Force Down

Strange thing on page 185, the same paragraph is repeated twice. I enjoyed the story, but I do have to agree with the other reviewers. For a short novel it took me ages to get through and I cannot say why. It seemed such slow going. Yet the characters on all sides were well written and interesting, the storyline itself was good. The villains did somehow identify that The Executioner was after them, but nothing was made of this again which is unfortunate. So all in all a good story but a slow reader.

This book was aptley named because I had to force it down to get through it. The writing itself was fine. It has exotic locations. It has action. It has nasty villains. Bolan has good allies. But for some reason I just couldn't get hooked into the story. It took me many days to read, and found myself putting the book down often to do other things. Bolan's mission is to take out a growing army of organized badguys called Forca Militar, and travels from Brazil to Jamaica, and back to Brazil again to take them out. Almeiros was just as much or more so center stage as Bolan in the Brazil campaigns, and Beckett in the same role in Jamaica. This is one of the reasons why this book didn't read much like a true Executioner novel. There were some great scenes in the book that made it at least an acceptable read, Moura, one of the main villains, had some intense moments that really painted a scary badguy, and maybe my favorite scene in the novel was Bolan's confrontation with Silva at the airport. The last chapters of the book were ok, but I expected much better. As much as I enjoyed the author's first four Bolan titles, this book however, is very plain and average, and gets lost among the also-rans in this long running series.

First let me say this should not have been released as an Executioner book. Mack just seems to be following along all of the time and I can't figure why he was actually there as he does nothing throughout the book that could not have been done by the others within the counter terrorist group. Having said that the title reads well and is interesting enough to keep you turning the pages. my two bobs worth........

Bolan is in Brazil and Jamaica. He's out to rescue some American soldiers and to give a hand to the Brazilian authorities with a terrorist army. This one wasn't too bad but is far from the best Bolan. Mack spends too much time in the shadows of the Brazilian army. Bolan as a team player just isn't as good as Bolan as a lone wolf. Furthermore, he rarely gets a chance to shine in "Force Down". He is just one of many, hardly meriting his own book. The American POW storyline is anemic, barely developed and nothing more than a minor sidebar. Battle scenes were also mediocre. Too often, it was massive troop advantage crushing an overwhelmed enemy. The outcome was never in doubt, and this also deterred from the book. It was like watching CNN in April 2003. You knew the US was going to roll over Iraq, the only question was how quickly. It was the same with this book's action writing. Overall, this novel ends up as intersting but unsatisfying.

PLENTY OF ACTION TO SATISFY MY TASTE. BOLAN LIVES ON!