Hollywood Hell

Mack Bolan the Executioner #77

by Don Pendleton (Series Creator), Michael Newton (Contributor)

Each year thousands of teenage runaways are cast adrift in Hollywood. Lured by the lights of the city of illusion, many of these "chickens" wind up in porno flicks. And many of them wind up dead - as snuff-film victims.

This hit is personal as Mack Bolan sees his dead sisters face on every teenage vagrant in Tinsel Town. The Executioner is about to do some snuffing of his own. His target: the porn brokers.

Genres: Action, Fiction

186 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Don Pendleton was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, December 12, 1927 and died October 23, 1995 in Arizona.

He wrote mystery, action/adventure, science-fiction, crime fiction, suspense, short stories, nonfiction, and was a comic scriptwriter, poet, screenwriter, essayist, and metaphysical scholar. He published more than 125 books in his long career, and his books have been published in more than 25 foreign languages with close to two hundred million copies in print throughout the world.

After producing a number of science-fiction and mystery novels, Don launched in 1969 the phenomenal Mack Bolan: The Executioner, which quickly emerged as the original, definitive Action/Adventure series. His successful paperback books inspired a new particularly American literary genre during the early 1970's, and Don became known as "the father of action/adventure."

"Although The Executioner Series is far and away my most significant contribution to world literature, I still do not perceive myself as 'belonging' to any particular literary niche. I am simply a storyteller, an entertainer who hopes to enthrall with visions of the reader's own incipient greatness."

Don Pendleton's original Executioner Series are now in ebooks, published by Open Road Media. 37 of the original novels.

Wikipedia: Don Pendleton

Reviews

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

77 books in and we’ve seen Mack Bolan take on the mafia, the KGB, terrorists, rogue agents, and his government. Now with the help from his long lost brother, and a raging thirst to avenge his fallen sister, Bolan is up against the scum and villainy that make up the pornographers of Hollywood…who, as Mike Newton would have you believe, are the absolute worst of the worst and deserve everything that the Executioner has coming for them.

Overall, Hollywood Hell is an enjoyable entry into this series. It keeps its plot thin, but from a shootout in the halls of a dilapidated slum to Bolan crashing the filming of a XXX movie, the action is pretty much nonstop. Bolan has always been a kick ass and take names kind of guy, yet in this particular entry, he’s even more of a force to be reckoned with, as he rarely shows the mercy he’s known for. Instead he plows through bad guys with an anger and vengeance I don’t think we’ve seen since the fist few Pendleton books, his boiling hot hatred for the profession fueling his actions.

I almost gave this a 5-star rating for its relentless pacing and more “mature” themes and had it stuck just with the sex and violence, I wouldn’t have questioned my rating. However, this is an executioner novel after all. So the overly preachy subtext about morals and doing good things brought this one down a bit.

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

One way I can describe this book is like going to the video store back in the 80's and early 90's. You want to rent a blockbuster action flick with the muscle of the day but find that all the copies are checked out. So you hit the older section and find something you never heard of nor seen. That's this book to a tee.

Bolan Takes on the fight of a senatorial candidate's runaway daughter who winds up in the cesspool of Hollywood, porn. They are all here. The perverts who want to use you. The pimps with the elevator shoes and feathers in their hats. Good hearted cop with only a few days from retirement. And right, Mack Bolan and his peep-show assistant.

This would of been good for a star or two more if it just played for the sex and violence. These books, of course, has to take a higher moral stance so it dulls the entertainment and turns it more towards a sermon. Still, a pot boiler that kills some time.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bolan assists his brother once again

[Mark H · Rating 1 out of 5]

So… much… killing!

[Steve Howells · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read where the Bolan brothers team up.