Cartel Clash

Fast paced entry, which is nothing new from Linaker. Bolan gets a drug cartel in his sights and tears them a new orifice. Does have a somber beginning as Bolan gains a female ally, then loses her in gut-wrenching fashion. Then, the big guy is blitzing the American connection of the cartel, plus plays cat-and-mouse with two hitmen in the desert. Then, in a blazing 40+ pages, Bolan lays waste to the kingpin in a stunning display of action. Great stuff!

If you're a longtime Mack Bolan reader you have either learned to roll with the clichés of the series or have come to be turned off by them. After some decades of reading these things I've come to the conclusion that I'm more in the latter camp, which doesn't bode well for CARTEL CLASH. In the book, Mack Bolan is dispatched by presidential order to Texas in order to avenge the death of an undercover DEA agent at the hands of the local drug kingpin. As is the case in pretty much all of these things, Bolan quickly figures out who he has to kill and gets busy doing so. He's never in any sort of real danger, as the bad guys are complete buffoons. CARTEL CLASH goes on to suffer from Rotating Bad Guy Syndrome. This is when the first half of the book involves a particular villain who doesn't survive through to the end, thus forcing the author to begin all over, setting up a new bad guy and essentially delivering two stories and two climaxes in the course of 189 pages. Given the brevity of these things there is no time left over for niceties such as characterization, so the motivation of the villains are that they are simply bad people, so of course Bolan must snuff them out. Lest it sound like I'm completely panning the book, I should say that CARTEL CLASH does pretty much what Bolan fans expect from these books by now: lots of guns, explosions and dead bodies. The kill-count in the novel is moderate to high, though as is often the case with Bolan novels, the overwhelming majority of those killed are faceless mooks who never had a chance in hell of taking the Executioner out. The potential for a far better book exists here. An interesting female character is introduced early on, but is given an ignominious exit shortly thereafter, thus cutting her plot short. Not long after, a pair of highly effective hit men are sent out to kill Bolan and it's fairly clear that these two have a long history and some interesting character traits, but they too are eliminated from the book in short order and don't have a chance to spread their wings. I don't expect highfalutin literature from a Bolan novel and it would be unfair of me if I did. I am, however, finding the standard formula somewhat tedious. Such a shame.

I sound like a broken record reviewing this author's titles but yet again a superb read in the series. An undercover DEA agent is discovered by a drug cartel and executed sending a message to authorities that we are too big for you to take down so back off. The President fed up with this nonsense calls in the Big Guy to take apart the cartel in his special way and so the fun begins. Now contained within the title are two characters who are a hit men team named Preacher and Choirboy a couple of good old boy western types who dress the part and drive about in a huge gas guzzling tank so popular with these types of boys and who are so good at their profession have never missed fulfilling a contract. Brilliant characters who I couldn't help to think of Travolta and Jackson from Pulp Fiction for some reason and some excellent reading when they are given a contract to take out the Big Guy. The drug cartel pipeline reaches from Mexico to Texas in the states and both ends have to be taken down. The Texas assault is some of the best reading you will come across where the Big Guy absolutely destroys everything in a smash blitz and then for an encore the author duplicates the attack on the Mexican end where similar occurs. Toss in a Russian arms dealer who happens to be at the Mexican end finalising an arms sale and the title absolutely rocks. If you love action stuff in these series look no further this will please you big time. Highly recommended reading in this series grab it.

This was an action-packed story very entertaining. I debated between 7 or 8 stars, and went with 8 due to the phenomenal action sequences where the Executioner literally brings down everything owned by these drug lords. Bolan gets brought in by the Man to take down a major drug operation involving several cartels. This book had some very revealing parts regarding Bolan, as he's faced with the death of a beautiful, young lady early in the story that fuels his desire for revenge throughout. Here is another demonstration on why Bolan is "the Man's" most important weapon.