Showing posts with label Mack Bolan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mack Bolan. Show all posts

Sunday, April 4, 2021

MACK BOLAN TIME TO KILL

 TIME TO KILL

Mack Bolan Time To Kill - like James Bond

- Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan -

Mack Bolan is kind of like James Bond...'kind of' is the key word.
Bolan takes on impossible tasks and leaves a trail of dead bodies behind him - but, it's okay because all of the dead are bad guys. The body count doesn't matter in this case. I find most of the Mack Bolan books have at least two dozen deaths, but sometimes upwards of fifty. Doing a little math - we are on book 108...that's upwards of five thousand lives snuffed by one man. A small town - small town were full of nasty characters. But, I try not to think about this while I'm in-read.
This book, Time to Kill, reminds me of a good old James Bond book. In this novel Bolan is like Bond when the time comes to fight the 'big boss'. Both Bolan and Bond usually have to sneak onto a boat, or into a warehouse, or break into a super secure secret nuclear terrorist run bomb making plant...and they always complete the task in a death defying impossible way. Which makes for some good, dramatic, reading...although don't think too hard about the statistical chances of them actually completing their task, time after time, after time. Just sayin. Also instead of just out and shooting Bolan the 'Boss' had a good long monologue explaining his reasons for wanting to use nuclear warheads on the world.
There was also a strange Boss's sidekick. That happens in Bond books a lot. In this book the sidekick is a monster. A giant of a man with a grotesque face that moans a lot and hangs out in an old castle. 
TIME TO KILL MACK BOLAN

What I find hard to swallow is Bolan's motivation. It is somewhat confusing. He is fighting the fight nobody wants to fight...which may be a quote of his. He takes on evil organizations the governments of the world won't take on like terrorists, international drug smugglers, those damn Soviet Russians. He has some unresolved anger that drives him to kill boatloads of 'bad' guys, day after day. There is some patriotic ideology, some moral justification, and some machoism. But, if you take a few steps back he just seems insane. Which makes for good reading. This is definitely a world you would never find outside of a book.
Personally, I like this adventure. I wouldn't tell most of my friends. It's like a dirty secret. Since the book is full of violence and out dated stereotypes, which many would find offensive in today's day. It's like an 80s action movie.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

THE SPECIALIST

THE SPECIALIST - A Talent For Revenge



I picked up this exciting looking book at the Bibles for Mission Thrift store for only 50 cents! Well, let me tell you this book is worth at least double that, at least!
If you want to escape reality and enter a world of fiction this is the book for you. It is so fictitious that there is no way it could be confused with any sort of reality.
This is the first book in 'The Specialist' series. First one I have read too. This 'Specialist' is a real action hero. He fights for the good guys by killing scores of bad guys. And, he seems almost indestructible. He is also smooth with the ladies, wink wink. A James Bond type guy...but, a bit more on the psychotic side.
The story could easily have been made into an 80's action movie starring Steven Seagull with a lot of over the top karate moves and bulls-eye shooting. This 'Specialist' manages to show off all his skills starting with a parking lot brawl, moving onto a racy encounter with his lady friend, then onto his snorkeling prowess and his underwater explosives knowledge, followed by his tree fort building skills, and of course his sniping skills. He even manages to single handedly storm a castle style compound surrounded by electric fencing, filled with dimwitted henchmen, and one evil madman.
Not to give away the ending, but, his mission to save the girl was thwarted as the girl ended up saving herself! So, this is a good book for the feminists out there too.
The writing was basic and right to the point, none of that literary mumbo jumbo to take away from the action, and there were even a few phrases I have never seen used before. Eg. He drove his boat towards the chateaux like it was a hard-on. Not sure exactly how to interpret that, but, it sounds like The Specialist means business! Doesn't it?
Would I read another one of these books? Probably. I'm a closet paperback action novel junky!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

ISLAND DEATH TRAP

ISLAND DEATHTRAP
(Mack Bolan The Executioner #56)



If you've ever watched Corner Gas and you have fond memories of the book club episode you will be familiar with the Mack Bolan series. That can be one motivation for reading this book. The other can be a dare by another bookworm. Ah, the ultimate book dare - read a Mack Bolan book! Either way I ended up with this book in my hands and actually read it.
It turned out to be a mixed blessing. I enjoyed the 'man-adventure', which is code for explosions and an excessive body count (which I believe topped out at forty or forty two?) But, I also realized I'm the kind of guy who likes reading about needless explosions and one man killing machines who have their own brand of justice. Who am I?
You may look at yourself in a whole new light after reading this book. I know I did.

RATING : READ