This is the usual hardcore action that moves at a fast pace from Linaker.
Beginning in Amsterdam, Bolan blazes through arms dealers and drug dealers in a hectic blitz until he is captured.
Following this, the action shifts to a fictional African country, featuring an excellent prison-break with Bolan and his lady ally.
Great scenes of trekking across the african wilderness with Mdofa's troops in persuit. A brief ending sequence to finish up the book at Mdofa's house was nothing special, but the book in general was another exciting action-packed romp from one of the best writers in the series.
A familiar plot greeted me as I began this book. Bolan must stop a power-mad warlord from smuggling weapons into an impoverished African nation in food and medical containers so that he won't assassinate the democratically elected president and take over.
But that didn't deter me from reading it, and a good thing too, as this was an excellent, action-packed read.
The main plot involves Bolan being asked to do an easy job; escort an undercover agent out of Holland. Turns out this guy had learned some pretty big things about the aforementioned weapon-smuggling, and he needed to get word out. But he was killed after giving this information to the only person he could trust: A beautiful young American woman working for the relief organization that is being used to smuggle the weapons.
So now, Bolan has to protect her and get at the head honchos in this mess. The African warlord; a Colombian drug kingpin who is helping to finance this revolution; and a British mercenary who has hired out his men to help in the take-over.
The villains are okay, but we only see each of them once before their inevitable execution, and they never really feel all that menacing.
I also had qualms with Bolan in the opening segment in Holland. He felt less like the Executioner, and more like James Bond. A more violent James Bond granted, but he still had diplomatic immunity, access to whatever agents and weapons he needed, and way too much help in my opinion.
When we get to Africa, though, things pick up as Bolan is cut off from the rest of the world and must make do with what he can. This turns out to be fairly easy, as we see from several action scenes that leave us with a huge bodycount.
That's where this novel really shines. Each action set-piece is well-written and varied. There was a couple of hand-to-hand moments, some knife scenes, vehicular carnage, and, of course, plenty of shooting. Each scene seemed to be trying to outdo the previous ones, making things move fast and yet surprisingly smoothly. I wasn't bored at all with the pace in this one.
The descriptions were excellent as well. Each scene was planted firmly in my mind with a minimum of fuss and the action was clear and easy to follow.
This novel may not have had a brilliant plot, but it delivered where it mattered. Definitely a read I would heartily recommend.
Whoo the new cover design is fantastic.
The book is also pretty good.
The plot has probably been done before but I thought Linaker did a pretty good job of this title.
The book is a good read from start to finish, even if you haven't read many or any titles of the series this is a book you can read and enjoy without any prior knowledge of the series.
Recommended.......
my two bobs worth........
Another good outing, with Bolan in Africa taking it hard to mercenaries. The action from Linaker is his usual top notch. Bolan becoming a prisoner and tortured was a great scene, and his breakout was one of the standouts of the book. The plot was something similiar to the SOB's, with Bolan trying to prevent the takeover of a small African nation.
