What do you think?
Rate this book
The Executioner
The Executioner Series Books 1–3: War Against the Mafia, Death Squad, and Battle Mask
The first three books in the classic action series—now in development as a major motion picture.
In the jungles of Southeast Asia, no sniper was more ruthless than Mack Bolan. After twelve years in-country, with ninety-five confirmed kills, the Special Forces sergeant returns to the United States only to find that his father has gone berserk, slaughtering his family before taking his own life. But Bolan knows his old man was no He was under pressure from a gang of Mafia thugs who were after his money—and willing to destroy his life to get it. For the sake of his father, Bolan declares war on the men who drove him mad . . .
Now in one volume, these are the first three action-packed novels in the long-running series that has sold more than 200 million copies. If you’re a fan of Rambo, James Bond, or Jack Reacher, it’s time to meet the one and only Mack Bolan—an elite operative with a haunted past pitted against legions of mobsters no one else can take down.
In the jungles of Southeast Asia, no sniper was more ruthless than Mack Bolan. After twelve years in-country, with ninety-five confirmed kills, the Special Forces sergeant returns to the United States only to find that his father has gone berserk, slaughtering his family before taking his own life. But Bolan knows his old man was no He was under pressure from a gang of Mafia thugs who were after his money—and willing to destroy his life to get it. For the sake of his father, Bolan declares war on the men who drove him mad . . .
Now in one volume, these are the first three action-packed novels in the long-running series that has sold more than 200 million copies. If you’re a fan of Rambo, James Bond, or Jack Reacher, it’s time to meet the one and only Mack Bolan—an elite operative with a haunted past pitted against legions of mobsters no one else can take down.
- GenresThriller
590 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1981
566 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Don Pendleton
1,517 books188 followersDon 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
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
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 2, 2017
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5
Open Road Media has reissued The Executioner series in digital format and have bundled the first three titles in one digital book.
I'd already purchased books one and two and reviewed them, but for convenience sake, I'll reprint those two reviews here.
Book One: War Against the Mafia
As a teen, I used to spend a lot of time on bookshops ... okay, I still do, but back in the 1970's I was trolling the bookshelves, looking for anything that I could get excited for. I would ALWAYS pick up one of The Executioner titles, stare at the action on the cover and wonder how much fun the books would be to read, but I also knew that books with such depicted violence would not be particularly welcomed into my household (though the sci-fi books were often much more violent ... it just wasn't so obvious). Now, decades later, as these books are being reissued by Open Road Media, I finally get to dig in past the cover.
The book is pretty much what I expected it to be, more or less. More violence, more story, less sex.
The story is pretty classic pulp fiction. A sharp-shooter in Vietnam, Mack Bolan, comes home to the States to bury members of his family. The Mafia was putting pressure on his father and did everything that they could to get a little money from him. But the deaths of his family members is only the beginning of the blood that will fill the streets. Mack is a trained, cold-blooded killer. Now he turns his skills on the Mafia, taking on this legendary nation inside a nation. Secretly, the cops are delighted to see someone taking out the trash, but even so, if they can get their hands on Mack Bolan, they'll have to take him in for murder after a score of Mafia loan-sharks and hired guns face The Executioner's justice.
I was surprised at how much Bolan relied on the help of a young woman - a woman he hadn't even met until he needed her help - and how quickly the relationship developed.
There's a lot of killing and no remorse, even from our hero. In part this is because the 'bad guys' are set up to be so bad that we can't feel bad in any way. The nameless who are killed are simply bodies, in the way, working for evil, and better off dead. It was a precursor, in 1969, to the sort of drama we'd be seeing in the movies, with Dirty Harry and the like, in just a few years' time.
This is escapist, pulp fiction and as such it reads quite well. The action moves along rapidly, and the action doesn't stop to get gratuitous in a sex scene (the sex happens behind closed doors whereas the violence is right out on the street). And even though it's violent, the reader is a lot like the cops in the book. We know it's wrong, what Bolan is doing, but we also know how much he was wronged and how nobody - until now - has been willing to take the Mafia on. He's fighting fire with fire and we love it.
Looking for a good book? Want fast, escapist adventure fiction? The first book in The Executioner series: War Against the Mafia by Don Pendleton, delivers.
Book Two: Death Squad
I continue to be surprised by this series. I had expected that each book in the Executioner series would be a unique story of Mack Bolan taking on the mob. It is, sort of, but it's also a much more sequential book, meaning it's very helpful to have read the first in the series to really pick up on what's going on.
Mack Bolan is a Vietnam war hero. He's one of the best sniper's in the military. He is able to detach himself from the human part of his emotions when killing a human target. But Mack has to return to the United States to bury members of his family who died as a result of actions taken by the mob. Bolan then goes on a one-man-army crusade to take on the mob.
Well...except that it's not entirely a one-man army. In this book Bolan recruits a number of vets, all who have had trouble readjusting to life in the United States in a time when Vietnam vets aren't particularly welcomed by society. Bolan, also known as The Executioner, puts together his own "Death Squad" to take on some major mob targets. Those targets are in the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles police, aware of Bolan and his skills, prepares a special unit devoted just to the capture or otherwise stopping of The Executioner, learning, only a little too late, of all the other members of the squad who are now helping Bolan.
What makes The Executioner a little different from the 'average' serial killer, is that he works on a very special, moral code meaning that only the 'bad' guys get killed and good cops are to be avoided at all costs.
As one might expect from a book about an 'Executioner' - there is plenty of violence, but surprisingly very little gore. In today's literary world of flesh-dripping zombies and blood-sucking vampires, gore is pretty common. But this book is about a man with a strong morality on the one hand and a strong drive to right wrongs even if it means stepping over the morality line. Military training.
Author Don Pendleton does hit the reader over the head with this moral code in order to drive the point home that Bolan is a nice guy, even though he's killing people.
There is not quite as much non-stop action in this volume because we're setting up a whole crew of new people (those on Bolan's side, as well as the cops trying to stop him) in a new location. But once the action gets rolling it's fast and furious, as one expects from this sort of pulp action story.
I'm enjoying this series much more than I anticipated and it's easy to see why it has had such longevity.
Looking for a good book? If you are looking for some thrilling action with a strong central character but want the read to be quick and easy, then Death Squad, by Don Pendleton is just the ticket. But be warned ... you'll probably get hooked on the whole series.
And now finally to the third book in this adventure series...
Battle Mask
Picking up right where the previous book left off, Mack Bolan is the only surviving member of the Death Squad. Most are dead, though some are now behind bars.
Bolan, known mostly as 'The Execution,' has declared war on the Mafia after the mob was responsible for the deaths of his family. His skills were honed by the United States military, where he was one of the best snipers the U.S. has had. He was cool and detached and could carry out a killing flawlessly. But now he's put those skills to use on American soil, taking on the mob - something America's own police force hasn't been able to do with much success.
In the previous book, Bolan and squad took on the mob in the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles police have a task force dedicated solely to taking down The Executioner, and the mob has a $100,000 bounty on Bolan's head. This book begins with some mob connections getting a fix on where Bolan is hiding out. Despite a careful plan of attack, Bolan manages to fight his way clear, though only just barely.
It clearly isn't safe for Bolan, what with some friends dead and the others captured, and a price tag on his life. There's only one thing The Executioner can do to escape the net closing in on him in Los Angeles... he needs a new face. And with that, he can once again get inside the mob, learning names and locations.
Of the three Executioner books I've now read, this one maybe has the least amount of action (though it's sometimes difficult to think of it that way since it starts out with such a high-powered sequence). And it almost feels like it comes full circle with Bolan infiltrating the mob and becoming one of their best hit-men.
One thing that is becoming more and more obvious with each book is that Bolan relies on the generosity of others much more than I expected. Here, an Army surgeon agrees to give him a new face, and a local sheriff looks the other way as long as Bolan promises to take the fighting elsewhere. But because of this outside help, his status as a ruthless killer who can avoid capture becomes legendary.
This third book didn't hold my attention quite as well as the others, but I'm still interested in reading more in this series as I find it. A recent trip to a local used book store had me surprised to find almost an entire shelf filled with Executioner series books, though none in sequence at the beginning, where I am currently reading.
The Executioner series is a thrilling read for those interested in pulse-pounding action sequences and watching the bad guys get decimated by the good guy.
Looking for a good book? Battle Mask, by Don Pendleton is the third book in the Executioner series and falls just a little short on the action as seen in the first two books, but still delivers on the quick-moving story.
Looking for a good book? The Executioner Series, Books 1-3, by Don Pendleton, is a great way to get indoctrinated into this classic, thrilling series of a vigilante taking on the mafia.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Open Road Media has reissued The Executioner series in digital format and have bundled the first three titles in one digital book.
I'd already purchased books one and two and reviewed them, but for convenience sake, I'll reprint those two reviews here.
Book One: War Against the Mafia
As a teen, I used to spend a lot of time on bookshops ... okay, I still do, but back in the 1970's I was trolling the bookshelves, looking for anything that I could get excited for. I would ALWAYS pick up one of The Executioner titles, stare at the action on the cover and wonder how much fun the books would be to read, but I also knew that books with such depicted violence would not be particularly welcomed into my household (though the sci-fi books were often much more violent ... it just wasn't so obvious). Now, decades later, as these books are being reissued by Open Road Media, I finally get to dig in past the cover.
The book is pretty much what I expected it to be, more or less. More violence, more story, less sex.
The story is pretty classic pulp fiction. A sharp-shooter in Vietnam, Mack Bolan, comes home to the States to bury members of his family. The Mafia was putting pressure on his father and did everything that they could to get a little money from him. But the deaths of his family members is only the beginning of the blood that will fill the streets. Mack is a trained, cold-blooded killer. Now he turns his skills on the Mafia, taking on this legendary nation inside a nation. Secretly, the cops are delighted to see someone taking out the trash, but even so, if they can get their hands on Mack Bolan, they'll have to take him in for murder after a score of Mafia loan-sharks and hired guns face The Executioner's justice.
I was surprised at how much Bolan relied on the help of a young woman - a woman he hadn't even met until he needed her help - and how quickly the relationship developed.
There's a lot of killing and no remorse, even from our hero. In part this is because the 'bad guys' are set up to be so bad that we can't feel bad in any way. The nameless who are killed are simply bodies, in the way, working for evil, and better off dead. It was a precursor, in 1969, to the sort of drama we'd be seeing in the movies, with Dirty Harry and the like, in just a few years' time.
This is escapist, pulp fiction and as such it reads quite well. The action moves along rapidly, and the action doesn't stop to get gratuitous in a sex scene (the sex happens behind closed doors whereas the violence is right out on the street). And even though it's violent, the reader is a lot like the cops in the book. We know it's wrong, what Bolan is doing, but we also know how much he was wronged and how nobody - until now - has been willing to take the Mafia on. He's fighting fire with fire and we love it.
Looking for a good book? Want fast, escapist adventure fiction? The first book in The Executioner series: War Against the Mafia by Don Pendleton, delivers.
Book Two: Death Squad
I continue to be surprised by this series. I had expected that each book in the Executioner series would be a unique story of Mack Bolan taking on the mob. It is, sort of, but it's also a much more sequential book, meaning it's very helpful to have read the first in the series to really pick up on what's going on.
Mack Bolan is a Vietnam war hero. He's one of the best sniper's in the military. He is able to detach himself from the human part of his emotions when killing a human target. But Mack has to return to the United States to bury members of his family who died as a result of actions taken by the mob. Bolan then goes on a one-man-army crusade to take on the mob.
Well...except that it's not entirely a one-man army. In this book Bolan recruits a number of vets, all who have had trouble readjusting to life in the United States in a time when Vietnam vets aren't particularly welcomed by society. Bolan, also known as The Executioner, puts together his own "Death Squad" to take on some major mob targets. Those targets are in the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles police, aware of Bolan and his skills, prepares a special unit devoted just to the capture or otherwise stopping of The Executioner, learning, only a little too late, of all the other members of the squad who are now helping Bolan.
What makes The Executioner a little different from the 'average' serial killer, is that he works on a very special, moral code meaning that only the 'bad' guys get killed and good cops are to be avoided at all costs.
As one might expect from a book about an 'Executioner' - there is plenty of violence, but surprisingly very little gore. In today's literary world of flesh-dripping zombies and blood-sucking vampires, gore is pretty common. But this book is about a man with a strong morality on the one hand and a strong drive to right wrongs even if it means stepping over the morality line. Military training.
Author Don Pendleton does hit the reader over the head with this moral code in order to drive the point home that Bolan is a nice guy, even though he's killing people.
There is not quite as much non-stop action in this volume because we're setting up a whole crew of new people (those on Bolan's side, as well as the cops trying to stop him) in a new location. But once the action gets rolling it's fast and furious, as one expects from this sort of pulp action story.
I'm enjoying this series much more than I anticipated and it's easy to see why it has had such longevity.
Looking for a good book? If you are looking for some thrilling action with a strong central character but want the read to be quick and easy, then Death Squad, by Don Pendleton is just the ticket. But be warned ... you'll probably get hooked on the whole series.
And now finally to the third book in this adventure series...
Battle Mask
Picking up right where the previous book left off, Mack Bolan is the only surviving member of the Death Squad. Most are dead, though some are now behind bars.
Bolan, known mostly as 'The Execution,' has declared war on the Mafia after the mob was responsible for the deaths of his family. His skills were honed by the United States military, where he was one of the best snipers the U.S. has had. He was cool and detached and could carry out a killing flawlessly. But now he's put those skills to use on American soil, taking on the mob - something America's own police force hasn't been able to do with much success.
In the previous book, Bolan and squad took on the mob in the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles police have a task force dedicated solely to taking down The Executioner, and the mob has a $100,000 bounty on Bolan's head. This book begins with some mob connections getting a fix on where Bolan is hiding out. Despite a careful plan of attack, Bolan manages to fight his way clear, though only just barely.
It clearly isn't safe for Bolan, what with some friends dead and the others captured, and a price tag on his life. There's only one thing The Executioner can do to escape the net closing in on him in Los Angeles... he needs a new face. And with that, he can once again get inside the mob, learning names and locations.
Of the three Executioner books I've now read, this one maybe has the least amount of action (though it's sometimes difficult to think of it that way since it starts out with such a high-powered sequence). And it almost feels like it comes full circle with Bolan infiltrating the mob and becoming one of their best hit-men.
One thing that is becoming more and more obvious with each book is that Bolan relies on the generosity of others much more than I expected. Here, an Army surgeon agrees to give him a new face, and a local sheriff looks the other way as long as Bolan promises to take the fighting elsewhere. But because of this outside help, his status as a ruthless killer who can avoid capture becomes legendary.
This third book didn't hold my attention quite as well as the others, but I'm still interested in reading more in this series as I find it. A recent trip to a local used book store had me surprised to find almost an entire shelf filled with Executioner series books, though none in sequence at the beginning, where I am currently reading.
The Executioner series is a thrilling read for those interested in pulse-pounding action sequences and watching the bad guys get decimated by the good guy.
Looking for a good book? Battle Mask, by Don Pendleton is the third book in the Executioner series and falls just a little short on the action as seen in the first two books, but still delivers on the quick-moving story.
Looking for a good book? The Executioner Series, Books 1-3, by Don Pendleton, is a great way to get indoctrinated into this classic, thrilling series of a vigilante taking on the mafia.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
April 24, 2021
Quite a few years ago I saw guys passing around dog-eared copies of Executioner and Matt Helm paperbacks. I knew they were thrillers, but never read them or knew much about these two series and I didn't give it much thought until I saw a deal for these books on Kindle. After reading both series, I think the Matt Helm books hold up better after all these years, but the Executioner books are quick reads that hold your interest as well. Would I be willing to pay full price? No, but if you're looking for a quick reading thriller with a pretty good hero and lots of action and dead bad guys, the Executioner hits all of those areas. Clearly a product of the 1960s and early 70s, but still a way to pass the time.
October 26, 2016
I was hooked from book one and enjoyed this set for a week now.
Excitement and suspense from the first through the last page. When Mack Bolen is summoned home to bury his family he takes on a personal war with the mafia. A man know as the executioner in Vietnam is bringing his most used skill in war home to another war.
I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Excitement and suspense from the first through the last page. When Mack Bolen is summoned home to bury his family he takes on a personal war with the mafia. A man know as the executioner in Vietnam is bringing his most used skill in war home to another war.
I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 13, 2022
What did you expect? It’s got a gun on the cover, and the first novel in this set is subtitled War Against the Mafia. The protagonist, Mack Bolan, is a sort of American James Bond yet significantly more violent and less subtle. Bent on revenge, Bolan spends his time infiltrating the mafia and killing its members all the while sleeping with an assortment of female characters. The overblown violence and objectification of women is, doubtless, problematic; however, if you can get past that (and apparently I can), the writing…well, it moves. These novels are wildly entertaining and are virtually endless--Pendleton wrote 37 and the series goes on well into the hundreds.
February 28, 2019
This is a Great Series
During the Vietnam War, I served on an aircraft carrier in the Tonkin Gulf. When you are on a ship at sea there is not much to do on your time off, but read or watch TV reruns. We traded books all the time and the Mack Bolan books were much in demand. They have aged very well. The stories are fast paced well written. If you like short action packed stories, you will like this series. In today’s vernacular, they are very bingeable.
During the Vietnam War, I served on an aircraft carrier in the Tonkin Gulf. When you are on a ship at sea there is not much to do on your time off, but read or watch TV reruns. We traded books all the time and the Mack Bolan books were much in demand. They have aged very well. The stories are fast paced well written. If you like short action packed stories, you will like this series. In today’s vernacular, they are very bingeable.
June 20, 2023
Fast moving book, it keeps you wanting to read to see what the "Executioner" will come up against and how he manages to get out of the situation. I was a little concerned about having to read 3 books in the series. I was pleasantly surprised as to how the moved and was finished in no time. This is a good stopping point in the life of Matt Bolan so I many not read the rest of the stories.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2019
Good storyline
Everyone wants to see the mafia pay their dues. So everyone roots for Bolin. As an American hero, he is the American ultimate. Soon he will be the mafiaosise worst nightmare.
Good read!
Everyone wants to see the mafia pay their dues. So everyone roots for Bolin. As an American hero, he is the American ultimate. Soon he will be the mafiaosise worst nightmare.
Good read!
February 1, 2024
A few things date these books which take place in the late 1960s, such as cigarette smoking. But the *stories* are terrific. And Mack Bolan is such a great hero. If you like action/adventure and thriller books, these will be a satisfying read.
July 20, 2018
Somewhat dated now and probably lacking in political correctness, Pendleton's original Bolans still remain an important and highly influential part of action adventure literature.
September 11, 2018
Volumes 1,2, & 3 of the Executioner Series. The action is "non-stop" with basic good versus evil. Scenes of urban combat, assassinations, torture, blood and gore.
September 28, 2019
I have read these previously and very much like the series. It was great to be able to have them on the Kindle.
November 16, 2019
Executioner 1-3
Excellent story no matter when you read it. It keeps you hanging on and never lets go. Second time reading the books, 15 years later, no lag whatsoever.
Excellent story no matter when you read it. It keeps you hanging on and never lets go. Second time reading the books, 15 years later, no lag whatsoever.
April 23, 2021
This series really didn't deliver. There was a lot of action, but the whole plotline of the revenge against the Mafia seemed a bit overdone. I never connected with the "hero".
May 25, 2021
Would make a great movie !!
June 22, 2025
Great Series
Sucks you in and fast .
Engaging , interesting and a solid read. Was along for the ride.
You won’t be disappointed.
Sucks you in and fast .
Engaging , interesting and a solid read. Was along for the ride.
You won’t be disappointed.
October 3, 2025
Great read
Excellent read, and the books were not at all gory. I can't wait to read the next book in this series. BTW, the title says it all.
Excellent read, and the books were not at all gory. I can't wait to read the next book in this series. BTW, the title says it all.
January 30, 2023
It's all about balance.
Good balance of plot and action. I've read the first book before, and I am just as pleased with the follow ups.
Good balance of plot and action. I've read the first book before, and I am just as pleased with the follow ups.
April 19, 2018
These books are about violence, revenge, and getting rid of the bad guys. I read about 20 of these when they first came out so it was lots of fun to reread the first few again.
July 25, 2022
read book 1 and that was more then enough is he man or superman or just extremely lucky !!!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews