Michael Dougherty

I was just coming off a strech of reading the Pendleton novels when I decided to read one of the newer titles. I saw BLACKSTONE'S review and that is what prompted me to read the novel...and thank god I saw that review. I've heard alot of good things about Chuck Roger and his Bolan novels, but up until now I have never read one. That was a huge mistake on my part! This book was amazing. Most of what I want to say has already been said in Blackstone's review and there is little I can add. But there is one small thing I would like to point out... Bolan is realistic in this novel. Not the "I've been wounded." type (although he does take a huge beating) but he's back to his old self. Just the way he acts and treats other people reminds me of Pendleton's Bolan. This is the way Bolan should be written! From the chilling opening sequence to the grand finale, Lethal Tribute packs a punch and is one of the best SuperBolan novels I have EVER read. If you have plans to go somewhere or get something completed, then don't start reading this novel because you won't be able to stop turning the pages until you're done.

The major problem I had with Dangerous Encounter is that Bolan is,literally, cardboard and is barley developed. The same goes for the villains who barley appear in the novel and we learn little about them. The best characterizations in this novel is for Bolan's three allies but that's it. The action was average, the plot was thin and the ending left plot holes such as what happened to King's sister and such. The author set the story in Soho but I couldn't "paint" a picture in my mind of the locations as he barley mentioned what the area looked like. Overall, this author has potential but still has a long way to go.

This was a decent book that wrapped up the first Bolan trilogy I have read. The whole trilogy was mostley composed of previous storylines that appeared in previous or future Newton novels. (The scenes in the jungle were very similar to scenes that would appear in Hour of Judgement.) But when you have a series with Bolan and about 600 novels with all series combined you cannot complain about things like that. Anyway, Newton still can write a good novel. * S P O I L E R * Killing Heat is interesting in the fact that Mack Bolan isn't a major player but he is actually captured towards the end of the previous novel making him somewhat human but we do not ever learn about what tortured he suffered and it seems to have little effect on The Executioner which is disappointing as it makes him seem like he is Superman. But the whole concept of Bolan being the one kidnapped is what threw me off and I expected it to be Johnny and not him. Another problem I have with this novel is that the minor villains who worked under Reed and Tripp were barley developed and were killed off in an instant. An enjoyable and decent end to the trilogy but I feel it could have been a whole lot better.

For some reason I really enjoyed this book. They really broke the Bolan formula with this novel and instead of having the usual menacing villain or terrorism playing a major role it was a simple storyline. Lockdown is a very refreshing novel and a change of pace especially with the fact that there really isn't a main villain. The sci-fi elements work perfectly and the novel flows right along. Another great thing about this novel is that we see more development of Hal Brognola and that he CAN hold is own in the field when needed. The novel is shorter than average Executioners as a good 40 pages or so is reserved for an excerpt from Devil's Bargain but it helps the story. It doesn't force the author into strecthing it out into a 220 page novel and drag on and the timing was perfect. My only major gripe is Chapter Two, which not only adds nothing to the storyline, but like mentioned previously shows Bolan watch innocents die and do NOTHING about it. If Chapter 2 had been omitted then this novel would have been a 10 but because of this poor section it drops 2 stars.