Dangerous Tides

Yet again a very polished excellent title released in these series by this author who continues to very much impress this reviewer. Again I am impressed on how many fine characters and a compelling storyline coupled with an original plot the author manages to squeeze into the shortened version of these titles. This title has it all bad guys from Russia, bad guys from Saudi Arabia, bad guys from Indonesia with the main bad guy from Russia the stand out (what a psycho) but the other Russians who each have their peculiar traits/abilities also excellent as are some of the Saudi bad guys. The Big Guy firstly boards a cruise liner being held by terrorists and the initial saving of the passengers is only the start of a sinister plot being hatched by the Russian leader of the bad guys who is likely to take out millions with his overall scheme. The Big Guy relocates to Indonesia and teams up with one of the most unlikely allies you could think of but does he come through big time when the crap hits the fan. The chase is on where the elusive Russians are in the cross hairs but the Saudi kill squad throws a major spanner into the works on more than one occasion. Each of the Russian underlings have their own unique capability and the Big Guy meets each of them on their own terms and fine reading indeed especially the guy who thinks he is a gunslinger (beautiful). Fast paced action scenes coupled with the excellent ongoing storyline and the author has well and truly moved into the upper echelons of the contributing authors of these series. This is a bloody fantastic read and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED reading in these series.

The cover and blurb really attracted me to this book, reminding me of Metal Gear Solid 2. Mack Bolan and Solid Snake seem cut from the same cloth, and they both engage terrorists on a ship. Here, the direct parallells end, though the rest of the book plays out much like a video game; Bolan's pursuit of the terrorists periodically builds to increasingly climactic fights with colorful "boss" characters. As a pure action romp, this novel does not disappoint. What impressed me the most about this book was the author's command of language and pacing. Dialog was punchy, and there was a notable absence of vulgarity - something I greatly appreciate, especially in military fiction. Action moved logically from location to location, and tension was kept at a rising level that did not strain suspension of disbelief. I have two small complaints that affected the rating: 1) the setting changes very quickly from ship to Sri Lanka, a change of scenario I found jarring; 2) the resolution involving the final "boss" and his weapon of mass destruction, while complete, mostly happened "off stage", and I wanted to see the action directly. This was the first book by Phil Elmore that I have read, and I eagerly anticipate more work from this author.

Looked forward to this with all the stories in the news about piracy and such. All in all, it just didn't hit the mark for me. The hijacking scenes were decent, but I figured it would take up more of the book. The face-off between Bolan and the Russian cowboy was classic, but the action was nothing special and some scenes seemed to be repetitive. Just an average read.

I really liked this one. Lots of action, good story, imaginative characters...what's not to like? I enjoyed the "comic-book" qualities of some of the villians, particularly the Russian cowboy; reminded me a bit of The Destroyer. The only drawback was that the opening on the hijacked ship was so good the rest of the book was a mite anticlimatic. A great entry in the series from Mr. Elmore.

Once again, Phil does not disappoint. The story is fast-paced, but not overly complicated. I was able to set the book down for long periods and pick it right back up when I got a chance to read a little more. The action was exciting, the plot unique enough, but still what I have come to expect from Mack during this phase of the series. And the supporting cast was damn-near perfect. In fact, I can't think of a single character that had any fleshing out that wasn't done well. I was going to give this a 9, but after thinking about it, I can't really find any faults at all.

SPOILER What a good book. Getting on the ship and stopping the the chemical from escaping and saving the hostages was a great start. From the jump out of the helicopter to the killing of the last pirate was exactly what I think Bolan is all about. This book kept a good story line throughout and finally saw justice at the end. Just enough back story so you could know why things happened but not so much that you get bored. There were a few dead ends but real investigation along with a little electronic help got to the right place at the right time. I liked that Bolan actually worked with someone who did not enjoy the prospect but still did the job because it needed to be done. I get tired of so many gung ho sidekicks with Bolan who are will to go and do whatever without a second thought.