Kenneth English

Mack Bolan Meets "28 Days Later" Ever wonder how The Executioner would fare against a murderous zombie horde straight out of the latest horror movie? Well, in David Robbins' terrific new installment, you finally get to find out. Hal Brognola, along with a cadre of military and varied "spook agency" VIPs, is trapped in an underground bio-research facility when an aggression-enhancing toxin is accidentally set loose. As the psychotic infected run amok, Bolan and Phoenix Force leader David McCarter resolve to sneak into the quarantined building and bring Hal back alive. Good points: First off, I have to give a hand to the author for really nailing the spooky atmosphere inside the Harkin facility. For a Mack Bolan novel, this one sure does lay on the creeps hot and heavy. Some may cry foul at the change of pace here, but I really enjoyed the jumpy horror movie vibe. It's nice to see that the authors are still finding ways to keep these stories fresh and different. It's always nice to see Hal get to take an active role and here he acquits himself nicely. Until Bolan arrives, he puts up quite a fight and takes charge of the situation like the leader we all know him to be. Even if we all know the eventual outcome, there were points where I wasn't too sure he was going to make it through in one (unmaimed) piece. Good show! Excellent action scenes. Claustrophobic and tense but clear and to-the-point. Seems like a no-brainer in an Executioner book, but a lot of the authors are inconsistent when it comes to writing lean and unconfusing action. Well handled and absolutely brutal violence. In the best tradition of George Romero, the crazies in this one do some seriously heinous bodily damage to their victims. Really sets a frightening and nerve-wracking tone. Not for the faint of heart! The bad (or at least not-as-good) stuff: The convenience store robbery. Why was this chapter even in the book? It had nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the story and once it happens it's promptly forgotten and never brought up again. A pointless and unnecessary detour. Luther Harkin. A real twit and thoroughly one-dimensional. His only purpose seems to be to provide someone to hate in between zombie attacks. I did hate him, but he really doesn't serve much purpose in the story and becomes pretty annoying pretty quickly. The Pratt and Stenger subplot. This needed an ending! We get invested in their story and then it's simply dropped without a resolution at the end. What happened when Pratt's boss showed up to take over? We'll never know, I guess. In conclusion: Overall, David Robbins does a stand-up job with this short but sweet Executioner yarn. A few minor annoyances notwithstanding, this is a super-fast and enjoyably different installment in the series. Well worth your time.