Mack be back in MIAMI MASSACRE, which was the fourth Executioner novel within a year for Pinnacle and author Don Pendleton. After rocking Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Los Angeles and Palm Springs in the first three Executioner novels, Mack Bolan opens #4 by blasting the shit out of a bunch of mobsters in Phoenix, which only paves the way for the main storyline. All the big Cosa Nostra top men are assembling in Miami to discuss how to rid the world of the Executioner, and Bolan follows them there, showing no fear.
The most dangerous man in the world is one who doesn't give a shit what happens to him, and that is Mack Bolan. The guy strikes and strikes hard, invading a hotel that the mob has taken over and roaming room to room wasting them all. Although there isn't a solid main villain that the Executioner goes one-on-one with, Pendleton does a nice job of filling in the blanks of the supporting characters, even to the point of carrying some old favorites over from previous novels. Also, since MIAMI MASSACRE was written at the height of U.S. disenchantment with the war in Vietnam, Pendleton doesn't shy away from pointing out the parallels between Bolan's killing in the war and his killing here and now.
True, some of the writing feels repetitious, now that we know the formula for a good Executioner thriller, but the action is crisp and exciting.
1 comment:
I never was a big fan of The Executioner, although I dearly love The Punisher, which is just an Executioner ripoff. One of those rare times, though, when I think the ripoff is better.
I did enjoy the first one, mainly because the action centers around Pittsfield Mass, and I went to College near there. I did not at the time consider Pittsfield, a rather quiet dying Massachusetts Mill Town, to be a den of iniquity. Who knew?
doug
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