Sudan Slaughter

I enjoyed this one and taking into consideration it is the first in line of the titles reduced to 220 pages I thought the author did a wonderful job of packing as much into the title as he did. Sudan is the location and after a Libyan backed overthrow of the government there three US journalists are being held as hostages hence the Big Guy being called into action. Wow lots and lots of extra stuff inserted into this title where we find out that the Libyan controllers of the coup have engaged the services of a chemical weapons specialist who is creating a chemical weapon to unleash upon those pesky southern rebel tribes who have been a pain in the arse for years and after a successful trial well Israel here we come. Lots to like here where the Big Guy basically finds himself blackmailed into assisting the resistance to again overthrow the current ruling government if he would like the rebels help in rescuing the hostaged US journalists. Lots and lots of balanced action scenes inserted with the inclusion of some very well written characters. A title which will keep you interested from start to finish and I would think you would enjoy the read. A standout in the series no but a solid read I reckon recommended reading.

Sudan Slaughter was a huge letdown for me. Weak story. Cardboard characters. There is really nothing much to work with here. One of the biggest problems I had with the novel was the pacing. Several sections in the opening and middle move very, very slowly. They slow down the book and the story almost to a standstill. There is no flow or rhythm to it. And by the time we reach the conclusion of the story, we have the opposite problem. Having wasted so much of the word count getting bogged down in the opening and the middle, the ending seems very rushed and not very satisfying. If you are going to read a book by Kirk Sanson I would recommend starting with Twisted Path, an excellent, well paced Bolan novel: great characters, interesting locations, strong storyline, and excellent flow. It's a top notch Bolan. Sudan Slaughter? Run of the mill. Enjoyable? Sure. Forgettable? Absolutely.

I found this to be quite diferent than most Bolan stories, as it started out as the usual, but then evolved more and more into a military war novel. Bolan spent more time leading Sudan's rebel forces than his usual lone wolf stuff. Which was ok but I wouldn't want to read to many books like this. The battles usualy involve assaulting 1 base after another, with Bolan sneaking in to rescue hostages or to find secret documents in between. Lots of action all throughout this novel. The writer did a good job of depicting how twisted the villains were in this novel, some of the nastiest freaks I've found in this series in a while. Some parts here and there were a little questionable for the believability, but the book was a entertaining read with all loose ends tied up nicely by the end.

I didn't think that this one was too bad. It wasn't anything spectacular but it didn't "suck". I do agree with Alice's view about Bolan every dialect of Sudanese Arabic that there is, or that the author believes that everybody in Sudan speaks American English. One stupid piece in the story was that Bolan "borrows" a general's uniform to escape an enemy compound. The soldiers on the gate don't bother to ask themselves what a tall white man is doing in the uniform of either an Arabic or Black African's uniform. That was dumb! Otherwise it was a run of the mill Bolan story that was meant to be a "white"cover due to it's shorter length.

A so-so entry to the series. Plenty of action, though.

This was a fairly decent book. Not as good as Sanson's others, but it had a lot of action. The story was not one of the best. Bolan leading a coup against a country? I like Bolan in his lone-wolf mode, thank you.

This one sucked. It read more like political commentary on the plight of Sudan than a Bolan action novel. Also, I had problems with plausibility. Bolan is "forced" to accept a general as a fighting partner when the deal is supposed to be that Bolan has the right of refusal on every mission. Additionally, Bolan suddenly is able speak Arabic, without any prior explanation of how he knows this. The action sequences are run-of-the-mill. The mission to save the hostages seems to get lost and forgotten at least three times during the story. The author does a half-hearted attempt to sew up loose ends but I was left wondering what happened to several characters, including the fighting partner that Bolan was forced to accept way back in the beginning.