Eric Troup

I've been a fan of Nick Pollotta's Mack Bolan and Stony Man novels for quite some time, and this one is no exception. His writing is kind of reminiscent of Morvell Page, the author of most of the books in the Spider series of the 1930s and '40s, in that he's not afraid to rack up a high body count of innocents, as long as the good guys eventually win. I'm not in favor of meaningless carnage, especially in the wake of certain events in the last 15 or so years, but these are only described in enough detail to keep the story over-thetop. This story starts off at a run, and doesn't let up for the entire book. I'm sure there are probably some plotholes or questionable technicalities in this story, but there's so much going on that none of them took me out of the action. Had I the ability to give half-stars, my rating would've been a bit higher. The only thing that kept this from being a perfect Bolan entry for me was the lack of a mano-a-mano fight between Bolan andthe main villain. They do have a final confrontation, but it's not quite as in-your-face as I thought it ought to have been. Still, I highly recommend this book to fans of military action-adventure. Besides, it once again proves my assertion that everything's better with jet packs. ... And monkeys, too, but that's for a different story.

When it comes to authors who write under the pseudonym of Don Pendleton, one of my favorites is Phil Elmore, especially when it comes to the Stony Man series. Not being as familiar with the Phoenix Force series, I can't speak with much authority on his grasp of those characters. But I've been a huge fan of Able Team from way back, and I can tell you that his characterization of Lyons, Pol and Gadgets are spot-on. It's worth reading his entries just for the Able Team scenes alone. Beyond that, he has a knack for giving his villains fiendish booby-traps the likes of which rival the most insidious creations of role-playing gamesmasters around the world. "In short, to those who have never encountered these characters or this series before, once you begin reading this book, you are in for a white-knuckled ride consisting of gunfights, fist fights, knife fights, car chases, evil machinations, wise-cracks galore, aerial combat ... this puts many a big-budget action movie to shame! Yeare in for a treat!!! insertion point at end

This was a very by-the-numbers Bolan book. No suspense, not even any real conflict, since the bad guys never even get anything close to the upper hand. Gun porn at its finest , but that's as far as it goes. I've read many books by Douglas P Wojtowicz, and have come to expect much better from him. I mean no disrespect to him personally or as an author when I say this feels like he phoned it in. Disappointing, to say the least.

This was a solid entry in the Mack Bolan series. I wasn't sure I'd like it much in the beginning. There are several factions involved in the plot, all with characters whose names need to be kept strraight, and I was getting a bit confused by it all. But then, more time was spent on a couple of the factions, and that made other things fall into place. Once that was accomplished, the book was off and running. I won't say it's the best Bolan I've read, but the author kept the suspense ratcheting up till the very end, and I was satisfied with the ending. I recommend this book for those times when you're biding your time on a long train or plane ride. It'll make the time whizz by.

I very much enjoyed this book. It's a well -crafted story which doesn't pad its page count with meaningless, redundant action sequences. The plot moves along at a brisk pace. If I have any criticism, it is that we, the readers, know what's going on behind the scenes well before anyone else does, and while that can be quite suspenseful in the hands of a Hitchcock, it doesn't quite work that well here. But that's a very minor complaint, especially since I can't think of a way things could have been presented that would've worked better. Certainly, making the twist a sudden revelation at the end wouldn't have worked well here. All told, I highly recommend this book, and look forward to reading more of this author's work in the future.

I did not care for this book. The plot was quite forgettable, and was buried under so much action that I found myself getting bored with the firefights. If ever there was a case of "action-porn," this is it. There are only so many ways to describe someone getting shot before it starts to all run together. Same thing with too many graphic sex scenes in a romance novel; hence, my "action-porn" description. And the thing that really annoys me about this is that I usually love the books where our heroes don't skate by unscathed. But even giving our heroes a good ass-kicking isn't enough to save this book! That's very sad! I see other reviews claiming this is very similar to another book Nathan Meyer wrote. I can't speak to this; if true, I've not read the original book. Still, even without that mark against it, this book just doesn't measure up to my standards of a good Stony Man novel--or a good novel in general. It took me two attempts to get through, and the only reason I even gave it a second chance was because of my affore-mentioned love for books where our heroes get hurt. It just kept nagging at me. As it turns out, unfortunately, I needn't have bothered. The book wasn't any better upon completion.

I admit it. I have a sotft spot for this kind of Bolan story--no big mission handed down from on high, no nukes, no threat to the world as we know it; just a town of innocent people who need help. In fact, this book had two huge factors going for it, in my opinion: the first, I just described. The second, this book is more about the story than about the acttion. Yes, there's plenty of action, but this book is much more about the characters and the plot. This makes the action scenes so much more engaging. Too often in Bolan stories, there's so much emphasis on bloodshed and body count that it's easy to get lost and forget what the hell's going on in the first place. That never comes close to happening in this book. My cudos to the author for making the choice to tell this kind of story in this way. I, for one, had a great time reading it.

This is a great, fun story with memorable characters of whom I would love to see more. It doesn't get oversaturated with action, making the action stand out as good action should do. I think the author has a great handle on the character, and I look forward to reading more of his titles in the future.

I loved this book, especially considering it's a first-time author of the BOlan books. I'll be the first to admit I'm not the swiftest guy on the block when it comes to keeping track of plot threads, and when there are too many names, twists or layers to keep track of, my eyes start to glaze over. This was not the case with "Vigilante Run." I was able to follow everything going on, and was even pleasantly surprised with some of the twists. I eagerly awit the next title from Phil Elmore, and heartily recommend this book as a fine example of how great the Mack Bolan series can be.

It could justifiably be said that Nick Pollotta is a one-trick pony when it comes to Stony Man novels. They almost always involve a nigh-unstoppable weapon that has ben unleashed upon the world, and it's up to the Boy in Bad-ass to stop the killers behind the weapon. Having said that, it's a formula that has stood Mr. Pollotta in good stead, and though this novel is by no means this reviewer's favorite, it is still no exception. The tension is high throughout the book, and therefore the book is definitely hard to put down. There's a scene involving an auction of sorts which is qute suspenseful--a bit surprising, given the circumstances behind it, but thanks to the author's skill, I was on the edge of my seat. One challenge I had with the book was the number of characters involved. There are lots of anmes to keep track of, and it sems that these threads could've been tightened up a bit. By the end of the book, I found I was reading through the climactic battle without caring too much about who was getting hurt or killed, keeping my eye open for familiar names. I also enjoy Mr. Pollott's inserting of little in-jokes into the story. This book includes a delightful nod to a certain patrioticly-inspired Broadway play. One other factor that made this book frustrating is not really the fault of the author, but it was so distracting I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it in this review--namely, the horrid editing done by whoever is responsible for such things at Gold Eagle. "The"s and "of"s were left out of sentences all over the place. If that were all, it would've been bad enough--but there were other more grievous editing goofs. My personal favorites are: "... away below an array of hot pipes, cold pipes and an insulted gas line. ..." (I'm assuming that's supposed to be an "insulated" gas line; then again, I've heard those gas lines are quite sensitive. Never know what might happen if you insult them.) My other favorite oops occurs in the epilogue, where Barbara Price engages in conversation with a certain Carol Lyons. Sigh. Sister? Wife? Who knew? To sum up, if you are new to Nick Pollotta's work, I recommend you grab a cop of "Sky Killers" or "Sky Hammer" rather than this book. However, if you do find yourself reading this book intead, I think you'll be happy with the reading experience, for the most part. Just be prepared to take copious notesof merc names, military officers nd such ... and try *not* to take notes on correcting the editor's slip-ups. It's a tough task, I realize, and one might believe resistance is futile ... but one whiwch I'm sure everyone--especially Carol Lyons--involved appreciates.

This book could've been so much more than it was, especially given the significance of its number. There was a lot of good plot--the diversion of the transportation explosions, the kidnapping of "a Stony Man operative," and some pretty bad-ass bad guys ... but there's so much time spent on the bad guys' point of view that when we finally see Bolan in action, the action seems sparse. Where's the big showdown? Where are the cool fight scenes between Bolan and the main guy? Ka-blam, ka-blam, that's about it. Granted, that might be more realistic, but if I wanted realistic, I wouldn't be reading Mack Bolan. Don't get me wrong, I don't want Bolan-Superman either ... and he does have some cool interrogation scenes ... but when the rubber meets the road, this book suffers from quite an underwhelming climax.

This book was nearly wall-to-wall action, and while that's generally a good thing, to me, there was almost too much action in this book. I found myself getting confused as to what was going on plotwise, forgetting why a group was where they were, that info getting lost in the shuffle of near-misses on the part of the bad guys, and creative hits on the part of the good. Still, Dan Schmidt this was not! (Compliment, that.) Our guys get beat up, and yet they kick ass and take names. As others have mentioned, I suspect I would've been more engrossed in the story had I read the Able Team novels referenced. I've only read a handful of them, more due to lack of availability than anything else. Still, it was a good read and I look forward to DPW's next Stony Man entry with excitement! Oh, and Doug ... keep that wonderful banter and those pop-culture references coming! They really spice up an already-zesty recipe. Thanks.

I agree with Dan S. I couldn't finish this book. I read 100 pages, and that was a chore. I've liked some of Dan Schmidt's work--I thought "Point of Impact" was a great book. So was "Stealth Striker." But more often than not, I find he makes Bolan too superhuman, or, as was the case in this book, the plot just doesn't grab me. There were too manyh names, too many characters to keep track of. I just got lost, and didn't care enough to try to sort it through. After a hundred pages, I just stopped caring. I had other books to read.

I have to say, when I first started this book, it looked good ... then when I got to the middle of the book, it looked like it was going to be so-so ... but only for a brief time. Once a certain unexpected someone has a bigger-than-usual part to play (I think that's vague enough to avoid spoilers), the book is nothing short of kick-ass. There's just one more comment I must make, and this does include spoilers. You have been warned.Short of actually killing one of our main heroes off, I think this is the most I've ever seen Stony Man get their asses handed to them, and as sadistic as this will sound, it was a welcome thing to see. The way these guys usually mow through bad guysk, it's always nice to see them get something wrong, or get hurt ... and boy, this mission really tests them, particularly Able Team. A great read. I tell you, I look forward to Chuck Rogers books more and more of late, ever since reading "Lethal Tribute." Go, Chuck! You rock!

I've been waiting to find a really good, solid Bolan book to get my brother into the series ... and here it is. I couldn't put this book down! It had great characters, particularly Charlie Latham, great action sequences, and a solid plot. The only thing keeping me from giving it a full 10 rating was the abrupt ending. I like my Bolan reads to have a bit of denouement. Strictly a personal preference, but there it is. Thanks, Mr. VanCook, for a brilliant read!

This is the third novel I've read by Dougpwz, and is the best I've read so far, IMO. It has everything one could want from a Bolan novel, and then ratchets up the tension and delivers spades beyond the call of duty. I hope we get to see more of Wazdi and Cowalski (if we haven't already--I'm a bit behind in my reading), and man! What a climax! My two favorite action pieces were the final confrontation and Mack's taking down a helicopter with a motorcycle. I don't *care* if it was believable or not, it was amazing to read and visualize! One thing I love about Douglas's handling of Bolan is that he's not afraid to give Bolan a sense of humor. Everybody's human, and all humans have a sense of humor ... yet for some reason, many fictional heroes with serious lifestyles are considered out-of-character if they crack the occasional joke or smart-ass comment. I think it makes the character all the more real, and is a very welcomed touch. I also enjoyed the pop-culture references sprinkled throughout the book by Wazdi and Cowalski. They made these characters seem so much more real than most characters found in these novels. I actually cared whether they came out of this alive, and that's saying something. Great work, Doug, can't wait for the next one!

I've only read two Deathlands books, this being the first good one. I can't even remember the title of the first, but I do remember it had no real main plot. The friends just sort of showed up somewhere, found out something foul was going on, shot it out with the bad guys and ran away, went to another mat-trans jump, found another foul plot, shot it out with the bad guys, ran away, and so ended that installment. Bo-ring. This one, on the other hand, was great. The plot moved along at a solid pace, and while the book isn't high on action at first, the final third is almost nothing but ... which brings me to my complaint. There's *so* much action at the end that at times it all blurs together, and I began to lose interest. I still prefer Outlanders ... but this book has caused me to give the series a closer look.

For me to give a Stony Man novel a 10 is no small praise. I read the series, but usually I find them just ... okay. This one, however, was absolutely brilliant. I didn't realize what a Mike Linaker fan I am until I looked at the books among my favorites in the Executioner/SuperBolan line and found how many were his. Now I can add this Stony Man novel to the list. He's managed to keep the plot complex without making it difficult to follow. There are great action scenes, Able Team (my personal favorite of the two groups) gets to do some great arse-kicking, but even Phoenix Force has some wonderful moments ... particularly one in which their mission actually fails. I eagerly await the second part of this duology, and have to say, if you haven't checked it out already, www.cuttingaudio.com has some great audio-adaptations of these books--including this one. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be reviewing the *book*, but I just had to throw that in.

I really enjoyed this book. Many of the things which the first reviewer criticized were the very things I enjoyed about the book: There really aren't many action scenes, and while on first impression that might seem off-putting, I can assure you the book is never dull at all. To me, the Executioner is a much more enthralling series when it focuses on suspense and intensity rather than straight body-count. Michael Newton tightens the screws with each chapter, so that when the final action sequence does occur, it's quite intense and full of suspsense, even though we all know Bolan will live to fight another day. I didn't notice the instance where Jason Claridge referred to Matt Cooper as Bolan, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least; lately, Gold Eagle's editors have been taking too many coffee breaks. "A"s, "the"s, and other words are commonly missing from sentences, and on numerous occasions you can see where a word-choice was changed, but they forgot to delete the original. I don't fault the author; these things should've been picked up in the edit. As to the ending, without giving anything away ... I too would've liked a bit more closure. That's why I rated it a 9 instead of 10. Having said that, I also can appreciate the fact that Newton doesn't feel compelled to do all our thinking for us, and lets us decide for ourselves how certain things non-essential to the story turn out. Yes, I'm wishy-washy. What of it? All in all, a definite keeper.

Well, this book is pretty much a paint-by-the-numbers Stony Man novel. Maybe I've just read too many of these books, but by about page 250, I was bored ... and with about a hundred pages to go, that's saying something. I think part of the problem was that the prototype weapons were talked about, but it took too long to actually see them in action. That, combined with the fact that the main villain of the book just wasn't very interesting to me, made for a story involving body count more than anything else, and ... well ... by the middle of the book, it had just gotten to the point that I just didn't care anymore. It wasn't a *bad* book necessarily ... it just wasn't really that great either.

I'm not usually a huge fan of the Stony Man novels. I love Able Team, but Phoenix Force has always left me a bit numb. However, this book rocked! I can't speak for the technical accuracy of the novel, nor against it ... only one point in the story jarred me out of my "skull-cinema," and that was when the cyberteam was "battling". It just seemed ... very metaphorical or symbolic without really telling us what was happening. Of course, I can't say I minded that much, because le'ts face it, if those scenes had been completely accurate they probably would've been boring as all get-out. As it stands, the book has a great story with actual suspense, something all too rare in a Gold Eagle book, great action notwithstanding. Also, I *loved* the fact that Mack Bolan was hardly in it. C'mon, guys, he has eighteen books a year devoted almost exclusively to him and his everlasting war. Let the Stony Man series showcase the Stony Man commandos. The ending was awesome! Nick Pollatta joins my list of looked-forward-to authors...right up there with Mel Odom, Mark Ellis, David RObbins, and Michael Kasner. Live large and stay frosty!

I suppose I'm the wrong person to be the first to review this book, as I'm not the biggest fan of Dan Schmidt's work in the various Bolan series. I did like "Point of IMpact" quite a bit, but for the most part I find his work in the series to be uninspired and lackluster. This SuperBolan is no exception. I felt more like I was reading a novelization of someone's trek through the levels of a videogame than actually reading a suspense novel. The main trouble was ... there was no real suspense. There were some reasonably well-written action scenes, but even these began to run together for me about halfway through the book. Still, I've read many worse books in the adventures of Mack Bolan.

After Mike Newton's absolutely awesome Conspiracy trilogy a while back, I had high expectations for this new Johnny outing ... but alas, they go unfulfilled. I don't *care* about the villains; they have no lasting impact. The writing is Newton's usual, and I do like the female protagonist ... but since the "high stakes" don't seem that high ... the whole trilogy including this second volume feels hollow and I'm reading it more just to say I finished it than because I am actually enjoying it. I did give it 6 stars instead of 5 because of the fact that it ends on a cliffhanger, which has been, in my experience with Gold Eagle trilogies, rare. Usually, a book in a GE trilogy ends with the main plot of that particular book resolved, although the "higher" plot of actually defeating the villains is left to the remaining books, sort of akin to levels in a videogame. This book, however, ends on a cliffhnager where you *must* read the next book in the trilogy to get any kind of resolution at all ... and I prefer that. I just wish I cared more whether these "bad guys" live or die ... they're just unmemorable, cardboard-cutout bad guys with no differentiating qualities to speak of.

This book has everything I love in a Mack Bolan novel---fast pace, action, and more than that (because let's face it, most Bolan offerings have those two elements in spades), a mission that is personal for Bolan, as opposed to being dictated by Mommy Brognola. It even has a decent denouement, something so often lacking in Bolan books. So why only 4 stars? Well ... certain elements of te bok--which I don't want to reveal specifically for fear of spoiling the story--were quite contrived, particularly the climax. Only in the world of Mack Bolan would someone have a gun but use it as a club so there can be a great firhgt scene, rather than jhust shooting their enemy and being done with it. Ah well ... if you can forgive little things like that, this book is quite an enjoyable read.

This bok wasn't as good as the first in the trilogy. I really liked the banter between Bolan and Crouder in the first book, and find it quite irritating that he leaves her stuck in the hotel room for the entire book. Granted, his reasons make sense, but why creat this character and then have nothing to do with her? Seems pointless. The scenes where we do get in her head show her acting more like a junior high kid than an agent of anything. I'll read the third bok to see how this gets wrapped up, but I'm not nearly as impressed as I was. Granted, however, there are some cool skinhead-stomping scenes with Bolan and Gellar. By the end of the bok, though, the body count even gets a bit tiresome. I found the "Four Horsemen" trilogy of about a year ago, also by Newton, much better.

I really enjoyed this first book in the Tyrany Files trilogy. Sure, the subject matter isn't the most original, but Bolan's banter with ATF agent Marilyn Crouder makes this book shine! She's a kick-ass woman who I hope we'll see more of in the next two boks at least. Good work, Mr. Newton...

I really enjoyed this book! It was great seing Johnny again, and the action scenes were quite good. I'm a fan of much of MIke Newton's work I've read so far, but this is even better than usual. Sure, some of the dialogue was corny...but that's a bit par for the course. I'm really getting high hopes for this trilogy based on this first book...and since so far my favorite trilogy was also written by Newton, I hold out hope that I won't be disappointed. Great characterization, great intrigue, and plenty of action make this bok a must-read for any Blan fan.

I thought the plot of this book, other than Armageddon virus, wasn't al that orginal, but what made the bok work for me was the pacing and some of the characters. There was some genuine suspense in parts of this bok, rather than just a high body count to the exclusion of much else, as is sometimes the case with these boks. I haven't read the PF bok to which this is a sequel, but now I want to, and even though I haven't read it, I do think it's cool that the sequel was made. I think this is the first bok I've read by Michael Litaker, and I look forward to reading more. I wasn'a s impressed as I was with, say, Mark Ellis or Devid Robbins, but this was a pretty good BOlan entry.

Another A here! Mel Odom is definitely up thee with David Robbins and Mark Ellis as my three favorite Bolan authors. I've evern read subsequent works of Mr. Odom's as a result of this book. Absolutely thrilling and reminiscent of the older Bolan reads. I enjoy when Bolan goes off on his own, on "personal" missions. Wish he'd do it more often.

I loved this book! I should say, though, for the record, that I'm a huge James Bond fan, so that did color my perception of things. This book reminded me of a James Bond movie. It read, to me, like a comic bok or a great adventure novel, which was what I'd hoped for after reading the back of the book. I know, I know, Mack Bolan is not a comic-book superhero, yeah-yeah-yeah, but this book was just good fun. I mean, even the villain's name, Dexter Devereaux, sounds like it could've come right from the pages of a Fleming novel. I really look forward to more by Ellis.

I gota agree with Alice on this one. The book just wasn't as good, to me, as its predecessors. To me, this was one of those body-count books, where the action loses any real effect because it all starts to run together. Liked the first bok, loved the second, but this one just didn't do it for me. I give it a C.

I enjoyed this book immensely; it's my favorite entry in this trilogy. Too often, it seems to me that body-count is placed above plot and characters in importance, and this wasn't the case with this book. The moment when Mack got infected with the virus, my heart was in my mouth--something of a feat considering that we know he'll be back in the next book. Definitely recommend this book.

I enjoyed this bok. Chuck Rogers definitely has a gift for suspense. I think it's a great setup for the trilogy to come.

This was the first book I read after subscribing to the series, and I have to say it's one of my faves. I love the way Robbins never lets us forget that Bolan is constantly living on the edge and could be killed at any moment. Several escapes in this bok are through pure luck, and that's always refreshing for me to see. The sequence involving the aligator (If you've read it you know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't I'm not going to ruin the fun for you) is downright creepy and engenius. Definitely a keeper.