Anvil of Hell

An excellent outing from Peter Leslie! Some SuperBolans tend to be plodding affairs: they are essentially Executioner length novels stretched into a 350 page novel. You get filler, you get padding, it drags. You don't have to worry about that with Anvil of Hell. It is non stop from beginning to end. There is no filler or nonsense. It's a wonderfully told story with a great cast of character. Leslie's usual minor characters Tufik and Mettner but in their appearances. I love Tufik. I know he appears in Vendetta in Venice, not sure if he does in any other works by Leslie. If the character wasn't killed off, I'd love to see him be used again by a Bolan writer. The bad guys get away in the end. Usually that kind of ending seems like a cop out or a disappointment, but I think Leslie handled it well. There was so much going on in the finale that it didn't really need that bad guy payoff. And it is nice to see that happen once in a while. Sometimes the bad guys get away. Excellent novel by Leslie. On of his finest in the series. Highly recommended.

Really enjoyed this one a huge book packed with an excellent storyline with no padding and its all go throughout. Terrific reading when the big guy is stripped of supplies and breaks down on his way through the desert. His struggles to survive and what happens after he manages to survive and how it happens which has major consequences in what happens later in the title is some fine reading indeed. The finish is not too bad but I was annoyed a couple of the big players take off and are not dealt with especially the Capo as a great deal is made of him throughout but his escape is one line in the text informing the reader he is off running away from the action and another line where one of the helicopters is missing? (Maybe it was edited out) seemed strange to me. Agree with the previous reviewer who mentioned how he has to be rescued twice. The first time was okay after being tortured in the interrogation cell but the second time was just a cheap copout for the author giving an easy out of his situation. Nonetheless very good read here recommended reading.

Excellent story. Bolan always works well in an extreme environment. For those with access to a used bookstore, find the original version in Leslie's Radoactive Camel Affair, one of the Man from UNCLE series of the mid 60s.

This is another good one from Leslie. Been a while since I read this, but I remember it being loaded with the fun adventure I like from this writer.

An average entry in the series. Bolan is searching Africa for Uranium, and stumbling through a civil war as he tracks the radioactive isotope down. Action scenes were good, but too far between. Bolan spent a lot of the book lost in a desert, or being captured by enemies. I found it disappointing that Bolan needed outside help escaping not once but twice. Add that to his being lost in the desert, and it's definitely not Bolan's best outing. Final scene, complete with countdown timer and underground hidden lair seemed like the end of a Sean Connery Bond movie. Overall--good, but hardly the best Bolan out there.

GOOD BOOK AND TUFIK IS ONE COOL BOLAN ALLY.

This story was so big, and so layered that it really could have only been a Superbolan. A lot of the others (except for Rogue Force, and Resurrection Day and the Stony Man Doctrine) really are nothing more than padded Bolan books. This one delivered ALL the goods.

Not a bad book. Had some action, and I especially liked Bolan trying to survive in the desert. Overall, a good read.