Return to Vietnam

Enjoyable, but not exceptional. The idea of a commando raid to rescue American POWs still being held in Vietnam was timely in the 1980s; this predates Rambo II by a few years but must have influenced it. There's some good commando action as usual in a Bolan book, but it's not the most believable. Mack decides to do a solo recon of the prison, alerts the entire place, narrowly escapes, then decides that his best course of action is to return immediately with his five surviving Hmong warriors to raid the place--with his communicator broken, a possible traitor in his midst and no way to radio for air support. Seems rather stupid and suicidal to me, but I guess when you're Mack Bolan it's par for the course!

Mertz hits another one out of the park! After his previous success with The Iranian Hit, he immediately follows up with Return to Vietnam. The solid, fast paced writing compelled me to quickly read this book in one sitting. His manuscript should be used as a template for "How to Write Bolan" for new authors. Everything any reader may want is in this book. Good action? Check. Bolan takes on an entire prison garrison, by land, by sea and even by air! Big Thunder, Belle and an AKM are all featured prominently. Good support cast? Check. Good folks new and old. Hal and Jack are involved, with Grimaldi in a big role. They are joined by newcomers Tran Le and her dad. She is a beautiful yet deadly ally & romantic interest for Mack; the latter is a seasoned resistance leader from Mack's military past. Good enemy? Check. The prison commander is a torture loving, back stabbing, drug dealing miscreant in need of a serious beating. All in all a great read with a big message, especially for the time period in which it was originally published. The POW issue means a lot to many Americans, and more so to those with relatives or friends who served in Vietnam. The author also includes "official" Stony Man communiques at the end of the story to set the scene for Mack's next adventure...always a plus as they help shape and sell the Bolan-verse. Strongly recommend this book.

This book intrigued me when I read the plot as I thought it could be real good. It was alright, but not great. I did appreciate some of the history the author brought in relating to Bolan's original time in Vietnam. There were also some good action sequences throughout the book. I thought the dialogue between Bolan and the Vietnamese woman was lame. At this stage in the series, Bolan and April are supposed to be a thing, and here Bolan starts falling for this girl in four hours in Vietnam. It also made little sense when the guy broke Bolan's comm equipment because "his girl didn't consider him a man." I agree with another reviewer...what about Bolan being a fine pilot(???) and Jack showing up out of nowhere.

The subject matter of this title at the time of publication would have been huge, American MIA's in Vietnam and the reluctance of the Government to even acknowledge their existence never mind initiate a rescue mission must have been heartbreaking for family members etc. of the missing. So what about this title? Brilliant can this guy write an Executioner title or what? If you read these titles for enjoyment, action scenes, character development, knowledge of what the author is writing about regarding the characters he is writing about, tension, surprise occurrences, ABSOLUTELY SUPERB BRILLIANT ENDINGS, well what are you doing grab hold of this one and fulfil all of your wishes in one title this one delivers in spades. Any title I read in these series where I am holding my breath at the end wondering what is going to happen and experience a gushing feeling of relief at the end at what has happened does it for me and well here it is folks. HIGHLY recommended reading here.

Enjoyable, not outstanding, but pretty good. It was interesting to see Bolan back in the jungle again.

Great concept, having Bolan return to his combat roots, and well-handled, especially in terms of keeping you turning the pages. I couldn't put this one down until I finished it.

Good early tale from when Bolan was working as Colonel Phoenix. Grimaldi dumps him in Vietnam, and Bolan proceeds to bust out an American POW. Entire book spans less than 4 hours, so action is frentic, but not too much plot. Entertaining read, but not the best of the series.

Mack Bolan is back in Vietnam on a mission to rescue a man with information about American POWs still being held. He teams up with some Montagnards, gets in a shootout on a river, probes the secret prison set up in an old temple and generally kicks hell out of the Vietnamese army with some timely help from Grimaldi. Not much to say about this one. It was OK and there was quite a bit of action. The story elements involving the Montagnards didn't work for me and Grimaldi's unexpected appearance to save the day was too much of a contrivance but the action was good enough that I enjoyed it anyway. Just one thing: when did Mack become "a fine pilot"? It wasn't ever mentioned before and it wasn't necessary in this story. Mack never got behind the controls of a plane in this book so why say "Bolan himself was a fine pilot"? It took me out of the story and made me question the author's knowledge of the character. This one gets 6 stars strictly for the action.

An excellent book! I loved how Bolan infiltrated the secret Vietnamese base. The action never stopped. This book also shed a bit of light on Bolan's past. Nobody writes like Pendleton did.

A very good book. Great to see Bolan back in the killing grounds that gave birth to him as a warrior.

GOOD ENTRY IN THE SERIES. ENJOYED SEEING BOLAN RETURN TO THE PLACE THAT STARTED IT ALL.

GOOD TO US TO SEE BOLAN FIGHTING IN THE JUNGLES OF VIETNAM FOR THE FIRST TIME. A TRUE ACTIONER.

A decent book. Some parts were boring, but it was fun to read about "The Executioner" to revisit his "birthplace."

I enjoyed this one.