This book came out in the era of the drug war novels, and the main storyline is the takedown of the top drug cartels based out of Columbia. What is really more of a Stony Man trilogy, a three prong attack is launched, with AT in Miami, PF in Panama, and Bolan and Grimaldi in Columbia.
Blood Rules is the setup for the trilogy, so it reads a little different, because the story isn't told in 220 pages, but I am judging each book on its own merit. I thought it was pretty good, although it seemed to have a lot of run of the mill action scenes. The tactic Bolan uses to get the various drug lords to point fingers at each other is something he has used numerous times, and that is the game plan here. What I liked about this story was Costanza kept a cool head, and didn't react the way Bolan had wanted him to. He was interested in finding out who was responsible for the attacks before he took action. Rodrigez and Mercado were kind of the same way, but all three of them were nevertheless plotting against each other. This kind of made the story more interesting, making you wonder if Bolan's plan would backfire, and have them unite together against their mysterious enemy instead of going at each other's thoats.
Able Team's mission in Miami was kind of perplexing, because the character they were after was stated at the start as being a woman, and yet this person was refered as a he for the rest of the book. The true identity surprise was dropped near the end, but of course it was predictable, as well as guessing who this woman really was anyway. I thought Newton really dropped the ball here.
There were areas of the novel that seemed to ramble too much, which hurt the pacing of the story, but there was a fair amount of characters and situations to keep the book interesting and leaves a cliffhanger at the end of the novel. Leo Turrin is going to join AT in Miami for the next book. This ought to be good.
Bolan and his Stony Man allies are briefed about the current drug problem in Columbia. The three largest cartel leaders are described, along with their Panamanian ally, and a hit woman, La Arana, in Miami. The crew decides to divide and conquer.
The division of labor, however, is quite bizarre. The largest job, taking down 3 cartel leaders, falls to Mack Bolan (along with Grimaldi). It would seem that this task may need more help than the other two, but Mack and Jack have it covered.
The plan involves playing off the dealers against each other, but then Bolan targets each dealer. When they realize that they each have taken hits, the begin to realize that maybe they face a common enemy. Bolan should have focused on one to get him to launch a war on the others, but decides instead on a three-fronted war.
The rest of the book suffers similar plot disapointments. Phoenix Force does little in Panama except try to rescue a kidnapped McCarter. Able Team fumbles around Miami for a while, making little or no progress. The identity of La Arana is easy enough to guess well before it is revealed.
All in all, this was a series of action vignettes, and not really a novel. Granted, it is part of a trilogy, but each part should stand on its own. "Blood Rules" does not stand on its own; in fact it falls flat on its face.
