Blowout

Well have to say here I thought this was going to be a very good read like this author's last title #11 Anvil of Hell. When I started to read this and got to the escape from the court trial section I'm thinking how good is this. Unfortunately it stops there. It's all been said in previous reviews the big guy just runs around like a stunned mullet from then on. Combat senses are out the window in this title and the normally crack shot struggles to hit the side of a barn here. What the hell is he doing you will think whist reading this time and time again and in the back of your mind you will be thinking huh this is not my Mack Bolan. The ending is just terrible reading with what happens and after the car crash I thought to myself what a cheap/cop out which is exactly what I thought in his previous title. Apart from the escape from the court trial this did very little for me I am afraid.

Boreout. First the good. The courtroom scene was quite good, with Bolan's escape and hanging around on the outside of a building - it reminded me of the 2002 film the Bourne Identity. Secondly, the locations were extremely well detailed. Either Peter Leslie scouted out Hamburg and Lubeck, or he had an excellent map and travel guide. It was so well described that it was almost like being there. Now for the bad. "So where was the one man wave of destruction whose implacable campaign of retribution against evil had earned him the title of the Executioner?" - Blowout page 252. That is a good question, because this is in no way whatsoever an Executioner novel. This is Bolan p.i. which means private idiot. Bolan fumbles and bumbles his way around, getting caught numerous times, and only escaping when double crossing hoods assist him, apart from the time where he sets a room on fire - with him in it - in the hope that somebody would call the fire brigade. Bolan is completely clueless the whole time, and spends his time scratching his head and shrugging his shoulders. If this were Peter Leslie's first Bolan novel then I would be able to accept it, but this is one of his latter novels and it seems obvious that he really didn't know where to go with it. There are so many things wrong with the characterisations in the story that I could go on and on about it. I won't, but I will say that it was wrong and it was bad. So bad in fact, that my second hand, water damaged copy is about to become known as Binout. One star for the courtroom scene and three for the excellent locations. The rest was drivel.

Bolan finds himself caught up in a maze of mystery taking place mostly in the city of Hamburg. This book is a gas, Bolan is caught up in one predicament after another, while unraveling a conspiracy involving different gangs and doublecrossing allies. This story is written only the way Peter Leslie can write them, however, one problem is Leslie stretches the Bolan character a little too much. Some parts I was thinking Bolan wouldn't have done this or said that, but the book was very entertaining, I liked it. The ending was a letdown though, I wasn't too impressed with it, and along with the character stretch, Blowout deserves nothing more than a 7 from me.

This book had so much potential! Bolan is framed for a murder in Hamburg, Germany. He flees, but is pursued by law enforcement and various gangsters as he tries to unravel what is going on. "Blowout" started off well, but wuickly deteriorated. There were too many sides in the battles. Bolan was always getting his ass kicked. Two or three times, he needed a mobster to save him. He was in way over his head. The worst, though, is that, after 300 pages, when he finally figures out who the bad guy is, he doesn't do anything. Instead, he gets a mobster to turn states evidence, and the bad guys conveniently get killed in a traffic accident. Bah. What a let down.

This book is simply great as Bolan is being framed for murder and is caught in a maze of deception and mystery without knowing who´s who and not being able to trust a soul. The mission is clear yet the whole picture is hidden from him as he is cold and alone and constantly running in to dead ends. Bolan is just a puppet in a sick game of persons who ain´t what they appear to be. The plot is great making the book a difficult one to put it down until it was over!!!!!!!!!!

One of the worst SuperBolan books. And why do they have Bolan using a revolver on the front cover when he never used one in the book? That really bugs me!

NOTHING SPECTACULAR AT ALL.

Nothing great about this book. A real yawner from Peter Leslie. The climax was awfully boring.