Lianne

This book was a mix for me. I really enjoy the Stony Man books, and Nick Pollota is one of the better writers for me, but this book was a bit of a disappointment. A crime family in Albania has somehow managed to get a hold of a weapon that can remotely cause nuclear weapons to blow up. It's never really explained how they got it, or how they managed to get (or highjack) more than a dozen satellites in orbit. Also, at the start of the book, Phoenix Force is attacking white slavers in the Mediterranean who caught the daughter of a US Senator. In the middle of the book, you find out that one of the women rescued is a daughter of the crime family. Closer to the end, Phoenix Force attacks the crimelord's castle where they are preparing for the welcome home party. But really, they never do anything with the woman, and if you show a gun in the first scene, it should be used before the last scene. Now, it is possible that a future Stony Man novel will pick up with her again, since she was being groomed to be the future head of her crime family before her disappearance. After all, Jack Higgins got something like five books out of the 'family looking for revenge' plot. But setting that aside, the book also had a scene in which a Yakuza boss who'd been approached by the Albanians in a "follow us and we'll make you immune from the law" offer, and was insulted by their rudeness, decides that *his* family will help the Americans take the Albanians out. Again, there is no sign of this later. Plus, how the hell were the Albanians able to get thousands of super computers and embed them inside a glacier in an American national park without anyone noticing? Especially the buying of the computers. If it's the biggest super-computer in the world, wouldn't a sudden sale of thousands be tagged by multiple federal agencies. And then there was the goof of having two men named Sakir Elsani (one of the scientists, and one of the crime family who set up the plot). But despite the plot holes, it was a fun read. You just have to carefully ignore the WTF elements.

I felt very conflicted over this book. While the action scenes were a lot of fun, the plot itself was lacking. There was some initial investigation that told them who was behind the attacks, but when it came down to it, after nearly 300 pages, I still didn't know *why*. That, we find out in a few pages after Mack captures a man and questions him between scenes. Would someone who knew so much about the plans really break that easily? And by the revenge scenes at the end, I still had no real feel for the villains, so their consequences were less than satisfying However, the whole setup of how the chemical weapons were stolen was fascinating, and the action was breath-taking. I just wanted a little more *plot* holding the action together.

Average, but I enjoyed it mainly for one image. Ironman accidentally getting stoned with the natives and going native himself. The image of him in paint and loincloth with his hair in a bowl-cut was worth the price of admission ;)

This one was so-so. It had a few holes in the plot, like the conveniently appearing then disappearing Luis. I kept expecting him to turn out to be a plant, based on his actions. However I bumped the rating up a couple spots for two reasons. 1) The introduction of Unomundo. Okay, we don't see much of him, but I'm really looking forward to reading his next appearance (a late-comer, I'm reading through the Able Team and Phoenix Force books in order) 2) The pulling out the picture of gone-native-Ironman from Amazon Slaughter. I like seeing little things like that carry over.

I'm new to the Mack Bolan universe, so I'm slowly getting caught up on the series. Good Points: The introduction of TJ Hawkins (a character I really like) and the shifting of Katz over to the tactical side of the farm. His feelings of regret watching his former teammates head off was well done. I also like the Grimaldi character, and any book where he gets a prime role is a good book for me. Bad Points: I would have liked to see something to tie the US and Iran sides of the story a little tighter. Sure, the *reader* knows that they are connected, but the characters never really find out. Plus, what the *hell* was with Carl Lyons? I like the character from the other books I've read in the series, but in this one he came across as a Neanderthal with PMS who's been taking his stupid pills. Really, if this was the first book in the series that I was reading, I'd be wondering who was the idiot who even gave this guy a gun, let alone made him *leader* of Able Team. Either the writer doesn't like the character, or Ironman was having a *really* bad day.

This one was a real disappointment. The villians were cliche versions of Arabs, the plot was completely laughable and the prose was so purple that it almost glowed. Not a keeper.