SuperBolan · #172

Insurrection

by Jerry VanCook · March 2015

6.5 / 10 average from 2 rated reviews

A jihadist bomb brings down a massive church in Ibadan, and injured Catholic bishops flee the sanctuary-turned-death-trap, straight into the machetes of Nigeria's most fearsome terrorist group, Boko Haram. This bloodbath is only the beginning of a reign of terror linked to al Qaeda. As the gloating leader amps up the massacres of Christians across the country, Mack Bolan sets out to hunt him down and smash al Qaeda's hopes of building another major African power base. Yet the moment Bolan hits Nigerian soil, his identity is compromised. His only allies have little training, and their priority is protecting children orphaned by the terrorists' brutal attacks. Now survival means fighting his way through the crowded city, ambush by lethal ambush, and staying one step ahead of a traitor moving in for the kill. With the death toll rising, the Executioner will have to play one last gamble to restore the region's rightful government and send this unholy gang of jihadists into fiery oblivion.

Reviews (2)

Gunslinger 6/10 August 19, 2017

While this started out on a gripping note...a terror attack by Boko Haram, it settled down soon after. Bolan is after the notorious terror group, and searching for the survivor of their latest attack. Most of the action surprisingly takes place at one main location, which was a little odd. Bolan must rely upon inexperienced fighters to help. At times the extended gun battle was decent, but Van Cook drew it out into many different facets. Also, the Boko characters were fleshed out pretty well. So, in retrospect, I would have preferred classic Bolan Blitz against the Boko Haram flesh merchants, but it was more methodical and low-key. Good effort, but just a little above average.

Jonathan 7/10 November 9, 2015

A hard to review story due to several flaws. On one hand it is extremely topical and up to date. Boko Harum are running rampant in Nigeria and it was good to see Bolan going up against them and taking them down. The siege at the bakery lasted some 200 pages and did make for tense reading. On the other hand, the timings did not match up. In the prologue and chapter one we are led to believe that Bolan is sent in to rescue an American bishop who was caught up in an attack on a church and escapes. Bolan flies from Washington DC to Argentina and on to Nigeria, although he has no idea why until Brognola debriefs him as the plane is coming in to land. It would take at least 18 hours to fly that distance, yet when Bolan lands the attack on the church has only just taken place, the bishop is wandering around dazed somewhere and the entire story takes place in the space of six hours or so. So why was Bolan already in the air? The attack at the bakery takes up the majority of the story, yet it is extremely vague as to how big this place is. It is massive, full of blind corners and tunnels, yet the Christian fugitives have only been in there for 3 days. Bolan fights off wave after wave of Boko Harum killers but the action is confusing as it is hard to visualise where Bolan is. I did get a little fed up with the author banging on about 'Innocent Christians' every other page. I am sure there are "Innocent Muslims" in Nigeria who also despair at the actions of Boko Harum as well. So it was a good story, but could have had a little more colour, maybe something about the temperature of Africa or something, and the timeline was confusing.