Invisible Invader

Yep I thought this was a good read nice plot and I liked the characters introduced. I actually thought one of the highlights was Mack's capture and subsequent escape from the "charter boat punks" highly original and great reading. As with every David Robbins title I have read to date very readable interesting stuff and recommended reading. Looking forward to reading more of his work, two in particular.

This is really a short story since it is only around 55,000 words, below the usual standard of Executioner novels. The good: For once the main villain, Sprague, doesn't have an army of henchmen to serve as targets. In fact he has only two bodyguards, making this the smallest villains 'organisation' that Bolan has gone up against. There is a very small cast of characters, so it is very easy to keep track of what is going on where. This is also the first book that I have come across that mentions Gerald Montgomery's Splatterpunk. The plot is also very straight forward which served me well this time around as I read it in work whilst pretending to read tech manuals. The average. The story is more Mack Bolan, FBI agent than it is Mack Bolan, The Executioner. Bolan really seems to be a bit off and nowhere near up to his usual level. His actions are amateurish and unprofessional and it left me wondering where was the guy that had learnt so much in Vietnam. Several times he is almost taken down by a sniper (one of Spragues bodyguards) who is even more amateurish - although this bodyguard had an amazing ability to move through bushes and climb trees without Bolan seeing him. And then there is the sequence with Bolan being captured by the fishermen. The bad. In the opening chapters of the book Bolan is in Chicago on a mission to take out a drug kingpin. His mission from Brognola is to take the drug dealer out. The mission goes to hell when Bolan is spotted. Bolan fights his way out, kills the druglord and imediently concludes that the mission is over and thinks about flying back east to report.......leaving behind several low level drug dealers and a million dollars worth of cocaine!!! What is Bolan thinking??? Is he thinking?? Where is the Executioner who would blow up the warehouse to destroy the drugs and take care of all the drug dealers?? Eventually the drug dealers - being extremely suicidal - try to take on Bolan and lose, but the drugs are never mentioned again. This has already been pointed out in several other reviews. Cellphones. Bolan is constantly out of contact and is looking for a payphone to contact Brognola. This is so lame a reason to keep Bolan solo. On one occasion when he does phone in to report - like the loyal agent he is - he is told that Brognola is off on his lunch break and would be back in one and half hours!!! I can only guess that Oregon had no cellphone coverage but the author didn't want to point this out in case he upset the natives. Sprague was also amateurish. If he was on of the worlds top weapons brokers then wouldn't he use a false name when he checked into hotels? And the authorities are equally stupid. If they were trying to prevent the worlds most deadly weapon from falling into the wrong hands then wouldn't there be a lot more agents on the ground?? Trying to keep things quiet is the only excuse that the author can use for keeping Bolan solo and it doesn't really hold water. So I'll give the story 5 stars for being average and one extra for the Spatterpunk reference.

This is a pretty good novel and gets 8 out of 10. I'd say the best parts were the final 2 chapters, where the bad henchmen, Charata is in a sniper stand off with Mack is pretty good. I'm glad the loose end of Alexander Sprague was tied up at the end. I was fooled thinking he was "sniped" by the Big Guy, but surprise! He snuck off! The authour did a great job of humanizing Mack; he didn't just sleep walk in and blow the bad guys away without emotion like the Terminator. Mack was worried about himself, by standers and even the 2 renegade scientists. Speaking of which, I was caught off guard buy the way the scientists died. Gotta admit, I think the scene where Mack was captured and kidnapped by the batch of charter boat punks was too long and could have been cut in half. Also , I was surprised that our world class Warrior, Mack was beaten in hand to hand by no mind street punks! Mack turned his back to the door was caught from behind? I think this is out of character! Oh well, maybe this just proves our hero makes mistakes! It was nice to see Mack crack a joke too, when he tells a state trooper the nanonites are contagious like a virus, just to watch him squirm. The first two chapters were pretty good too, had nothing to do with the main novel, but had some good action to wet the appetite. Again, Mack was humaized as he found out he was spotted sneaking into the drug dealers' warehouse by no mind street punks! I finished this book in about 2-3 days, and felt the plot was evely paced throughout. A good read.

I have to go with a 6 on this one. It is so slightly above average. If it wasn't for the rather funny villians of the nerdish-brilliant-love-sick-pup Bernard Craker and nerdish-brilliant-greedy Helen Paisley it would have gotten a 4. I tend not to find anything funny about any of the Executioner novels but those two cracked me up. AFter Craker kissed Helen he wanted to put his hand on her leg but realized that she did not want to go that far just was so funny. I also liked the fact that Bolan wasn't a killing machine blasting away at a room full of trained terrorists killing all of them without a nick. He fought and out smarted his opponents. Charita was an excellent opponent but we knew zero about him - which took away from the novel. I would actually of liked to have learned more about Charita then spend 30 long pages on Bolan's fight with killer fisherman. Beaten and wrapped in a net by 2 fisherman was too much. I would have spent more on backstory on the main villians. This fisherman story just seeemed to have been padded to fill out the 220 pages. Also I really did not buy the premise of nanites being put into the blood stream then in a few minutes all the calcium from the body is gone. A virus would have been far more believable. Executioner stories are about reality and possible scenerios. This premise seemed far more apt for a Destroyer novel then a Executioner novel. Shouldn't Bolan's standard stuff he carries around with him include a cell phone. The book was published in 2001. Cell phones even if written 18 months prior were very standard plus even in the 80s Bolan used to carry around equipment to talk to Stony Man even in Kuwait - Storm Trilogy. A Few saving parts of the novel but the negatives far outway the positives. Also this is a very fast read.

Gotta agree with the thumbs up reviews on this one more than the thumbs down ones. Great premise, great execution, and a good sense of suspense here, especially as the story builds towards its climax. A few more interesting twists would've made this a definite tenner.

This is yet another example of the writer taking the latest scientific developments and turning one into a great book. He did the same in WAR LOAD. This time around, he's taken current research into nanotechnology and carried it to the next logical level. I don't know if all his books have this 'touch of Crichton' about them, but I find it a refreshing change from the stale sameness of some of entries in the series. I was also impressed by his attention to geographic detail. He doesn't give us 'generic' locations like some do. As for his portrayal of Bolan, he writes one of the most realistic Warriors we've seen. This is a Bolan who sweats and feels pain, not a one-dimensional character who wades through hailstorms as if they don't exist. I look forward to collecting all the books this guy has done.

This was my first Bolan book to read, and let me say, I could not put it down. The fight scenes between Mack and Charata were amazingly detailed and the way Mack deals justice is quite unique. It hooked me. Since then, I have purchased the next three books: Shattered Trust, Shifting Shadows, and Judgment Day. JD

Decent read...but like so many others it just feels that it was written to tide the fans over until a really good one came out the next month. Sadly this seems to be the case more and more often.

While I did enjoy this entry, it was not as good as others I have read. I'm still pretty new to the whole Executioner thing, but this one didn't measure up. I've got a couple of small complaints and a major complaint or two. The plot was too straight forward. There were absolutely no twists. Then later in the story Bolan is nearly taken out by a bunch of rednecks. Must have been an off month for him. Really off, because throughout this story he keeps wondering if the bad guy might could be possibly planning a trap. Come on! From the little I've read, Bolan is always thinking strategy. There was something else that annoyed the heck out of me. Bolan kept trying to stop somewhere to make a phone call. Why didn't he have a cell phone? The reason is the author contrived to keep Bolan isolated. It was unrealistic. Bolan should have had air support tracking the bad guy. The bad guys had the most devastating weapon ever created and the lead investigator had virtually no back up. Not good. The technology was interesting and the basic plot was fine. But the execution (you'll pardon the pun) of the story fell short.

The premise for this book seemed pretty far-fetched and better suited to and Austin Powers movie ("Is that a piranha in your pants or are you just glad to see me") but Robbins did a good job of making it work without sacrificing too much by way of credibility. Would have liked better and dialogue and characterizations, but the action sequences were well thought out and choreographed. All in all a decent read.

Terrific Executioner! Good plot and suspenseful. Interesting cast of characters. The Piranha Molecule is gruesome. The cover art is cool. No complaints.

REALLY LIKED THIS BOOK. NICE PLOT BETTER ENDING. ACTION FILLED, MUST READ IT..