Evil Code

A middle-of-the-road adventure from Fieldhouse this time out. Bolan is out to stop a heroin network that reaches from New York to Myanmar. Some good action in N.Y, but then the soldier goes undercover for the remainder of the mission. Bolan does meet up with some political dissidents to aide him, but then his cover is blown and he destroys the heroin farm while getting captured in the process. His escape was fast paced, but overall the plot was formulaic.

I really cannot think of a lot to say about this one. I enjoyed part one (New York) and the gun battles there far more than I did part two (Burma). The story hasn't aged very well considering the current (almost weekly) developments taking place there. Obviously when written the country wasn't has locked down as it is now. Bolan is up against Colonel Thaung, a wannabe drug lord. Seems he has the product but no idea how to get it into America, and he is extremely naive about its true worth (no market research then?). He is an underdeveloped villain who we are occasionly meant to feel sorry for, but this doesn't really work. In addition he has a couple of interchangable, undeveloped henchmen who add very little to the overall story. Of course this is a Feildhouse story, so Bolan's gun gets kicked out of his hand several times which results in the requiste hand to hand combat. Bolan infiltrates Burma as an agent for the South American cartels and manages to get to Thaung without too much effort, the naive Thaung shows Bolan the poppy fields and of course Bolan blows everything up, with a little help from some rebels. He does get tortured and beaten, but manages to overcome all injuries to continue with his attack. All in all an average entry.

This is a basic drug dealer takedown novel that sends Bolan to the country of Myanmar, which used to be called Burma. Standard action kicks off the story and Bolan does some good soft probe action as well as some gun battles to uncover the conspiracy of drug smuggling into the U.S. from Burma. Thaung is the main villain, portrayed on the cover. Bolan's ally in Burma is Byu Lone, and he is a major help, and becomes very instrumental to the story at the end. Be prepared for Bolan to have a hard time of it in this mission, this is not a book where Bolan comes through without taking a beating. I found many portions of the novel to be rather wooden, both in story development and dialogue, which will bring my rating down a little, but man, did things get good when Bolan reaches Thaung's heroin base. Bolan's undercover role is played well, and when things go wrong, his ability to talk his way out of his jam is worth the price of admission for this book. Standard action ensues and the story wraps up nicely. Although not in the same league as his first Executioner, Assassin's Creed, Fieldhouse provides another solid action book to spend a few hours reading.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was solid with a unique pipeline into the States for the shipments. The character development of Treung is excellent throughout the book displaying his ability and excellence in martial arts because we know ;-) yep he is coming up against the very BEST. Prior to the inevitable the book is very good and keeps you turning the pages the torture of Mack is exceptionally well done and I was squirming in my seat while reading it for the big guy. It's a great read recommended. my two bobs worth........

Fieldhouse's PF books typically better then this one. The action was exceptional at the end from when he was found out on the poppy field to the final hand-to-hand fight with the Colonel. The story was pretty run of the mill. I did like the Colonel Treung. Too often foreign bad guys thought just like American bad guys in terms of money deals but the Col just was a bit naive. He couldn't relate how Burma's economy for drug worth was different then the US. Not sure why Fieldhouse used the Belasko cover. Using a cover known world-wide for being Justice Department and suddenly switching it to having Belasko being a mafia/cartel go-between was not smart. Common sense would probably indicate that Mack would have different fake names for underworld activity and leave fake names for legit organizations like the JD seperate. His Pollack name probably would have been better. The NY scenes with the blood baths with both Triad and Burma drug dealers dead why didn't the police at least say "god this reminds me when Bolan was in town". Did everyone have amnesia? I would have liked a bit more depth of character for the Colonel especially with him seemingly acting the way he did because of his family killed by the opposition. I could understand why he reveled in torturing them but not the drug dealings. Did his family's murder have anything to do with the drug dealings? Or was he always into the drug dealing and just added torture because of his family dead? A semi-solid 7. Also had really no idea why it was called Evil Code. Maybe a reference to Code of Honor? But then it would have been better if Treung was Japanese not Burmese. I think Burma White would have been a better title.

ONE OF THE BEST EXECUTIONERS OUT THERE. I LIKE HOW MACK IS PUT TO THE LIMIT TOWARD THE END OF THE BOOK ESCAPING FROM THE BAD GUYS, REALLY KEPT ME ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT. DEFINETLY NEED MORE FROM FIELDHOUSE THESE DAYS!