Season of Slaughter

Another first with Doug taking his first crack at a Super Bolan and a good read it is. Firstly why this title didn't get a ten rating is What happens to Carl at the start of this title is ridiculous and completely over the top for one of these titles. It is dubious he would even survive and even if he did would never resume duties with Able Team. ( Okay Carl is one of my favourite characters so get over it and back to an unbiased review ). So overlooking that, this allows Kowalski (one of the blacksuits) to be inserted into Able Team as a temporary member and leads into one of the BEST fight scenes you have EVER read. Enter two of the COOLEST BAD ASS villains introduced into these series namely Dark and Adonis two six and a half foot giants with physiques of bodybuilders and with their long trench coats. Gotta say here a few reviewers mocked the trench coats as comic book stuff personally I thought it was fantastic and every time one of these two managed to escape a situation and the last thing seen of them was the flick of the coat tail as they escaped was fine reading indeed. These two guys are superb with the skills and experience closely matching the Big Guy are an awesome match up for him. Now the previously mentioned fight scene is between Kowalski in a confrontation with Adonis and IS STUNNING READING folks worth the read of this title for this section alone I reckon. How battered can you get for goodness sake and still come back for more and actually hang in there against all odds fantastic reading. On and on it goes an absolute Pulse raising read. If you love fantastic action scenes you should read this one and I'm not going to give anything else away regarding this title except to say. I loved it and highly recommended reading here folks.

Yet another amazing entry by DPW. As usual in his writing, the action sequences are intense, violent, and top-notch. The story was really well-done too , and there was never a boring moment. Dark and Adonis were really great villians and really gave the story some extra depth. I really enjoyed all the brutal hand-to-hand fights throughout book, even though it seemed repetitive that Bolan or the other characters would consistently get there guns knocked out of there hands. I also liked the return of Kowalski from Hard Pursuit and his temporary recruitment by Able Team. Overall, another great entry by Doug.

I only had a couple of problems with this one, that one chapter just ended mid sentence, next is ... IS Dark wearing a trench coat? yes he is, we are reminded of it EVERY TIME HE MOVES ! Those I can live with , but the one reason I didn't give it a ten was (spoiler) the ending ! Its mentioned in passing that Able is in a heated battle, but we don't get to read about it. I felt like someone shoulda been killed off for sure, Ski, Dark or Adonis. Don't get me wrong they are all Fantastic characters, I just personally would have liked more closure. Aside from that there is sooooo much to like about this one, it took me a while to get used to all the goofy code names, but they are so cool and well fleshed out that who cares. When are they making a come back? (or have I missed it?) cause I'm really looking forward to another full length battle between these dudes and the Stony Man crew ! The opening airport scene, and the train scene were absolute standouts ! Do not miss this one ! Peace, Eh Kay

I loved this book. Like Chuck Rogers, Doug has a knack for creating fun and original villains, instead of recylcling the tired Islamic/STolen Nuke/Evil Commie conspiracies. And the more bad ass the villains, the better the heroes look taking them down. Some people have criticized the villains for being something out of a comic book. Sorry to disappoint, but an ageless lone warrior bringing doom to criminals and terrorisrs for almost 40 years now is not what I would call REALITY BASED, guys. This is PULP. It deals with real-world issues, but it is larger than life action-adevnture fiction, not a HISTORY CHANNEL documentary. Great villains, tons of action, cool references and maybe the beginning of something bigger in Doug's corner of the Bolan-verse, not unlike what Gerald Montgomery tried with COMCON? Excellent read.

This full-length Bolan novel was above average. Actually, the first half was awesome, but then I felt a lot of the rest was filler. The opening airport action sequence was utterly fantastic. Dark and Adonis, even though kinda've felt like they were comic-bookish, they were delightful and colorful to read about. When they went mano-a-mano with Bolan and team, those were the best parts of this novel. I never seem to see a decent description of Bolan's team. Especially Grimaldi and all the other side characters. Ski was excellent, but not used enough. His going under cover seemed to be too easy, then led nowhere. The writer never wrapped up his part in the storyline. But this writer wrote some of the best action sequences I've read in a long time. Actually, even though I'm an action junky, I thought there was too much action and not enough characterization or storyline.

Dulles airport suffers a massive attack from only two men, over-the-top super-professionals. Their brazen attack tread along the thin line between action adventure and farce & parody. In the opening chapters, one of them mangle, cripple and humiliate Carl Lyons in a thrilling combat sequence. Mack Bolan leads the effort to bring these professionals to justice. Throughout “Season of Slaughter” I could not help but be reminded of how dangerous these people were. The mere presence of the emergency replacement on Able Team underlined the mortal danger that these mercenaries represent. This novel had the air and the aura of a great pivotal moment for the series. Pivotal moments are rare. By all accounts, the last great one was botched (“Warrior’s Requiem”). Even the mere illusion of great change, like this one projects, is a welcome change of pace. The villains reminded me of the haunting Chuck Rogers masterpiece, “Savage Game.” Iceman and his group were uber-mercenaries, who were the best of the bad. They were professionally evil through and through. The uber-mercs in “Season of Slaughter” are their logical, bloody successors. I was looking for a subplot or a reference that refer to them as Iceman’s illegitimate spawn, raised by their mothers. Whoever raised them were obviously professional wrestlers. Where else could they have obtained the extra bulk, the signature moves, and most of all, the showmanship? The villains are vivid, funny, irreverent, and most of all interesting. They act like roleplaying gamers who have min-maxed their characters, believing their own hype, drinking each other’s Kool Aid, if you will. Entertaining and engaging, you also just can’t wait until someone come along and snuff out all of that hubris. Carl Lyons’ hubris was snuffed out in chapter two. His thrashing was overdone by five fold. Beloved figure or not, he should be dead or permanently disabled with handicap parking for life. I have a rough count and severity of injuries from head to toe. Just with his leg wounds alone, he would be learning how to walk again after three months of massive rehab. One of his head injuries took Rafael Encizo about four Phoenix Force novels to return. With the possible exception of Ebola exposure, the infamous .50 cal bullet to the shoulder in “Hellbinder” and Aaron Kurtzman, no ongoing character had ever taken this much punishment and lived. Heck, even the characters that were killed off never had that much suffering. The supporting characters were hit or miss. Sable Burton was a character of convenience. She shot people when she had too. She knew stuff when she had too. And she got captured too many times. Kowalski, a returning character, had great characterization, but took too many liberties in his solo mission. Seriously, his new friends should have either killed him in his sleep or dropped him off and never look back. Sorenson I liked. I enjoyed the brief time with the blacksuits, where we were given names and slight sketches of personality with the knowledge that anything goes with them. The Executioner himself was a huge force in this novel. Somehow, someway he became more of a bastard. He pulls out all of the tricks in his bag, showing an enormous amount of creativity in unconventional warfare. He continues to surprise with his resourcefulness. “Season of Slaughter” could also be viewed as a bold bid of the future of Stony Man. There are tantalizing clues that the events of this novel are merely the beginning of something broad and epic. It’s too early to tell. Viewed as a stand-alone, this one stands up nicely.

Yet again solid work and highly entertaining book. Again amazingly good villains and side charcters. I have liked Kowalski from first time he was introduced. He brings new perspective to stories as some one who is learning his trade in Stonyman. Adonis and Dark and rest of Ring were perhaps bit too much comicbook villains for my liking. Powerful villains regardless. I was quite impressed that it took combined force Pol, Gadgets and Kowalski to bring Adonis down.

See, now this is what I'm talking about. This is what Wojtowicz was made to write. Full-length novels in which he can get all the explosions and all the intrigue and all the justice into a large enough volume. There was one chapter that seemed to be cut off for some reason, but I do not know who is to blame for that, so no points will be deducted. Overall, excellent work.

I thought the book was okay. Ireally didn't get a feel for the good guys (Bolan,Able Team,KOwlasli, and the rest) there was no there there. It just felt like they were going through the motions. The bad guys (the RING) were a hoot as they treated everything as one big game. Even though Adonis and Dark were good bad guys I liked DeeDee Thunder and Harpy. But for all that it was still an average book.

Not Bad at all. I loved the characters Adonis and Dark. They were some of the best villains I have read in a long time. I especially loved the fight between Kowalsky and Adonis because it had a real David (pun) and Goliath feel to it.

This ended up being a very good book. But, I had some issues with it, which stopped it from getting another star. Great action scenes were the biggest plus. Doug's are top notch. I thought the pace picked up a bit in the second half of the book, and the final battle with Dark was classic. I was put off by Lyons getting manhandled. Sure, that could happen to any of the Stony Men. I figure if anyone could handle Dark or Adonis, it would have been Ironman. But, ravaging him as much as he was, I would figure his fighting days are done if both his ankles were busted. But, that won't be the case, obviously. When the villains were introduced, I felt like I was reading a comic book...all these baddies with their pet names, like the X-Men or something. I would have preferred real names instead of superhero names. So, overall I was satisfied, but expected it to be better than it was.

I love this book! First, I took a perverse pleasure in seeing Lyons taken down. It's such a rare occurance that seeing that right off the bat you could tell you were in for a wild ride. Mack was impressive without being pretentious, the plot was cohesive and action packed, and the characters where colorful and interesting. My only complaint is that with villains this charismatic, it's difficult to be sure which side to root for.

Another rabble-rouser from Mr. Wojtowicz. I enjoyed this one from start to finish. The action is well paced and the technological hardware is very well done and a real thrill to read. Sometimes I’ve noticed with the Super Bolans, the constant gunfights can get somewhat, well; overdone and repetitious if the book is not well plotted. I have often believed that Mack is best served in the shorter, Executioner titles. But his one didn’t bog down at all and kept me turning pages all they way through. The great strength of this novel was the villains were great characters: the hammer-force team of mercenaries, Dark (a lethal killer for hire that refers to civilians caught in his slaughter as “useless eaters,”) and Adonis (a towering blonde killing machine, capable of such rages that he tears machineguns right off their helicopter mountings and throws them at missed targets). Also, it was great to see David Kowalski (the former op that helped Bolan out in “Hard Pursuit” Executioner #307) make a re-appearance. Kowalski is a great character in his own right, and it was great to see he wasn’t a one shot. --Mykal Banta

Highly action packed back from the start. Every Bolan book starts out good but I liked how this one started. It was good to see Ski back also. The fight at the airport between Ironman and Dark was simply wonderful. Rare to see Lyons not best an opponent. Well written with no gaps or lulls in action that may bore a reader. Loved seeing Grimaldi and the rest of Able Team. My only regret is at the end, it didn't say how Lyons recoevered. Guess we can't have everything. Great book.