Aswan Hellbox

Oh, this was so good, probably the best that I have read of this series. The heat, the sand, the sun. Everything so vividly described it was almost like being there. A two week trek across the Sahara in pursuit of a murderous cult lead by a bloodthirsty American. The only disappointment with the story itself would be that there was no backstory to Blackwell and no explanation as to why Phoenix Forcer were in pursuit of him. Otherwise brilliant. One star deducted for the misleading cover and title. Although Aswan was the goal nobody got anywhere near it.

Really liked this book. The Force is in Africa searching for the Blood Doctor. This book is straight up action. I thought the Manning and Nemtala were very well written. I thought Nemtala was a hell of a women. And it was heartbreaking for me when she got killed. I liked Salibogo very much in this book. To bad that he wasn't a recurring character in the series. I thought Blackwell and his Black Cobras were some of the baddest bad guys so far in the series. And I was satisfied when they got taken out. Really good book highly recommened reading. 8 star book.

This was a pretty good book. We finally, 7 books later, learn more about Manning's personal life and dedication to his lovers. Why an 8? Because Manning seems to take the round character position while the rest take flat roles. Secondly, Nemtala was pretty cool. They killed her off earlier than they should have. I say... "A good read!"

Well off to the desert this time for the guys to take down a would-be king/leader (who is a sadistic/cruel/psychotic character let me tell you) leading an army of 300 odd who are going to fire a nuclear missile at Egypt's Aswan dam and take over Africa. 300 ? hardly seems a fair fight does it. (3,000 maybe ;-D Full on action here folks non stop which keeps you flicking the pages and the weapon of choice is something which actually kicks some arse. Excellent descriptions of what the team go through during the desert conditions and two classic characters introduced to assist the team. Gary has a major very personal role in this title which is also exremely good reading. The title finishes in a climatic scene with the missile actually being launched. Loved it recommended reading in this series.

“Aswan Hellbox” is one of the best Phoenix Force novels. It is a surprising, and welcome find to the uneven first ten entries. The plot is unique, to hunt down three hundred people across the nasty side of Africa to prevent them from blowing up the Aswan damn. 60-to-1 odds, even to Phoenix Force, is incredible odds. They make nice use of the Mark 19, 40mm grenade launcher. Without it, they wouldn’t have stood a chance. Also the terrorist leader stops at every village to loot, murder and maim. If he were to have kept going, Phoenix Force would have never caught them. In this novel, we also get more into the background of Manning.

This was a good book but there were a few areas of the story that were a little forced. The opening chapter was very long and drawn out but it was very gory. It felt like a cross between Black Hawk Down and Cannibal Holocaust, not that I had seen all of the last film. The Villain, Blackwell was very interesting. Here was a bad guy who was despotic, sadistic and chock full of demons. He had serious doubts about himself after the rape and he was still a true scum bag. The scene where Gary lost his lady friend was very touching. Good, but not great.

i thought this book was well written. The relationship formed between manning and tala really gives it a good twist. The action and suspense were well sone in this book. Gar Wilson is awesome and is a very talented writer.

Phoenix Force is back in Africa in "Aswan Hellbox" and this time they're chasing down a renegade American villain and his murderous horde before they can blow up Egypt's Aswan dam. The plot of this story would be just a simple persuit through the desert but the addition of Salibogo and Nemtala add great relationship angles and give all Phoenix, but especially Manning some depth. Katz shines though in a scene in the book where he saves a life and never fires a shot. The villain here is over-the-top evil. He slaughters whole villages, rapes girls and drinks human blood. Very nasty and a real asshole. The only bad thing about this villain for the story is that the authors try too hard to give us some reasons why he went bad. I don't actually care why the villains in these stories go bad. They're evil and that's enough. The action is good but I felt the whole thing relied too much on the use of the Mark 19 MOD-3 40mm machine gun, actually some kind of automatic 40mm grenade launcher with a range of 1600 meters and 400 RPM rate of fire. Wow! Nice weapon but it seemed to be the crutch that most of the Phoenix Force action relied on. The Fast Attack Vehicle (FAV) it was mounted on was very cool though. It was some kind of electric-powered silent running dune buggy that got up to 75 mph. The bad guys are bad and their attrocities against innocent folks make their destruction very satisfying. But the bad guys aren't even half as interesting as Salibogo and Nemtala. They make this story work. If there had been less reliance on long range boom-boom with that grenade launcher this would have been a 9 or maybe even a 10 star book. As it is this book is a solid 8 stars. At least 3 of those stars are for the two great characters joining Phoenix in this book.

I thought this was kind of standard as the chase the bad guy and kill him dead sort of story went, but there several little reasons it was actually quite good. First off I really enjoyed the fact that Phoenix was charging across barren Africa a la the "Desert Rats". Second, Katz as medic. A man who not only deals, but also staves off death. Next, Manning developing an unexpected relationship and the suprise outcome to same. Finally, the MK 19! God bless the full auto grenade launcher.

A standard outing that had some decent action.

This was an odd one for me. I finally learned the history of Manning's love of his life. And it was an interesting tale, if not what I considered a classic Phoenix story. Color me prejudiced towards the Fieldhouse stories, but Ramirez and Rex formed an odd combination that just didn't read completely right.However, Manning's being taken hostage, Phoenix's act of mercy, the FAV, and the relentless race against time between Phoenix and the Blood Doctor's troops was a fantastic story.If there had been more emphasis on things going on back at Stony Man Farm, and better communication, this would have read like a Kasner Stony Man novel. But, unlike Gunslinger, I don't consider this a standard story. And it's a shame that the writers have forgotten Manning's devotion to Nemtalah, if the man himself hasn't.