Pele's Fire

Goodness me and such high ratings previously for this gem but not from me folks. Ordinary title at best where well the plot leaves a lot to be desired and the forgettable characters introduced are well not really worth mentioning the ongoing storyline is probably something which is good if you are trying to go to sleep but just can't manage it. I am imagining I am a fly on the wall of the author and he is frustrated as well the title is ordinary and he knows it and he is at a standstill on what to write. What to do, what to do he is wondering. And then a spark of genius as he thinks to himself I need something to fill some pages here what can I do. BING he thinks what about the female ally kidnapped and held hostage where she has to be saved? I could include the prerequisite phone call to the bad guy as we always know his phone number and threaten him with all sorts if the hostage is not released and arrange a time and place to have her returned safe and well. Of course it will be a trap laid by the bad guys but that doesn't matter as we can insert the sniper scenes and blow his underlings away and rescue the said female safe and sound of course. I have no doubt the author thought long and hard if this section should be included in this title as he has already used it in what 30 to 40 title already and after much contemplation I reckon at least 5 or 10 seconds whammo 32 pages of the title filled with no thought process at all as simply RE WRITE what he has done SO MANY times before. The rest is crap and falls away with stupidity on behalf of the bad guys men which ends the "thrilling, riveting" title we are reading. You lazy bugger Mike Newton, you got away with it yet again, disgusting you should be ashamed of yourself.

Mike Newton knows Bolan. Very few authors manage to pen tales that meet the standard set by the first 38. Because Mr. Newton was there during the early days and at every step along the way his work really shines. I enjoyed the plot, the pace, and the depth he can give to all of the characters - even those that appear briefly. I am only giving Pele's Fire nine stars because of the driving directions. There were times that Pele's Fire read like print out from Mapquest. All in all it was a good read.

Mike Newton has probably written more words about The Executioner than any other author, including Don Pendleton who he actually collaborated back in the days of the original Mafia Wars...and you know what? It shows! Mike Newton knows Bolan, he writes Bolan AS Bolan. Not Bolan as Bond, or Bolan as Bourne, or Bolan as Batman. With Newton you get the real deal. Mack "The Bastard" Bolan, the one-man army who inspired a legion of wannabes in novels, films, and even comic books. This is classic Bolan and classic Newton. Mack is definitely The Executioner here, master strategist, expert sniper, and unstoppable soldier supreme. The end battle, versus a fast attack submarine no less, is thrilling to the core. My only problem with this book is it was too damn short! Good stuff all around!

Just an average book, locals trying to take over Hawaii, Bolan with various people in tow is out to stop them and as a previous person noted, and I felt really annoyed by it too, the term Haole was used about a 1000 times in this book, groan ! As always this author writes the Bolan character very well, but it was just a average entry at best.

For my first Executioner/Bolan book, I honestly didn't know what to really expect. I picked the book up on a whim because I have been interested in the series (from trolling this site) for a while and just decided to start here because this book was on the stand. Interesting story. I liked the terrorist organization lashing out against their foes based on a simplistic hate. Bolan's character was strong and his side kick was good too. The action was great - especially the shoot out. The only thing that made me give this book a 6/10 is that some of the supporting characters were really weak. Their impact on the overall story was just not that good and left me wanting more. Not only from these supporting characters, but in terms of background and motivation. It seemed they were just added to speckle this story with a bit of exposition. Will I read another Executioner? Sure thing.

SPOILER SPOLIER SPOILER I got stuck with this book on a 3 hour plane flight. It was a rush trip so I just grabbed the next new book from the shipment. This turned out to be a bad idea. The story is good but the reading is slow and just seems to drag on. Usually I read on planes and I lose track of time and it makes the flight seem to pass by quickly. I think this book made the flight longer. The story is set in Hawaii and the driving and direction parts read like they came from a tourist brochure. I like descriptions of neighborhoods that Bolan goes into but the name history and direction of every street in the neighborhood is a little too much. Every time they stopped we get what seemed like a tour guide description (This was this in the 1800s then they got it and willed to these people and then the army took it and then left after building all this stuff.) This was for an empty safe house. (Amazing that an underground group of only 100 members had so many safe houses) I had flash backs of the bus tours my wife made me take. As we go along reading every other word is Haole and some form of Brother, bro, braugh, brudda, if you removed just those words the book would be half as long. As I was reading I kept hearing the Hawaii Five-O theme in my head and half expected to Read “Book em Dano”. I was waiting for the people shooting at Bolan to have revolvers with silencers on them. Bolan gets stuck with an informant and his female friend, they of course get attacked as soon as Bolan arrives and we race to a good fighting spot. The female is telling us every street name as we go along. And we move to finding some information from someone higher up in Peles fire. We find him and then Bolan shoots him in the knee while he is tied up. (Seems like torture to me) then he bangs his head against the wall so many times and so fast that Bolan can’t stop him? Then we get the “OMG I should have thought of this before moment” I know this surfer dude who is just what we need. Bolan sees this guy has some scars and that makes him okie dokie to trust. (The surfer dude also has a basement full of weapons, which is handy “for sure”) and he just takes everyone into his armory, without a second thought. (That’s a Knarly idea dude Ill go with you and kill people) and then it’s, were off and you two stay here and don’t go anywhere…. By the way here are my car keys. Well I will just check on my cats… and of course they get kidnapped... But in the end Bolan gets them back safe and sound. And as much as I did not like this book it was good story and the ending turned out great. Peles fire steals a Sub from Pearl and then tries to fire missiles plus How many times does Bolan get to Shoot down a Submarine with a Law? The ending was very well done JMHO