THE EXECUTIONER BATTLE MASK BY DON PENDLETON

Copyright 1970.

Mack Bolan continues his war against the Mafia in southern California. After eluding both the mob and police he decides to visit a war buddy that became a plastic surgeon. In the small town of Palm Village, he gets a new face. With the new identity he once again infiltrates the mob. He manages to hook up with the capo’s daughter and infiltrate the mob in Palm Springs. From here he feeds information to the police to weaken the drug trade. An enforcer finds out his secret and he ruthlessly kill him and his entourage. Then he manages to sow discontent among the mob, and they destroy themselves.

This was an excellent book. Bolan gets a new face and infiltrates the mob. It shows how ruthless he can be. His friend doctor is tortured and killed along with the friendly police chief and his wife. Bolan rams a car into the escaping mobster and casually shoots all the survivors in the head. This also is the start of his unofficial relationship with the Feds. Brognola from the Justice Department offers to give Bolan a portfolio for his crusade against the mob. For now, Bolan decides to continue on his own but it will start to play a more prominent role in later books. I can see why this series became so popular.

THE EXECUTIONER #2 DEATH SQUAD BY DON PENDLETON

Copyright 1969.

Mack Bolan is on the run from the Mafia. He comes into L.A. and stops by an old war buddy. The Mafia had staked out guys to watch his buddy and a big fight ends up with some Mafia enforcers dead. The war buddy decides he wants to join Bolan’s war. He also suggests they get some other veterans who would love to get into the fight. Bolan recruits nine more old Vietnam veterans that are disillusioned with their peacetime lives. This Death Squad then proceeds to wage war against the DeGeorge family. The police form a squad codenamed Hardcase to stop Bolan and his Death Squad. Eventually it ends with seven of the squad dead, two captured by the police and Bolan once again alone in his war against the Mafia.

For the second book, Pendleton decided to give Bolan a group of men to help him. Seven disillusioned vets that represent all the major ethnic and racial types. He does a good job of giving all these characters their own personality and backstory. I can see that such a large cast of characters is hard to develop some character development. It makes sense he decided to whittle them down and make Bolan the lone wolf type. Two of the survivors would eventually go on to be part of Able Team along with the sergeant of Hardcase. A fun and fast paced action story that continues this awesome adventure of the most famous men’s adventure hero of all time.

WRATH OF GOD BY ROBERT GLEASON

Copyright 1994.

It is the future after a nuclear war has devastated the planet. From the ruins rises a man who calls himself Tamerlane after the conqueror of old. His horde lays waste to the Eurasian continent. Now his sights are set on America. With his horde he crosses the Bering Strait and sacks New Anchorage. Other cities soon follow. Katherine Magruder is the founder of the Citadel in New Arizona. She gets correspondence from her grandson on the horde. She has a son who is a scientist at Los Alamos and combines time travel technology with Apache shamanism. He is able to bring back three people from the past. George Patton, Stonewall Jackson and Amelia Earheart. Plus, a triceratops egg that gets hatched by the pet bald eagle Betsy Ross. They manage to organize a defense against Tamerlane and his evil horde.

This was a book I just had to get when I found it back in 94′. I mean it was a post-apocalypse type book which I always love. But the whole idea of bringing back these historical figures to fight a guy who thought he was the second Tamerlane is just batshit nuts. It is indeed batshit nuts but in a good way. A very epic saga that has no grey shades in it. There is clearly a good and evil side. Tamerlane is just pure evil. He rapes and kills on a massive scale. He has The Cuddler which is his chief torturer and a sidekick Englishman named Forsythe. This combination of the three historical figures and a triceratops raised by a bald eagle sound nuts but actually works. I loved this book back then and still love it now. If you want something unique to read I would highly recommend this book.

SURVIVAL 2000 3 FROZEN FIRE BY JAMES MCPHEE

Copyright 1991.

David Rand and his son Lee, lover Zera and pit bull Melmouth continue the hunt for Shreever and his kidnapped daughters. They first run into huge grizzlies that almost tear them apart. Then they are captured by some crazy monks that want to keep them as slavers. The quest continues to a resort town and on Christmas David has to fight off an old woman and her daughter that want to keep him as her husband. Finally, they catch up with Shreever at an old, abandoned shopping mall for a final confrontation.

The final book in the series comes to a satisfying conclusion. David manages to rescue his daughters and kill Shreever. Along the way they battle a whole slew of goofy characters, grizzlies and cottonmouth snakes. The series only lasted three books and I can see why. It was a fairly mediocre series. James Laurence is a great post-apocalyptic writer, but this is not his best work. Most of the series was our main characters wandering around and miraculously finding stuff. There were some good moments and action scenes. Yet it just felt like filler to sell some books. An OK read that I don’t regret getting but not highly recommended.

SURVIVAL 2000 2 RENEGADE WAR BY JAMES MCPHEE

Copyright 1991

David Rand with his teenage son Lee, lover Zera and pit bull Melmouth continue the hunt to rescue his two daughters. The quest takes them through western Montana. Along the way they pick up a doctor and another young woman. They catch up with Sheever and his army deserters. Only a massive volcano eruption stops a final confrontation.

The second book in the series is a bit of a letdown. For an action book series there was very little action going on. It was more of a travelogue with the group wandering around. They find a stocked cabin with food. They go to a whorehouse and have a confrontation with two of Sheever’s men. They pick up a black doctor who gets killed. They find another well stocked house with a woman who joins them. She gets killed too. They cross a frozen lake, and a volcano interrupts the final confrontation. Oh, and they beat up an old woman for some food. Nothing really impressive to this entry. Sort of like the author had to write three books and just phoned this one in.