Wraith270

I really hate to bash on any of the Bolan books, but I feel I have to state my disappointment with this novel. I’ve been a reader of Mack Bolan and The Executioner series since the early 90’s and I have to say that this is one of the most disappointing books of the series that I have read. Right off the top, my first complaint is what appears to be a lack of editing. In an early gunfight one of the characters is using a shotgun. The same sentence that defines the weapon as a shotgun, also describes its sound as a “rifle blast”. Not as a shotgun blast. In the next gun battle, one of the villains fires and AK-47 and the bullets it fires are described as 7.62 NATO. There is the Saiga .308 that could shoot the 7.62 NATO, but not an AK. Then later, 9mm SMG’s were constantly referred to as rifles. But these complaints were minimal and could go unmentioned if not for the biggest problem with this book. Out of 300+ pages, the title character is only in about 50 pages. Over half the book was filled with the plotting of the villains, and the rest was taken up by local law enforcement and a few other Stony Man operatives. The last Mack Bolan book that I read that had guest Stony Man characters, (Plains of Fire) was great. It was filled with action, and really felt like Rafe and Cal, were there to back him up. In Blood Play, there was little action and Bolan didn’t manage to contribute much in any fight. The second half of the book kept him absent from all the action. Carl “Ironman” Lyons is flown in from another mission to take over when Bolan goes MIA for about 6 hours, then sticks around and fires a few shots at the bad guys, but doesn’t seem to do any leading. The other Stony Man operatives along for the ride are John “Cowboy” Kissinger, the team’s armorer who was originally on his way to an arms show ala “SHOT Show,” and the team’s ace pilot, Jack Grimaldi. I was looking forward to “Cowboy’s” inclusion in this mission to see what tricks the weapons smith would have up his sleeve, or what little toys he may have for Bolan to play with. As it turned out, they lose all their weapons after their car crashes into a flooded river in the midst of their first battle, and they run the rest of the mission with borrowed arms. I must give credit here to the author who sprinkled dozens of different guns into this book, many of which I had to look up. Another issue I had was that the plot revolved around stolen weapons prototypes from an engineer friend of Kissinger’s, and the subsequent kidnapping of his former partner Colt. Apparently Colt took some photos at the entrance to a uranium mine that uncovered the Russians’ secret plot to refine plutonium and develop nuclear war heads on U.S. soil. That’s a great threat, but instead of seeing the processing plant, or learning what the Russians plan to do with them when they are completed, it seems they are more concerned with their benefactors from Global Holdings Corporation and their international casino franchise. So the stolen weapons are never used against the heroes, except in the case were the Russians decide to test the prototype body armor on Colt, only to make him bullet proof during his escape. Meanwhile, Ironman Lyons gains access to the engineer’s experimental high speed helicopter with the aid of a local pilot to chase after some fleeing henchmen. That left the Stony Man pilot, who would have loved to get his hands on the super chopper, escorting Bolan to chase down and repel onto a run away hot air balloon. Finally, the single biggest complaint to me was the climax. It was anti climactic. The stage is set as the Russian mastermind flees to his lair that is guarded by dozens of Russian henchmen, while the Stony Man warriors and local law enforcement close in for their final show down. Turn the page…and skip completely over what could have been the biggest action set piece for the action novel. Instead we go directly to the Epilogue where Bolan jokes with some vagrants who had saved his life. They give him the thumbs up for a job well done, which to me was a real slap in the face since he didn’t seem to do much of anything in this novel. There’s an old saying: you need strong villains to make strong heroes. Mack Bolan is one of the strongest heroes around, and consequently demands the toughest, meanest, villains the world has to throw at him. Unfortunately Blood Play had dozens of mediocre villains, cronies and henchmen, all with forgettable Russian names. I guess that’s why he chose to sit out most of this mission and let the other less experience Stony Man agents get some page time. Hopefully after some R’n’R, the Executioner will we ready to bring the fight to the enemy in his next novel.

This book started out like the typical Mack the Bastard storyline from the mafia wars days. Bolan, posing as the arms dealer, Frankie Lamb goes on the hunt for a female carde of assassin known as the Elements of Death. However, the Elements see through his plan before it even gets off the ground. After their first hit on a drug and arms shipment, Bolan and FBI Special Agent Maddy Tighe draw the attention of the Elements of Death and Columbian smugglers. Seeking backup they fall back to a safe house manned by Stony Man armorer "Cowboy" Kissinger and Phoenix Force Sniper Gary Manning. While I've been disappointed by past "team ups", Manning and Kissinger are there to play ball. They get plenty of action without stealing the spotlight from the title character and, while they are special operators at the top of their game, we're still reminded why its Mack Bolan who's earned the moniker, "the Executioner" Given the level of aggression and resourcefulness of the Elements, it becomes evident that these are some of the toughest and most organized foes that Bolan has ever faced, even with the Stony Man backup. None of them get out unscathed. There are also some cameo appearances from the rest of the Phoenix force team when they show up to escort an informant and narrowly save her from an assassination attempt. It's especially poignant that this campaign takes place on the streets of Chicago where the author reminds us that the Windy City has some of the most oppressive firearms laws in the United States. In this story the villains are funding arms shipments into the city to drum up support for their anti-gun politician. The master mind is angling to get promoted to Governor of Illinois through assassinations and political pressuring. He flat out says, "gun owning civilians are only one step above the criminals." I can't think of a more believable villain that the kind we as civilians face every day. Men who desire to steal away our rights, while telling us it's for our own good