This was a very short read. It starts as a report on Mack Bolan, moves on to the events that defined the birth of The Executioner and ends with report conclusion on the Mack's actions after his attack on the mafia.

It is a fast paced story, lots of action, Mack Bolan being an army veteran who spent 12 years in Vietnam as an army sniper his decision are very practical and extremely deadly for his foes.

Only thing I was a little bit taken aback with was action of Mack's father - I mean to shoot entire family for something that is actually his and only his mistake is a little bit too drastic to say the least. Although it sounds very samurai-like I very doubt anyone would do such a thing in a real life (unless they had some very very big issues).

Also novel is lacking in suspense because Mack is such a force of nature that you do not suspect for a second he can be harmed in any serious way.

All in all this is more like 3.5 stars but partial stars are not allowed hence 3 stars. I am hooked and on a lookout for follow up stories.

Recommended to action and thriller fans.

( )

Re-read of an early favorite for my younger days. A little dated after many years but still a fun ride. ( )

The men's action novels of the sixties and seventies probably drew
their roots from the sudden explosions of action in Spillane's novels.
But the late sixties brought a number of action hero novels to the
forefront. Among the best of the bunch is Don Pendleton's Executioner
series. Mack comes back from Vietnam only to find a mafia loan shark
has destroyed his family and he is going back to war - against the
Mafia with sniper shots, mortars, knives, & grenades. It is a solidly
written action packed series and a pure blast to read. This was the first
of 38 novels in the series by Pendleton and countless others by ghost
writers using his name. ( )

If you go to war with the Mafia do you have to use Tommy Guns?

Mac Bolan is a one man army and he has the Mafia in his sights because reasons. And he gets the girl. I think that sums up the plot. Change Mafia for some other antagonist and you have the plot for the entire series of the long running young-men's action novels.

When I was young Indiana Jones was the prototype for action-adventure movies. They were amazing. It took a long time for them to be released on DVD, but when they finally did I grabbed them for a movie marathon. I was a little disappointed. They were cheesy. It was hard to tell if they were always cheesy or if they had aged badly because Indiana Jones was the prototype for a genre that had evolved and now looked lame in comparison. NB: don't take that as a diss on Indiana Jones.... except Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was terrible.

The Executioner is similar to Indiana Jones in that it was the prototype - well, one of many - for a genre that has evolved. It's hard to call this cookie cutter stuff since this was the prototype cutter. It is easy to see the appeal and how this influenced so many people, including my friend Matt Hilton (shameless plug). But so much time has passed since these were new. In that time a generation of authors, TV shows (watch Banshee), and movies have been influenced and created works. The genre has grown, matured, and taken on other elements, such that this feels kinda cheesy. Was it always cheesy? Maybe that was what made this series fun in the first place. ( )

If Marvel didn't base their character of the Punisher on Mack Bolan, then I'll eat my shoes.

Sniper trained, Vietnam vet, family lost due to the Mafia, personal war, etc. Bolan ends up taking out one branch of the Mafia, while dodging the police and making to love to prostitutes, extra busty prostitutes and a supposedly innocent school teacher. Yeah, a school teacher. Who he then leaves at the end of the book.

This was extremely violent. And considering that I've read, and loved, [a:Neal Asher|56353|Neal Asher|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207862001p2/56353.jpg] and [a:David Drake|19472|David Drake|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207164263p2/19472.jpg], that is saying something. ( )