Retribution

The book opens with a scene depicting Katz's wife, and what happened to her many years earlier to set up the story. Here we have a very unique entry in the series centered on the Phoenix Force leader, who was as much a focus for this book as Bolan himself was. This is a departure from the standard formula that was a welcome experience, and the author did a good job telling an interesting and compelling story. Katz and Bolan team up to bring down the murderer of his wife after it is discovered Zhdanov is out of jail and now plots to murder Katz and his daughter. This makes another main villain focused story much like VanCook's earlier SuperBolan Showdown, which I enjoyed very much. It was nice to take a break from armies of straw badguys riddled with bullets to focus on one main villain with just a few henchmen on the side. This also leaves enough room for a good backstory to go with Zhdanov, as well as Katz. The action scenes, particularly in the first half of the novel were good, and there was an element of suspense in the writing that added to the enjoyment of reading it, although this seemed to taper off later in the story, but the ending had me on the edge of my seat. This is a book that is memorable, this is no also-ran in a large series, but rather a story that stands out, and can be remembered for long afterward. The story of some history of Katz and his family is special, and is highly recommended reading even if you might not know anything about the outstanding Phoenix Force series. Keep in mind this takes place after Katz is no longer the leader of PF, but he will always be considered the leader to me.

Absolutely loved this one and I reckon if you have read the Masterpiece which is Eternal Triangle Executioner series #101 (should have been #100) you will relate to this title immediately. Katz is the subject of torment this time and the title goes back to the Second World War and the execution camps of the Nazi's and Katz's old man who he thought was gassed but hmm and the son of one of the guards? This title answers some questions which have been previously hinted at in these series such as was Katz's wife actually murdered or not. Some very good action scenes within the title and I thought it was great. Recommended reading.

This truly should have been a 220 page novel. This book was overall good but extremely padded. The scene in the graveyard and later in the airport was just so boring. Do we really have to have the same scene replayed from 2 perspectives? It breaks up the flow. I liked how there was one main villian Ulric and how he was on a lifetime vendetta against the Katz family. I think in some ways this novel would have worked better by actually having a section of the book in Dachau and in the post Bolchevik Russia just to get more indepth into Katz' dad. Also how could Mack and Katz get foiled repeatedly by one man whose guns kept failing him. Sheesh. I could understand a group holding off M/K but not one man. Sharon seemed like a sweet girl and would love to see her again. Its also nice learning about the Katz family. The end scene was a bit heartwrenching though. I hope that Katz goes back and really whollops that Mossad agent for nearly getting his daughter killed. I am giving this book a good review for the fact that we really do learn a lot about Katz and his family history. The padding though really brings down the book to an 8 along with how Mack and Katz got so easily foiled.

I sort of chanced on this book and remember a friend boasting about the Mack Bolan series so I thought I'd give it a try and I was very impressed. I was expecting just a lot of shooting and gore but there was a lot of great characterization and good dialogue that really made the characters come alive, especially Yakov and Bolan. It made me want to read more in this series and get better acquainted with the back story. Good writing, too, which was another surprise.

This was a great read and kept me on the edge of my seat...although Katz seemed a little out of character, that is understandable considering the circumstances. The only other problem would be that if Stony Man was in any why aware of what was going on, Pheonix and Able would both have been chomping at the bit to lend Katz and Mack a hand!

This wasn't too bad a story, but I felt that it was a bit too long, the middle part of the book dragged. So Katz has a gorgeous daughter that we have never heard of before. Unfortunately we will never hear from her again, either. It was obvious that Katz was once married since there have been a great many references to his lost son in previous books, but what happened to his wife remained a mystery until now. Katz certainly seemed old in this story and very unsure of himself. Apparently he was always convinced of the murder of his wife and would tell anybody who would listen - Jerry van Cook's description of Katz makes him sound like a whining old man at some points. The only thing that I really did not like about this book was the whole Russian airport business. Bolan, Katz and Grimaldi take Russian security guards hostage and then manage to fly out of St Petersburg all the was to Israel, by presumably flying through Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and half a dozen other countries with out once being challenged. This fact really spoilt the story for me. In addition to that fiasco it seems that the President will get the three men into any country with a single phone call, despite our guys being on a private vendetta. No presidential plausable deniability on that one, especially with the St Petersburg farce. Otherwise it was an okay story.

I love a good character-driven action-adventure yarn, and that's exactly what this book gave us. I've not read much Phoenix Force. I read one book a long time ago, and wasn't very impressed with it. Couldn't even tell you the title. So I didn't really know who Katz was. I'm sure knowing more about him and having shared more adventures with him would've increased my ejnjoyment of the book even more, but it was nice to know that the fact that I hadn't had this connection with the character didn't impede my enjoyment of the book at all. That Bolan had compassion and friendship for Katz was enough for me. I went along for the ride, and boy was it a good ride to be on!

I LIKED THIS ONE. IT TOOK THE CONCEPT OF TODAY'S BOOKS A LITTLE FURTHER. INSTEAD OG IT BEING A BODY COUNT SHOOT 'EM UP BOOK, IT WENT INTO DETAIL ABOUT A CHARACTER WHO'S BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME. THERE WASN'T MANY BAD GUYS IN THIS ONE EITHER AND ZHADANOV WAS AN EVIL ENOUGH CHARACTER TO MATCH ABOUT 10 MEN ANYWAY. I AGREE WITH EVERYONE ELSE THAT YAKOV WAS PORTRAYED AS TOO MUCH OF A WIMP IN THIS ONE. I MEAN, IF YOUR DAUGHTER WAS MISSING WOULDN'T YOU BE A BIT MORE CONCERNED THAN HE WAS BECAUSE HE SEEMED VERY POWERLESS AND ALMOST LACKSIDAISICAL ABOUT IT. OTHERWISE IT WAS A GOOD BOOK AND MY FAVORITE SCENES WERE PROBABLY THE FIRST 100 PAGES. ONE OTHER THING WAS THAT I THOUGHT THAT ,FOR SOME REASON, YAKOV WAS GOING TO BUY THE FARM IN THIS ONE BUT IT WAS A DEFINATE PLEASER ANYWAY!

GREAT BOOK! EXCELLENT STORYLINE AND GOOD CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. A REAL INSIGHT TO THE CHARACTER OF KATZ. THE STORY WENT BEYOND THE USUAL SHOOT-EM' UP.

I'm not much a fan of Katz so I didn't really fully enjoy this book. They gave Katz the sense of being an old man and could only step aside while the Executioner kicked some butt. The story line was Ok but sort of got me confused when I first read it. They could of made the villian, Zhandanov, more sinister. This was a personal mission and not much else.

This was a bit of a disappointment. The only thing that was really interesting was the backstory on Katz. I was expecting Bolan and Katz to kick some big-time ass in this. And well? The action scenes were few and far between. I didn't find anything grand about them. In my opinion, not VanCook's shining hour.

I have to agree, this was a great book. It had good dicriptions of how good freinds mack and katz are and the plot was much better then usual. I liked the ending scene a lot too.

I loved this book. From the sympathetic ex-Nazi guards, Mack's compassion for an Alzheimers victim, the duel between Zhdanov, Mack and Katz being so tight and so close, especially the battles in the cemetary and the airport... and the epilogue, remembering Mack's family, and April Rose. I cried for Sharon Katzenelenbogen's loss of her beloved Yoni. I sneered with joy at Katz's speech to the corpse of Zhdanov. I enjoyed that Mack and Katz weren't armed to the toenails for combat, and that even with a small support group for Zhdanov, it was a thrilling adventure, and an excellent mystery. I wish there had been room in this book for some members of Phoenix Force, who are more Katz' family than Mack is, but then, this story wouldn't have been told. McCarter and Manning would have fit in quite nearly as well as Bolan and Grimaldi. And Encizo and James, though out of place in Europe and Russia, would have been fine additions to the crew too. (No Hawkins. This would have been a Katz family matter. And David, Gary, Calvin and Rafe are that family.) Still. This book was as near perfection as you could get. Jerry, if you're reading this review... GREAT JOB!

I thought this was an excellent entry. It had some good action, some good sleuth work, and top notch shootouts and escapes by Bolan and his prey. For the most part Katz had some great action and moments, but towards the end I'd have to agree with Echoes in that he was asking Bolan advice on EVERYTHING. I also liked the idea of the Stony Man Farm "hello" phone lines that are mentioned. Cool!

This was a good book but I thought Katz was characterized as too much of a wimp and Bolan had to advise him of everything. Remember, Katz has more experience than Bolan. Although in fairness, I suppose that when one's daughter is kidnapped, reasoning takes a backseat to worry.

Excellent, in-depth look at Katz, as well as the friendship he shares with Mack. Finally, a novel with lots of characterization!!! Highly recommended.