Meltdown

Mack Bolan the Executioner #97

by Don Pendleton (Series Creator), Charlie McDade (Contributor)

paperback fine

Genres: Fiction, Action, Adventure

253 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1986

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

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone is trying to sabotage America’s nuclear program. Bolan finds himself in a race against time to stop an unimaginable disaster. Fast paced action and intrigue as only the Executioner series can deliver.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

When terrorists hold a nuclear power plant hostage and vow to wipe out the Hudson valley with radioactive waste, its Mack Bolan who comes to the rescue, saving the US and proving that nuclear power isn’t something to be scared of, if in the right hands. Written in January of 1987, a mere 8 months after the devastating Chernobyl nuclear disaster, “Meltdown” is a product of its time, latching on to the real fear of nuclear annihilation and turning it into a typical Executioner novel where the good guys triumph over evil. I was hoping this was gonna be on par with other action packed books in this series like “Save the Children” and “Baltimore Takedown”, however “Meltdown” really didn’t do it for me. It’s action packed, violent, and has a decent enough plot but for whatever reason, this one dragged, feeling much longer than its 253 pages. Mcdade’s style is fine and perfect for this kind of story, but he’s more along the lines of Peter Leslie, in that it’s too wordy and too dense, trying to cram too much into a novel that’s supposed to be fast paced and a quick read. Didn’t hate this one, yet I feel it wasn’t essential Executioner fare.

[GhostofMyrtle]

It has been said you can't judge a book by its cover. Whoever said that has never read a Barbara Cartland, Leonard Meares or Don Pendleton. That's not to say that the book would necessarily be bad (well, a Barbara Cartland would be), it's just that what you see is what you are going to get. And that is exactly what you get from a Mack Bolan novel.

The 97th Mack Bolan novel sees our hero setting out to prevent a Russian backed group sabotage an
American nuclear power plants, forcing the states to rely on Third World oil controlled by the KGB. This one was written by Charlie McDade, one of many authors who have contributed novels to the series since Pendleton gave up writing for the series, although he did initially help with editions written by other people.

Subtle this isn't. But they are always good of their type. They are fast and violent with a typical passage being as follows: "The explosive force of the AutoMag's 240-grain projectile ruptured the gunner's cranium as if it were a ripe pumpkin."

Also comes with ads for the next SuperBolan edition (number seven), an ad for a pair of sunglasses and an offer of four free novels from Eagle publications (with a mystery bonus gift) if you sign up to get six books every second month and a "weapons review (number 67: Waither P-38, which apparently was adopted by the German army in 1938.

[Jim Dunlop · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another middling Bolan book by author Charlie McDade- this is the fourth book. I’ve read by MacDade and all of them have been rather tedious. He seems to have a problem with pacing and action scenes that should’ve been interesting are actually kind of boring. Another KGB officer (how many of these guys are there Bolan must’ve killed about 100) with plans to disrupt the American nuclear program by using antinukers to stage a demonstration and cause a major nuclear incident similar to Chernobyl. Overall, not one of the better Bolans with a lot of one dimensional character, characters, and forgettable bad guys.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Klassisk macho bok men ändå skön att läsa