Extreme Measures

I am going to both agree and disagree with the previous reviewer. Yes, I agree, the mission briefing for the Teams in the early chapters of the book are a mess, and yes, the characters do morph into one another, which is annoying considering the authors experience at writing Phoenix Force and Stony Man novels, as well as not being picked up by the editors. But the rest of the novel was not boring at all. Once past the mission briefing the adventure picked up. Phoenix Force are split up, half of the team, including Katz, are sent to France and Israel. McCarter's half are sent to Kurdistan, and for me what happens there is the high light of the story. Able Team run around New York and that part of the story was fairly generic, but otherwise okay. The adventure is dated, being written in 2000. The tech is old. Saddam Hussein is still alive and 9/11 has yet to happen. The villain was quite well fleshed out as were various other guest characters. So, I enjoyed it. A few stars of for the mess of the mission briefing, but otherwise a good story.

I am not going to rate this book. I didn't finish it. I got as far as page 30 and gave up. To start with, I was bored with it. We are given the villain's motives in the prologue, it is the usual Muslims are not Muslim enough and Westerners are to blame etc. Then we move into the mission briefing for Phoenix Force and Able Team, and I cannot recall them ever being given such a flimsy briefing before. It was nothing more than "there are people that don't like Americans" and "Oh look, there is an American Muslim who has visited Canada four times. Very suspicious." But the worst was the fact that the author kept getting names mixed up. First Calvin James is going with Katz, then a few pages later it is Manning. Then, the moment I gave up, when the rest of Phoenix are getting mission ready, Blancanales is suddenly among them, despite being with Able Team moments before. If an experienced author cannot keep the names straight, and the editors could not spot the errors in the first 30 pages, then the book is not worth ready. I'll move on to something else.

Fair read here only I reckon. Really the plot of a terrorist leader declaring a jihad on the Great Satan or similar like this title really has been absolutely flogged to death in these combined series. This title rises above the morass of a 5 star or lower rating simply because of the excellent writing skills of the author. Some very good action scenes here folks and my standout which has already been reviewed was Able Team's take down of the terrorist with the nerve gas at the end. Aside from that all of the characters are spot on and as usual McCarter excels with Lyons getting good time as well. Worth a read but probably worth your time to read some of the other titles by this author in this series and see what he can do with a fresh new novel storyline you WILL be IMPRESSED.

Mike, I greatly enjoyed your book Extreme Measures Stony Man 55. The book though made me extremely mad. I have been closely following the 9/11 hearings the last few weeks and just reading this book which you had published in Oct 2001 made me furious. As far as I know Linaker doesn't work for the Pentagon or the White House - well thats obvious. Yet he figured it out about 9/11. 1) Various Muslims from around the Arab world working together. 9/11 - Egyptians, French Muslim and Saudis. 2) Not just hating the US but also willing to hit any Muslim government working with the West. I remember this theory dismissed as late as 2002 until the bombings in Saudi Arabia. 3) Main target NYC. Yes you used a biological bomb and 9/11 was planes as missiles. 4) Internet as the main means of communication. Same with Al Queda and 9/11. 5) Sleeper cells same as book and reality. Lets face it substitute Falil for Bin Laden and you have a match including rumors of Bin Ladens bad health. This was eerie. The characters were great I liked the story also in Afghanistan. Kurds seem to be the only Muslim ethnic group that seems to harmless to us. McCarter was his old grumpy self. Lyons though acted like a jerk to Jack. If I was Jack and alone flying with Carl I would hit a nice big air pocket. Also it was realistic how a cop got a bit gung ho and tried to capture Joseph himself. Just got himself and his partner along with civilians killed. The character of Habib was a really nice twist. A sleeper cell who looked beyond idealogy and got to know the Americans and befriended them. Sadly it never happened with any 9/11 hijacker. But I do think it probably does happen. Well I hope it does.

A good read. Great use by Able Team and well-conceived action sequences make this a fast-paced thriller on par with anything else out there in the marketplace. The author has a good sense of character and dialogue and gives a reader a real feeling of being in the thick of things as the plot unwinds. Highly recommended.

Picked this up as a first-time reader and was pretty much hooked. There was a lot going on here but it all fit together nicely without getting too bogged down with background. Stony Man beats those Clancy spin-offs hands down!

Great book by Linaker. I appreciate how Able Team was used more. Thanks for listening to us on the message boards, Mike. You did great.

Enjoyable romp with no Mack Bolan in sight. Great action interspaced throughout, although I thought Able was under-utilized (a pet peeve of mine)......until the climax. Which was a surprise. Able Team's mission always get's second billing to Phoenix's. It was great seeing them having to save the world from disaster!! I found the villain to be a fresh change from the usual, and liked the Kurd character, Hanif.

Hard to imagine a more timely book, but by the same token there's a sense of oversimplification in terms of plotting and characterization that makes things ring a little less than true. Still, all in all, a decent effort by the author. I especially liked seeing Able Team in the forefront of things.

This is a very good book which is very in tune with what is going on in the news today. I suggest that anyone who likes hot action to read this book. Ten out of ten!!!

This Book was very good. I liked the part about Iran aned Iraq. Good Job Don Pendelton. I love shannon Scruggs

This entyr in to the Stony Man collection was very well written and had lots of action, I especally liked Able Team's fight to the finish with the terrorist sect in NY. Phoenix Force also had a kick arse encounter in the Middle East. I couldnt put this one down, But what was up with everyone saying "arse" are the Stony Man teams trying to be hip or something? Any wat read it and love it.