believable, with the exception of the entire Valencia interlude. On the negative side, it drags in places, and the explicit sex scenes are jarring and completely gratuitous to the storyline. This Bolan is also not above joining in on the spoils and lifestyle of the criminals, or dropping obligations when they're inconvenient (like the 'kid brother') - which is tough to read for a fan of the later books. It's worth picking up, but I'll take the new Bolan over this self-serving guy any day.

It looks like I'm in the minority on this book. It was simply not well thought-out. Spoilers ahead. Bolan is on a revenge mission in honor of the love of his life - April Rose - yet throughout the book he's all about Katrina, Tanya, and Zara. It diluted any sense that he still has April in his thoughts. Strakhov is simply not that interesting. Maybe you have to read other books he's in, in order to root for his demise more. The Flare Gun. Wow, the author just kept plugging this, over and over again. By the end of the book I'm expecting a nuclear missile to come out of the thing. Strakhov can't call his minions on a telephone? He has to shoot a flare off? Why?! It should have been mentioned once, and only once, on the roof, if at all. The briefcase. It's like a clown car. Everything used in the mission is in this thin briefcase. And there's room for 7 guns, and enough gas to kill a roomfull of guys. It's bottomless apparently. Tiny in-nostril gas filters? This is really pushing it. The fight scenes were ok, but just not very engaging, and some of the timing and physics bordered on the unbelievable.