Reviews by
gafaicheng
72 reviews
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Six out of ten for this one. It never really took off for me, sure it was really cool to hear mention of Gadgets Schwarz and Pol Blancanales and how with Mack, were an "Able team" in Viet Nam, also cool that Big Thunder debuts. The female co-star didn't really have a purpose in the story, she just kind of was there. The action sequences were good, but the overall story wasn't clear. Why was Mack in San Fran? In the final battle, it wasn't clear if he took out the main bad guys or not. The best part was the dialogue, its good to understand Mack's motivations and hear him be sarcastic and humorous. Not an entry I would re-read, unlike the first two entries, I would re-read. -
This was a really good read, even though it wasn't page to page action. Mack takes on the mob while he makes friends with the locals, and brings Jack Grimaldi on board as a new ally. Most of the action is actually in the beginning, the middle has a lot of back story, and the final chapter has a short but well done "storm the castle" shoot out. The dialogue between Mack and Jack lays out their characters and motives really well. I almost felt sorry for the bad guys as they tried to stalk Mack in the jungle, of all places, where he feels at home. -
Chicago Wipe Out; 7 outta 10. Like other reviewers said, the most action is in the beginning and the end. Not that that makes it really boring. The action sequences were still good. Didn't see the point of the girl that was briefly introduced in the beginning, gone in the middle, and pops up at the end. Mack dons disguises to do a recon of the mob, and sets them up to make a meet, then blows them up. The best part was the dialogue between the bad guys. -
So , not a bad PF book, just not a page turner. Not the author's fault, I suppose. After all,how many times can Stony Man recycle "terrorists hijack nukes for ransom"? Geez, you'd think after the first couple of times, the gov't would tighten security around nukes. For most of the book, the PF members work alone in the US and overseas, they come together for the last chapter or two. There was a spotlight on David McCarter since he got kidnapped and rescued. Didn't see much of Katz when you think about it. As far as action goes, it's not bad. I'd say there is only one big battle to take down the IRA bad guys. What was a little forced was how Gary Manning had a hate on for the main bad guy, but you never really learn why. Also, it was a little weak about how with the threat of nukes being detonated on US soil, only PF was deployed. You'd think EVERY counter terror strike team would be involved, but that may have taken too many pages. This was a quick read, I get the feeling the author just wanted to crank out a quick book. -
This entry starts right off after the previous book, Assault on Soho. Again, Bolan meets hot women who care for him, even though they way they meet seems a little forced. Oh well. The action scenes where he does his strikes on the mob strongholds are great, I like the dialouge between Bolan and Leo Turrin, you get more into Bolan's motivations. Kind of funny to see Bolan just kind of bluff his way past mob guards by walking and talking like a mob goon himself without effort. All in all, some great scenes. -
Overall, the best part of this book was the dialogue. Mr. Pendleton really writes great banter between the characters, which reveal their motivations. The action sequences play out well. It didn't seem clear though how Bolan ended up in London from France, why didn't he just go from France to the US? Also, it didn't seem clear how the female protagonist knew to meet him? Still a good read. -
This is not a bad entry really, just not a great one either. The story was well placed throughout, the action sequences didn't come across as very exciting. I did like that Mack seemed a bit more human in this one, instead of an emotionless cardboard cut out. Grimaldi got a lot of page time,as his partner. Usually Mack works alone, but they worked well together on this one. Mack goes to Russia and back to track down some diamond thieves who plan to launch a dirty bomb in New York. I'm willing to try this author again, -
Finally, it seems like Phoenix Force hits its stride in this simple, yet well told tale. The team had good dialogue, good dynamics ( IE equal screen time) and were believable. The bad guys were equally as believable. They were Japanese nationals,motivated to avenge the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The way PF hunted them down and dealt with them was well written. The action sequences were hard hitting and solid, without being hard to believe. The pacing was nice too. -
So, not a bad entry so far, just not a great entry. Mack has to hop a flight to Paris, almost by accident if simply to get away from some mafai hoods gunning for him. He meets a guy on the plane who by sheer coincidence looks so much like him, hoods in Paris mistake the guy for Mack, so Mack has to rescue him. Of course, Mack hooks up with a French girl who helps him with his war on the mob. Not a lot of action sequences tho, and there's a nice call back to hi "Nam days, as a figure from Nam makes an appearance. The ending was a little abrupt for my liking. But, it was kind of cool to see Mack take his war outside of the continental US. -
9 out of 10; WoW, the pace, the tone, the characterization! So far, as I am reading the original Pendleton run in order, Miami Massacre is my favorite. The writing is tighter than my wifes' chequebook. Bolan shows he is a patient, methodical tactician. He cleverly locates a mafia conference, infiltrates it and shows them who's boss. All this with the police and feds after him. Of course, the action scenes were great. I would have given it a 10, but I thought the love interest was a little unrealistic, as with the ending with the beach hippies. Well done Mr. Pendleton! -
I wish I could give this book a higher rating, as I am a Will Murray fan. But, there may be a reason why this was his only Bolan book. The story made no sense whatsoever, and Mack was portrayed as bland, totally wooden. His dialogue is robotic. It's like the author thought it'd be a great premise to have a cat and mouse type chase , using souped up and armoured cars as the plot devices. Bolan and the bad guys both have cars with machine guns mounted on them. The rest is the usual " rich corporate slum lord hires mercs to drive out the poor people from the land he wants to buy". Why would Mack assume the identity of the cop that was killed? Also, wasn't it a tip off to the bad guys using the cops call sign? Why did Mack drive around Boston almost as if he was hoping to trip of the bad guys? With all the resources Stony Man has, he could have used satellite tracking. This is totally not his M.O. It's not that the action scenes were bad, but they weren't good either. You can skip this one, Will Murray has MUCH better books out there. -
This was not a page turner, but not a chore to read either. The two big scenes are around a raid on a military base and aqua assault on a submarine. I like the dialogue and action scenes, and the prologue was really good too. I did like that as the 3rd book in the series, PF said it was their 3rd mission together. Not a bad book at all, but if you don't read this entry, it's no big deal. Seven out of ten, maybe even a 6.5. I notice this author didn't write any more PF novels. -
This was a different kind of story, not the ususal "infiltrate the bad guys organization and take them out, or locate and destroy the bad guys". The story starts off like it's part two from a previous book where Bolan launched an assault but narrowly escapes while being wounded. This book, Run to Ground, picks up at that point. Bolan holes up in a remote town where help from the outside world is easily and quickly cut off from support by the bad guys chasing Bolan. Most of the gun battle is saved for the last 2 or 3 chapters. Most of the book shows the back stories and motivations of the supporing characters. It's a bit of a "rally the common man" to help Bolan, but it works. I would have given the book 8 stars, but the last chapters were average. Good book, but not a classic. -
Wow, if you havent' read Battlemask yet, treat yourself! CONS: There's not as many shoot 'em ups in this entry. PROS: There's way more plot, characterization and subterfuge which lead to a BETTER shoot 'em up at the end! Don't misunderstand, there are nice action sequences throughout the book, but shorter in length. The final battle is not even that much longer, but the emotion and satisifaction of the way it's handled by Mr. Pendleton makes so much sense! Bolan really shows his ability to go undercover and gather intell on this one, plus he starts his working relationship with Carl Lyons. He gets introduced to Hal Brognola in this one too! You can see the Bolanverse starting to develop. What's nice it the tight continuity, there' mention of events in book 1 and two. Battlemask feels like it takes place a few days after Death Squad. The dialogue was superb with all the characters>Mr. Pendleton knocked this one out of the park. -
Six stars out of 10. This is my second Rogue Angel book, but my first RA review on this site. Sadly, I didn't even finish my first RA book or recall the title. I just remember struggling through it before I gave up. Fast forward years later and I stumble on a stack of RA books at my local used book store, so I thought I'd try again, after all, there are 50ish books,so they must be good overall right? But I am guessing Celtic Fire was probably not a good entry point if you haven't started with an earlier entry. The author seems to assume you already know the lead character Annja Creeds' origin , background and motivation. All we can assume is that she is a young archeologist, hosts a reality show, and has a magical sword once weilded by Joan of Arc that she can summon from another dimension when she fights bad guys. She has two male colleagues, both who we again must guess are immortal ( related to Conner or Duncan Mcleod ?) and are wealthy. Roux, last name never given, seems to be 500 years old and a mentor to Creed, while Gairen??? No last names? is old but appears to look and act in his thirties and flirts with Creed, who merely puts him in the friend zone. The book was evenly paced>>>>> slow paced that is. It took until chapter 10 for all the characters to be introduced and the adventure to really start: Creed is on vacation when she stumbles upon a theft of a minor artifact,she pursues a lead, instead of notifying the local cops? Before that, a whole chapter was spent just showing her tour the town and check into a hotel. OK, then her partners call her about a murder related to the aforementioned theft. Again, why not turn the case over to the locals? Thee is a car chase, sword fight and heist style sequence, none of which were overly thrilling. In the end, there is a bit of a "reveal";.... S P O I L E R A L E R T ......Roux was in love with a woman who has the same last name as the antagonist...but wait..is the author implying that Roux is the antagonists ' father? Maybe her grandfather? Two things don't add up; a 50 year gap from the time Roux dated the antagonists' possible relative suggests her grandmother if anything but the grandmother would have been single and had a different surname. You have to struggle to guess that Roux was in love with this grandmother while she was married. It's never clear. The pace was slow, the story set up slow. Action sequences just OK. Characterizations were bland. If these characters shared 49 previous adventures, you couldn't tell. It would have been helpful if the author did a flashback sequence on the characters and not assume you've read previous books. In Executioner books, they have a standard Bolan origin story before the story starts. You can jump into Bolan at any book. Can't say struggled with this book,but was waiting for it to get better. This author has a totally different prose than other Gold Eagle authors like Roger's, Kasner or Renaud.I'm willing to try another RA book or two before deciding whether or not to take it off my list. The concept is great; a Tomb Raider type heroine with a magic sword, travels the world solving archeological cases with two rich immortal friends! It's a daring experiment by Gold Eagle, there was no high body count or assault rifles shot by paramilitary personnel! I'm willing to try more. -
7 stars out of 10. This is my first actual stand alone PF book. Sure ,I've read PF in the Stonyman series, but I've put off getting into reading PF until I purchased an ebay lot starting with this debut novel. It was just OK, maybe I shouldn't have compared it to the first Executioner and first Able Team, both of which rocked. The best part was chapter 2, where we see Bolan congratulate the PF crew for being being selected for the team, weirdly enough, it seems they didn't seem to know they were applying for PF. We find out they are named "PHOENIX" after Col. John Phoenix, since they are his extension of Stonyman farm. After chapter 2 though, it's tame fare, individual PF members do their own recce into the bad guys,Katz gets captured, the final chapter is the short assault to rescue the hostages. Not a bad action sequence, but it ends abruptly, no epilouge at all. You can read this entry to be a completist, but I'm sure the subsequent books get better. Also, this seems to be a prototype of Tom Clancys Rainbow Six in a few ways. -
I just re-read this entry, I forgot how good it was. Where to start? IT seems to take place a month after the first book, as Mack talks as if he drove for Pittsfield to LA and laid the groundwork for assembling his Death Squad. I like the intro of Carl Lyons on the LAPD, as I'm an Able Team fan. Pendleton really makes it apparent, that Mack is a tactical genious, he plans, plans and plans again.He takes nothing for granted and nothing to chance. What I really like is he has a dour sense of humour while being serious at the same time. I think too many of the later books made him out to be too unemotional and robotic. Mack does a great job of chess master tactics with the bad guys. I really liked all the Death Squad members, if anything, it'd be great if the book was longer to flesh out their characters and back stories. I believe someone later wrote a book with Mack in Vietnam with these guys. I'd read that! I also love the fact that we meet Rosario and Gadgets, too other future Able Team members. A well paced read, 8 out of 10 stars. -
I just re-read this in two days, having read it literally 33 years ago, It was even better the second time around! If you can read only ONE Executioner novel, it has to be this one! How the hell did Mr. Pendleton write such a great entry, but have enough great ideas to pen another 37? This book still holds up great even in modern day. I've read the later Bolan stories, but what I love about the first one is really getting into his head about his values and motivations. I'm hooked on this series...AGAIN!! -
6 out of 10 stars on this one. Decent pacing, pretty good action, nice dialogue between characters. Nice that Lyons shares the spotight with Blancaneles and Schwarz. -
I read this in 2 days only because I was on a plane .It's not a bad AT book, it 's just not a good AT book. It's run of the mill . There's not as much action as other GH Frost books ,but that's not why this was a so so read. The story seems to gloss over the characters , never really gelling the bad guys or supporting characters. Of the action that WAS there, it was not bad. I like this first part in the book where Lyons gets his weapons repaired, showing what he likes to carry and why. I'd say if you want to read this entry, do it so you can say you read the whole series. 5 out of 10 stars. -
A really good book; action is mostly in the middle and end; tho Carl gets most of the action, Pol and Gadgets have some air time time too. Great to see the team getting two part books; it lets the characters really get meaty stories. Action is intense and well written. You can smell the gun powder. -
I'd give this one 7 or 7 1/2 stars. Tons of action, pretty relentless really. Takes place right after the previous book; with a civilian warrior ( who Gadgets shagged) comes back to help out. This part is not realistic as I can't imagine any assault team enlisting a gymnastics coach for field work. Oh well. The pacing is good; Lyons has most of the spotlight as he hooks up with an undercover state cop to infiltrate the terrortists' cell. Best part of the book is when Bragnola, David McCarter and Gary Manning and Yakov lend a hand in their own chapters. The ending was a bit abrupt, but hey, still good. -
This is not a bad book; like the other reviewers said, there' s lots of action here. Ie Lyons unloading his guns at anything that moves. AT has to protect some Olympic atheletes from terrorists; but it seems strange the bad guys are even after the atheletes for mere propoganda' s sake. There's almost too many villians , tho. You have KKK, bikers, and KGB? Also, it's a bit far fetched that At would allow civilian atheletes to take part in a fire fight. Still, I enjoyed it. 6 stars -
Get this book. Here's why: - Mack is a bad ass, but is human. He bleeds, gets hurt, but keeps moving thru grim determination. He cracks the occasional joke. - there is great supporting cast: the two allies, former black suits who run into Mack on this mission, and figure out that the man known as Striker from the Farm is Mack Bolan , the Executioner! They make references to his age that would make him roughly 40 years old at least. Jack Grimaldi shows up a little later. There is a great Force Recon commander who is a rambunctious as they come. Great action scene in the end with his Recon team. -the writer makes lots of references to older Executioner, Able Team and Phoenix Force books. He is obviously a long time fan, and big on continuity. - action scenes are tense and well written, without being unrealistic. I finished this book in two days. Like I said, get it. -
This reads more like an actual "after action" report than a good novel. Sure , there is plenty of action, almost in every chapter, but there is no drama or tension since the characters are not developed. I probably finished this book in 1 hr . Also, I know Lyons is a bit " nuts" since this is right after Flors' death, but he is almost off the deep end in the last chapter. Save your time and skip this entry. However, the short Executioner story in the back , by Stephen Mertz, called EARLY FIRE, is pretty good. It's about Mack on his first 'Nam tour. A bleeding heart liberal anti-establishment reporter steals a jeep from camp, to get an expose' on the Nam war. Mack has to find her and rescue her from her VC captors. This was actually a better read than Royal Flush. -
Okay, I admit part of the reason I picked up this book was the hot babe on the cover. The story is a bit of a re-hash of the old " gov't agent protects a witness and falls in love her", etc. Some pretty good action, and Mack is portrayed as a real human being, tough as he is. -
This book reads like a James Bond movie script, so it's pretty good. There is travel, exotic locales, and lots of fights. Oh yeah, Mack hooks up with a babe too. The villian is heavy into martial arts, so I was expecting a big fight scene, but no luck. What I like is the guest appearances by some Stony Man Farm warriors. -
Frost writes another bad ass AT novel. this is entry number 9, and can be read as a stand alone story, but is actually a third ( ?) chapter in Lyon's quest to waste the bad guy, Quesada. this had lotsa great action, but it seems that lyons almost cares more about his revenge over Flor's death than the mission.but hey, in the end Lyons' keeps his head on straight. -
this is a well done book by Newton. Don't look for the usual fist fight, chase and shoot em ups every other chapter though. Most of the suspense and action fits into the last several chapters , which works well. The story is simple enough; DEA agent Jack Fowler has to pose as a drug dealer to infiltrate a drug dealers' home, to find evidence that he killed another DEA agent. In the process, he must also take down the dealer. It's a nice game of mental chess between the hero and the badguy.The action picks up when Fowler is "made" by a corrupt DEA agent, tortured but escapes with the aid of Deysneso's captive "girlfriend". Too add insult to injury to the badguy, Fowler beds her twice in the story. The story climaxes with the " stranded in the desert" theme, as Fowler successfully takes out the search party out to find he and the girl. This is a recommended read. -
this was a slam bang filled book, especially after the first 4 chapters, which set up the story. This one was full of awful , horrible, graphic blood shed, perpetrated by the drug crazed gang members; that made it more satisfying when Able Team got just as bloody as them. It was also satisfyng seeing the communist reporters get hacked to death by their own " people". GH Frost did a great job of showing how crazy things get for AT. Nice to see Lyons have a little romantic R and R too. HOWEVER.... S P O I L E R S P A C E His love, Flor, gets killed in the end, when I haven't really seen too much of her in the series! It was only # 8 for gosh sakes!! they should at least have had a funeral scene or something. Still, a great read. finished it in one day. -
9 outta 10 stars! this book has total bad ass action, and all three Able Team members get equal billing. The action is fast paced and hard hitting. I could almost feel the brass casings hit my cheek bone. The dynamics of Pol, Gadgets and Ironman seem so real. Look out bad guys! Able Team kicks ass and takes names. -
Dick Stiver's definitely gave Lyons free reign to go for a high body count! This book should not be "Able Team", but " Carl Lyons kills a LOT of mercs, co-starring 2 other guys". The action is really good and evenly spaced, though pretty blood thirsty. Stivers depicts badguys getting wasted in pretty drastic ways. The ending was pretty abrupt, and I wonder if that is too set up a sequel to this entry. -
This is a dark but well written entry. Don't expect to see Remo and Chuin rib each other. in fact Chuin doesn't have much of a part in here at all. Remo is really the Destroyer as he kills some poor schmucks. Here, remo is portrayed as a very serious guy, not a wise cracker like in the later entries. -
Be ready for lots of ass kicking, especially by Lyons. The team goes from one kill zone to another, and the action never lets up except to let the reader catch his breath, something Lyons doesn't do. Man, he is more vicious than Mack. He just kills , hurts and causes great pain to the bad guys. This books is cool as it introduces Lyons' custom made Colt model machine pistol, copied from the berrata 93-r. this is a bad ass story. Oh, yeah, it's great to see Katz in a supporting role. -
This is a nice change of pace from the other usual Gold Eagle books. Dagger is devoid of a lot of the usual military terms and flavour; your are following the escapades of a war reporter with "some" military training, but nothing like Mack. Also, this guy has a sense of humor, he is not intense like Mack. He's not a loner, he has family and friends. The action is good and well paced. Not as many shoot em ups, but there is more tension 'cause Dagger is not a killing machine. Not a bad book; wonder why there weren't more? -
I agree that only a die hard fan of the series would enjoy this one. This was a serious entry to the series, not the same humour and irony that made the later entries so good. it 's obvious that Murphy wanted to create a serious competitor to the Executioner, and actually wrote a decent action novel. But , it's better that he turned it into a tongue in cheek series later. there is very little chuin in this one. This entry is almost like the Executioner without guns. -
A good read, the action was well spaced evenly throughout the book. The basic story line was straightforward without being too simple. I really like how Lyons was given the chance to kick ass and shine in this one. Kinda weird, though. You'd think for a guy who is almost a bezerker, how'd he end up being the AT commander? -
This one certainly wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best either. it's a typical story of " bad guys hijack nuclear weapon, and threaten to blow it up. Good guys fight the clock to find and disable it." The action wasn't bad, and the plot evenly paced. Mack seemed to play in the background while Able and Phoenix had most of the spotlight. there seemed to be a subplot with a soviet team looking for the weapon, too, but it didn't seem to really figure into the story well. All in all , not a bad read, but you aren't missing anything if you miss this one. 6 outta 10 stars -
not a bad outing for the author. The story is simple enough, and the action is good. Able Team and Mack didn't have as much action as Phoenix Force, but still , everybody was well characterized. -
This is well done, well paced book. The premise wasn't new, but the action had a good , gritty tense feel to it. Mack is only mentioned, and Able gets 60% of the spotlight, and Phhoenix gets 40%. Both teams are in the Middle East searching for some Mossad agents with a portable nuke. There is a well done scene where Yakov's contact in Israeli Intell gets killes, very dramatic. this book is worth picking up. -
Sorry, this was not one of Newtons' better books. Bolan was flat, no character, poor dialogue. No tension in the action. the story did not revolve around the plane hijacking, like say Executive Decision, or Die Hard 2, but the majority of the story happens after the seige. I got bored 3/4 thru and skimmed to the end. -
This was a pretty good book, the action was well paced, kick ass too. It was great to see Pol and Carl of Able Team show up, and not just cameos. It was nice to see Mack take down drug dealers , which takes us back to his roots of fighting organized crime. No big issues with geo-politics here, just straight punish the bad guys beyond the reach of the cops. Mack just banged up a little too, which I thought added some realism. This one is worth reading. Maybe not a page turner, because you know what would happen, but still good. 7 outta 10. -
While this wasn't a page turner, it still wasn't a bad book, just so-so. Phoenix Force seems to get the spot light while Able Team just co- stars, which is not a big deal, but AT was underplayed. Action wasn't bad, but there could of been more of it too. One thing that struck me as a loose end, was what happened to the triple agent Randolph? If you are a Stony Man fan, get this book, but I wouldn't say it was a keeper. Ron Renuad has written better books, and will again I am sure. -
Believe it or not, this THE book that got me hooked onto Gold Eagle. Yup, before I met Bolan or Able Team, I read Track. Jerry Ahern really put some great stuff in the books, part adventure,all action, some humour, part Dirk Pitt and Indy Jones. Here is my review of #1. Here we meet Track and Desiree in bed, having just finsihed making love after meeting at a dinner function. ( Can you say shades of James Bond?) Track tries to arrest her,( as he is working for Military Police and she is a gun runner) but is himself captured by her and Zulu. Strangely enough, he helps them escape the cluthes of a gun dealer at a gun rip off. We flash forward to three years later, when Track is now a civilian. He’s teaching SWAT tactics to the British Flying Squad, when the some robbery suspects seize a dept. store with hostages. Going along as an “observer” Track engages the terrorists taking out most of them , but leaving just enough alive to be a pain in the ass later. Track does such a good job of dispatching them that Sir Abner Chesterson again offers him a job as a trouble shooter with the Consortium, a conglomerate of insurance underwriters. Track declines, enjoying the freedom of self employment. Meanhwile, Stateside, we see his nephew Geroge transporting an incognito nuclear arms delivery. Seems one hundred nuclear warheads have defective detonators as they have a tendency to arm when there’s an elctrical storm, so the military is sending them for repairs. The surving terrorists are busted free by the main villian, Johannes Krieger. Who pulls it off by masquarading as a head police official. Track makes it home, where he plans to relax by testing some guns. He fights off a hit team hired by the surviving terrorists . Shortly after, George is driving on the highway close to his uncle’s ranch, when Krieger and his crew using hijacked army helicopters, attack the convoy and kill the military guard. Track is nearby and of course jumps in and saves his newhew, the only survivor. Kreiger makes off with one hundred nuclear warheads by copter. Track, now thoroughly mad, accepts Chestersons' offer of employment on the conditon that he be allowed to chase the terrorists. Track goes to Chicago and with the help of a former rival gang member and nam veteran, storm a passenger train where Krieger had planted a nuclear bomb set to go off in downtown Chicago. Review: This was a really excellent introduction to the series. Ahern shows he knows his gun stuff, and you almost feel like you are reading a gun catalogue. The action is intense , with the same feel as a Die Hard and James Bond movie. The scenes are descriptive but not overly so with technical details like a Clancy novel, and not overlaid with character background and story set up like Robert Ludlum. Lots of action, but well spaced. Ahern was very amibtious from the start; this is only part one of a trilogy! Strong points: great action and pacing. Weak points: sometines Track appeared too comical in the face of danger, as if he was invincible. Also, I doubt that he would be allowed by the Britsh police to lead a SWAT team if he was a civilian instructor, too much liability. Rating;9 out of ten -
My gosh! I finished this book in 2-3 days! It is THAT good! This is how action should be written, great dialogue, cliff hanger chapter endings, great characters, and well written action. Chuck has done it! I especially love the ending , the way Mack dispenses total justice. Get this book ! -
What is there left to say except;" You make Pendleton proud!!" This is a rip roaring, suspense filled hit! Guest stars like Carl Lyons, Yakov Katzenbogenlogen,Calvin James, and new stars were great. Doug really showed he knew the Bolan legend with lots of references to some old Bolan stories fronm the continutiy. MORE BOLANS SHOULD BE LIKE THIS!!!!!!!! Mack was a bad ass, but still human! He thought about his sister Cindy, which brought us back to his roots. 9 outta 10 stars! -
this is the first Don Pendleton written Bolan story I've read in a few years. I've been reading the Gold Eagle house authors lately. WOW! Pendleton is THE Bolan authour. I won't take up space by agreeing with the other reviews for this book; they are all correct. This book rocks! Not long on action, but big on hard hitting dialogue & characterization. Thanks, Mr.Pendleton, for creating this awesome genre. 8 stars outta 10! -
I liked this book; and say it deserves a 7.5 stars. Bolan kicking ass with Grimaldi and Kissinger was great. Also liked the supporting characters of the County Sheriff and FBI agent Jen Li. Good action, and I liked how Bolan stumbled onto this case by accident. The book started off slow, but afterwards held a good pace. -
Michael Kasner has written a well paced, enjoyable book. What I liked was Able Team in great action scenes, but also doing the wise cracking, bs your way thru anything routine like Beverly Hills Cop. Mack and PF teaming up with the Spetznaz worked out quite well, and I really like the femme fattle , Marita, who comes across like that hot European chick in American Pie. Kasner whets our appetite making us think Mack is gonna hook up with this hotties, but alas, doesn't . Villians were good, and plot was well paced. A definite thumbs up. -
I usually like Mike Newtons' books, but this was the exception. I only gave it 6 outta 10 stars, mostly because there was little tension or drama in it. Sure the action scenes were decent, but not any different from other MB books. The female star, Regan Kelly was not more than a damesl in distress who whined a little. And I couldn't figure out if she and the Big Guy bumped uglies or not, it was alluded to to, but that's it. Overall, it was simly MB doing the usual "search and destroy" theme. I found that by the time I got to the last 2 or 3 chapters, I was only skimming the pages to get an idea of how the story ended. Not a bad entry , but you won't miss anything if you skip this one. -
Pretty good yarn , especially when the premise of " dooms day virus" has been done several times now. The characters were good, although the scientist was treated more like a plot device ( annoying guy too) than a flesh and blood character. Pretty good action, all in all. -
I only have this installment of the Conspiracy Trilogy, but the writer made it easy to catch up, and didn't slow the action down. I thought using Johnny Bolan was great, but would have liked to see them reminice more about their family. It was almost like they were written like partners, not brothers. The character Able Deckard was cool, hope he doesn't turn out to be a bad guy. Pretty decent action in this puppy! -
I borrowed this one from the library so I didn't get a chance to read the first two parts of the Trilogy. Still, I was able to catch on to most of what the storyline was about. The best part of the book was how Brognola escapes from a hideous torture, all due to his toughness! It was also cool how both he and Mack kinda guessed that they were near each other due to the fact," with all that gunfire and explosions, it can only be so and so here to rescue me". I'd say the best fight scene was at the end where Mack and the crew hands re-take the ship, but Sheesh, how come the s p o i l e r s p a c e bad guy got away? Worse still, he still has the two little tykes with him!! Ah well. -
Great new idea for a story! Bolan really gives it to the scumbags who think they can get away with pulling a "Coma " movie rip off. -
Hell Road March 22, 2003Good characters, great action. Mack was well characterized. Worth reading. -
Great book, nice to see two members of PF show up. Nelson was a great character. What I really loved was the the writer obviously did at least some knife combative training with James Keating of Walla Walla , Wash. The name of the Crossada knife and descriptive knife fights were well reseatched. THe Writer is obviously a knife combatives student. 8 outta 10 -
Shadow Target was not a bad case for Mack. I like the way this was tied to his intermittent cases against the Mafia. Seems like most of his cases are against terrorists. It was nice to see the Mafia war get tied into the Terrorist War. The supporting Russian character Dimi Petrov was good, but the way he was brought into the story was abrupt. The way he was killed , it seemed like Mack didn't give a hoot about him as the Big Guy doesn't get pissed and sweat to avenge a comrade in arms , etc. As for Justine Palmer, it was hard to figure out , okay , is she a victim or a villian? Seems she got off too easy for my taste, especially since she got Petrov killed. And finally, I would have liked to see some dialogue between Mack and the villian, Baklanov. When Mack caps him, I wonder if Mack even knew he it was. Still,there was action through out, and pretty good too. I'd recommend this , no problem! -
This is a pretty good novel and gets 8 out of 10. I'd say the best parts were the final 2 chapters, where the bad henchmen, Charata is in a sniper stand off with Mack is pretty good. I'm glad the loose end of Alexander Sprague was tied up at the end. I was fooled thinking he was "sniped" by the Big Guy, but surprise! He snuck off! The authour did a great job of humanizing Mack; he didn't just sleep walk in and blow the bad guys away without emotion like the Terminator. Mack was worried about himself, by standers and even the 2 renegade scientists. Speaking of which, I was caught off guard buy the way the scientists died. Gotta admit, I think the scene where Mack was captured and kidnapped by the batch of charter boat punks was too long and could have been cut in half. Also , I was surprised that our world class Warrior, Mack was beaten in hand to hand by no mind street punks! Mack turned his back to the door was caught from behind? I think this is out of character! Oh well, maybe this just proves our hero makes mistakes! It was nice to see Mack crack a joke too, when he tells a state trooper the nanonites are contagious like a virus, just to watch him squirm. The first two chapters were pretty good too, had nothing to do with the main novel, but had some good action to wet the appetite. Again, Mack was humaized as he found out he was spotted sneaking into the drug dealers' warehouse by no mind street punks! I finished this book in about 2-3 days, and felt the plot was evely paced throughout. A good read. -
I can't say I thought this was one of the better Mike Newton books,maybe because I started the Tyranny files Trilogy with this entry , and not part one. There is a lot of action, especially in the end, but to me it seemed like the plot was purposely drawn out over a long time for no apparent reason. Mack needed more personality too, he was too stiff and devoid of emotion. I know that he is a serious guy, but let the guy show some more emotion. In the action scenes, he kind of "walked " thru them. No sense of danger or suspense. On the other hand, Newton seemed to go out of his way to show a lot a research into World War 2 and Nazism, good job on the detail. Newton usually writes great books, overall, but I didn't even bother to fully read part 3 , " A Dying evil", I just flipped thru it. -
I finished this today , and say it deserves a 7 out of 10. It's a fairly good read, in fact I LIKE the fact that this book doesn't have a shoot out every chapter! There seems to be action in the beginning and end , but not the middle! Also, no usual "the AT or PF go undercover to infiltrate the target", etc. The rocket scientist was a good ally, realistic too, since a commando would need that on site expert for the UFO. Two loose ends: 1) In the beginning of the book, PF is about to rescue some guy, then abort the mission......okay, so do they go back or not? Is this hostage languishing for the rest of his life in some hell hole? 2) There's obviously a lot we are not told about the Russian made UFO. I was really curious about how much they had from Area 51, and how they got it. Also, Brognola alludes to American UFO technology, but that's it. I wanted more info. I'm not that big on the X-Files theme to the book, don't get me wrong, I like X-Files, but not in Stony Man. Doesn't fit IMHO. -
This is worth 8 outta 10 for the action , and the way the Big Guy gets pissed about his short lived buddies getting killed. The action is well described, and you can feel how choked Mack is. Good stuff. -
I have this on audio book , and liked the action, it was pretty fast paced and I liked the female DEA agent. But Doesn't Bolan have a sex drive? How does he keep his eyes off these babes? James Bond he is NOT!! I only think Bolan should have had better dialogue. The 7 out of 10 stars is mostly for the action. -
I didn't get this book; it had some decent action sequences, but I couldn't follow the story. And believe me, I've read Clancy and Ludlum who write WAY more complex stuff! I still can't figure out how Area 51 fit into this plot? It just seems like it was mentioned, but that's it? Bolan and the other characters mention little gray men, so I think, " Okay, we're gonna see an X-Files tribute". Nope , never happened. Seems to me that the story could've been written without any mention of Area 51. As for the character Jenkins, he was kind of interesting. But, it just got too confusing as to who Bolan's allies were. It seems he teams up with this retired intell guy, then offs him, right? Then, all of a sudden, two other Black ops guys, unknown what agency they are from bail him out after kidnapping him. Bolan lets them live, so I assume we'll see these two again. The action scenes weren't too bad, but lacked real tension since Bolan , in my humble opinion, wasn't written as "human", he lacked any really good dialogue. At least he was stressed about innocent civilains getting hurt. Not a bad read, but I only gave it 6 out of 10. -
I'd give this one a 7 out of 10. Mostly due to the ending, which was kind of abrupt; Bolans' comrade Carvaggio caps off the bad guys, but gets killed himself. Once Bolan avnges him seconds later, POOF! the story ends, no epilouge or whatever. I also thought there'd be a romance angle with the hottie US Customs agent Sandy Rowan. She was set up as long legged, right on! Bolan catches himself eyeing her, but after the 3rd chapter, she's gone! The action was well done, especially the Spec Ops raid on the marijuana fields, and the final assault. Good detail. Bolan made a few wise cracks which was nice. A fairly good read all in all. -
Right On! This gets 8 out of 10 stars ! Right from the start I love the way Nick Pollita sets up the feeling of terror and frustration the military feels about getting hit. This had great action all around, though I think Able Team had more action than Phoenix Force did. It's great the way McCarter teamed up with Able at the end. But where was Mack? I have only begun reading Gold Eagle books again, and in #57 ( Sky Killers) Mack only did a cameo? It seems to me that when Stony Farm gets these do or die missions, they'd be calling in the Big Guy himself. What I like best was the "flashback" that Lyons and AT had, when the Mafia guy recognizes the Ironman. This really establishes a continuity in the series. I look forward to more of Pollita's books. Great book, 8 stars! -
This is really quite a laugh, but in a good way. it's hard to imaginethis was written in the early seventies, it still sounds relevent today. The best part is the bickering bewtween Remo and Chuin. Not high in action, but good in satire. 7 out of 10. -
This is my first Destroyer book, and I was struck by how much fun the writers have with the satire! If you are used to shoot 'em ups, this is a change of pace! You can practically see the writers pissing themselves laughing at the typewriter wondering if anyone will take this book seriously! Remo is more concerned with getting a house than he is taking out the enemy, which he does non chalantly! Good Fun. 7 out of 10. -
I liked this one, especially since Bolan was taking on the Al-Quaida ! Go Mack, go! I'd recommend this story, foreign travel, beautiful women, although I wish the writer had written more character into Mack. Sometimes Mack was too much like a cardboard character. Great to see Yakov get a spot in this book, and I thought for sure Phoenix Force was going to come in and save ths day lke the Cavalry! One little thing; I started off reading Mack's early stuff when he fought the Mob, I kind of miss that. Now it's like he's a James Bond , only with a higher body count. Still good reading. A solid 7 out of 10. -
This is only the second or third of the Stony Mans I've read, but I like this the best! I'd call this a tribute to Tom Clancy because of all the hight tech stuff. I didn't notice the tech errors because I'm not in the military, I just enjoyed the story.Yeah, Mack was notably absent until the cameo at the end, but that rocked! You kind of thought there was a Superbolan out there that told the story of his Madagascar adventure! I thought the best action scene by far was when Able Team was in the paintball game and then fought for their lives against the bikers. I could acutally see this made into a movie someday. I'd recommend this book, problem! -
I'm giving this one a 6 out of 10, maybe even 6.5! The action was okay here , especially near the end, although abrupt. It seems like this is a Carl Lyons book than and Able Team book, seeing as how Gadgets and Pol were more like supporting characters. I had trouble keeping track of the villians, and really couldn't figure out the point of the incest ( ?!) scene. Was that for shock value, or for villian characterization? Not a bad read, all in all. Six out of ten! -
This one was just as good as the first!The dialogue was hard hitting, characterization too. I think what made you really root for Able Team was that the hostages had a "life" to them too, you really wanted them to help Able Team kick butt. Of course the action didn't hurt, and I think Mack made a cameo at the end, or was that vol. 1? If they ever thought about doing an "Able Team" movie, this would be a candidate for a script. ( Not number one, The Tower Terror, everyone would think it was a Die Hard clone) This deserves a thumbs up; 8 out of 10. -
I agree with you guys, this one started the ball rolling with great action and suspense. I am sure that if all the following Able Teams had this quality of writing that the series would be going on strong today. I thought it was great that the hostages were just important to the story as the Able Team warriors were. As for the comparison to Die Hard, you right! Interesting how this book came out at least 10 years before the movie. ( Incidentally, the Die Hard movie was based upon the Roderick Thorp novel "Nothing Lasts Forever" which is even better than the movie!) This one is worth 8 out of 10.