Vincent Ramirez

Ugh. Read this one right after 'Stinger', one of Kasner's earlier books. That one was a classic. This one? Not even close. Ho-hum plot, the writing's kinda sloppy, and there was an overall sense of indifference about the whole sorry enterprise. I don't know, maybe somebody told Kasner he could write these books in his sleep and he decided to give it a try. Gang, there are much better books in this series out there and, in all fairness, some of them are Kasner's. This, alas, is not his shining hour.

Nothing against the new entries by Doug and Nick, but let's not forget about the established masters in all the hoopla, gang. Newton's latest, with the threat of sleeper asssassins wreaking hell across America, is a clever treat. Liked the pacing, the rapport between Bolan and his Russian femme fatale, and the cutaways to the bad guys. For a while there it felt like Newton was just mailing 'em in, but here he shows that he's back on top of his game.

By my count this was Kasner's third attempt at a STONY MAN and he hit his stride big-time here. The cover alone was enough to give me goose-bumps. Terrorists bringing down a jetliner with a shoulder-mount rocket launcher? Straight out of last month's headlines, right? Wrong! 'Stinger' came out in 1995, which means Kasner probably wrote it a couple years before that. Amazing! And it's not just the plot that grabs you in this one. Kasner's on top of his game in terms of background, action, dialogue and characterization. A great, great entry, on par with a recent SUPERBOLAN set against the same India/Pakistani turf war (sorry, title escapes me). A tenner all the way here!

Whewwwww... talk about prescient! Nearly fifteen years before child abductions began to haunt the headlines with disturbing regularity, Steve Mertz tackles a subject every bit as fear-instilling as the threat of terrorism. Yes, at the time it was no doubt a decided change of pace for Bolan to be tackling this type of foe, but for me that makes this book all the more worthy of attention. Ten stars for great writing, snappy dialogue, a keen insight into Bolan's soul, and some riveting action sequences. Worth tracking this one down, boys and girls...