Reviews (19)
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.
Give this book 8 stars for two words. BIG THUNDER baby. Good to see the introduction of Mack's favorite piece. A gun so powerful Dirty Harry Callahan commented "If properly used it can remove fingerprints. I like when Mack dialed in the gun he found it "AWESOME". Did Fight in korea? I thought it was just Vietman, Oh well. And I'm still not clear on who The Kinf was. All in all pretty standard stuff. The introduction of big thunder really made it for me.
The Executioner takes his war to San Francisco as the Mob is involved in illegal pornography as well as the usual crime and vice. However, Bolan finds unlikely allies in the Chinese Tongs, but can they be trusted?
I found this book kind of infuriating, but not because it was bad. No, the characters, action and story were all passable. In fact, if this was my first Executioner book I would have probably liked it a lot. However, for anyone who has read the past 10 books this is just more of the same. It’s not that it’s written poorly, but it’s easily the most forgettable plot of the series thus far. That’s what’s infuriating because while the broad strokes are business as usual, Pendleton absolutely nails the little nitpicky details I’ve mentioned in other reviews.
Unlike in New York, Pendleton makes use of the city as a setting even if it’s just a matter of having Bolan winded after walking up the city’s hills. Thankfully he avoids having any stereotypical gay content, but he uses the city’s multicultural makeup well featuring Asian immigrants and the hippie culture. Bolan even runs in to a woman who only eats organic food which sounds like a line that could have been written today, not in 1972. There’s also a funny scene where Bolan is taken off guard when he meets a porn star (whom he shockingly doesn’t sleep with).
This book also served as the introduction of the .44 Automag, Bolan’s signature weapon. Pendleton spends the better part of 2 pages describing it, making it more developed than a lot of his minor characters. It does make sense in that regard as ‘Big Thunder’ would end up being a constant companion. I’m not a gun guy but I’ve heard people say that the Automag is a flawed, often malfunctioning piece of hardware. However, Pendleton makes it sound so cool that he probably should have received some royalties for it.
The next book is set up well as Bolan learns his brother and his love interest have gone missing which is a great set up. In fact, it might be too good. I wanted Mack to forget what was going on in San Francisco and figure out what’s going on. Instead the book lurches its conclusion from that point. The main villain of the book is the mysterious Mr. King who is so mysterious we never learn too much about him. At the end there is a revelation about his identity that is somewhat obtuse and I’ll admit that the significance went over my head. I thought it could be because I read the book over a far longer period of time that usual, so I read the plot summary in The War Book and the revelation is that Mr King is black. This may have been a shock at the time of its writing it is rather underwhelming today.
Executioner kill count: 43
Not his best book. Great battle scenes in the Bay. Good back ground on Able Team for the future. The end was a little weird for me. I think this is the first time we see his 44. Auto Mag.
San Francisco is the next port of call for the Big Guy in this title where at first it doesn't appear to be all that much rot that needs his brand of cleaning.
This situation changes when he keeps hearing references of a Chinese triad and Mafia amalgamation with the intention of taking over all avenues of crime from the traditional mob and constant references to an unknown Mr. Big who is behind all of this in the shadows.
Once again the Big Guy manages to get into the minds of the enemy and injects mistrust between them which results in a final meeting between the big players and the elusive Mr. Big is dragged out of the shadows.
The first appearance of the stainless steel .44 magnum auto mag Big Thunder in this title which goes on to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy and also becomes a signature of the Big Guy himself.
A good read here but it really is just an entree to the following title as Johnnie and Val have been kidnapped and the following title shows us the Big Guy in rage mode and is arguably one of the finest reads in the series.
So enough of this and off to read it again I know I am going to enjoy the next one.
A fair read of the Mafia Wars. Bolan moves in on San Fran with a blazing shootout and comes away with mystery lady Mary Ching in tow. Notable for the first use of the AutoMag, and he deals out blazing, thunderous death. The Ching character had some depth to her, not unlike some of the female characters in these novels.
The best scene was a hit on the DeMarco mansion, only to leave the Mafia Don scared out of his wits. Then there's this Mr. King. He wasn't explained very well, even at the end. But, there was another decent shootout at a houseboat before we get to the weak finale of Bolan wiping out all the top mafia men.
Okay, I read this in series order. I enjoyed the action scenes where Mack took down the Mafia hoods hard.
The scene where Mack had to deal with two porn girls cracked me up.
I loved it when he rampaged around the Capo's mansion on Nob Hill. A lot of intense battles around that area.
However, I have no clue on as to who Mr. King is. The ending fell flat just like it did in previous book in the Caribbean Kill. Where exactly is Mr. Pendleton going with these two books ending with mysterious kingpins. I don't think we'd ever get an answer to that question.
#11 in the series, reading on!
Sig
Somewhat of a different shift from the two preceding books, and for some reason the intro of my book (UNIFORM CRIME NETWORK bulletin) speaks about Bolan's most recent activity being in San Francisco (which hadn't happened until after this story -- very strange).
I like Pendleton's bring together of various major organizations in a battle for the bay area, however, I did get a little lost about Mr. King. This was one of the few books that I had a hard time following Pendleton's main point.
Pendleton used the scenes with Mary to give us a great insight in Bolan's psyche and we see him questioning somewhat the person he is becoming. A great thread throughout this solid work.
This was a good quick read but as siad in some of the other reviews it just leaves you hanging at the end. I still not not know who Mr. King is. There is alot of action in this one and the mafia boys get their first look at the big bad automag. Able Team is talked about through out this one and Mack just happens to be buddies with the cop that could take him out. Over all a good book with lots of action.
Although not quite as good as the two books preceding it, I thought this entry into the Bolan series was nicely done. There were more points in this book that one could nitpick on, but nothing major. This book had some great action scenes, and there was an interesting connection between the Chinese and the mafia. An average read.
Like Carribean Kill it had one huge flaw - the ending. Both books had a nebulous kingpin that was not really part of the Mafia but pulled the strings. Both novels had the characters killed. But do we know anything about them? Nope.
What I loved about the book was the sense of humor it had. The totally confused Mack with the porn girls was a riot. Poor Mack he seemed so uncomfortable with them.
Also China Doll was a fun character. She seemed a bit confused and way over her head but stuck with Mack all the way through.
Another big problem was Pendleton saying that Mack fought in Korea. How? I thought Korea ended in 52. Mack would have been 10 years old. Book was published in 1972 and Mack is 30 during his California Hit.
I agree with the review by Frogman on this one. I think Bolan used the automag for the first time in here.
I absolutely loved this book. My favourite chapter was the profile on Able Team and its incarnations with Bolan as the leader.
An okay entry in the Mafia Wars. I wasn't really into this novel that much. It didn't seem too interesting, though at times it was fun. Oh well at least the next few books would be much better.
This was an average reas in the Mack Bolan saga, I didn't like the way it ended but it had some interesting battle scenes.
When I read this book I thought it had some very good scenes such as the battle at the Capos mansion. However the end didn't seem quite that clear. Pendelton assumed that everyone knew who Mr. King was but for some people like myself the answer wasn't obvious and so I was left wondering who he was. Otherwise it had some really good action and was a very enjoyable novel.
When Bolan hits the mob in San Francisco he stumbles onto hints of a bigger enemy. The Executioner hits the mob hard in a well paced story with lots of action.
This story has some of the patented Pendleton action scenes that bring you right into the path of the bullets, particularly during a hard hit on Nob Hill mansion. And once again there are some folks Bolan meets that may or may not be allies when push comes to shove. And Bolan gets news that sends the series action off in a personal direction for the next book.
A good 8 stars for the continued growth of Mack Bolan as a man struggling with what he fears he may become and what he regrets giving up. And for some great action in one of my favorite cities.
A so-so entry into the war against the mafia series. It was okay, nothing too spectacular.
Good novel, though it had a few too many plot elements... The epilogue was a good lead in to the next novel.
