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Able Team #1
Tower of Terror
A Wall Street skyscraper had been invaded. Hostages were being held - and, with them, enough confidential banking data to imperil the entire world.
Ugly, city-wide panic was inevitable until Able Team was called in. Carl Lyons, Pol Blancanales and Gadgets Schwarz were the only possible hardmen for such a mission.
The invaders claimed to be FALN, the Puerto Rican terrorist group. But they were not who they said they were, and their huge quantity of devastating armament appeared to have come from. . . the Vietnamese.
Ugly, city-wide panic was inevitable until Able Team was called in. Carl Lyons, Pol Blancanales and Gadgets Schwarz were the only possible hardmen for such a mission.
The invaders claimed to be FALN, the Puerto Rican terrorist group. But they were not who they said they were, and their huge quantity of devastating armament appeared to have come from. . . the Vietnamese.
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
1 person is currently reading
104 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
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 10, 2025
First in the Able Team series, and it's pretty good. Definitely has Die Hard vibes with terrorists taking over a skyscraper making demands in the pursuit of freedom for Pureto Rico. It's pretty quick with its pacing and isn't all just gunfights. There's a good amount of investigation and mystery on why it's all happening and who exactly is involved.
The ending as you expect ends in a well written bloodbath but kinda stops abruptly as well. I would have liked to see the outcome of what happened next. I own the entire series, so I look forward to getting to them all over the next decade 😂
3.5 stars.
The ending as you expect ends in a well written bloodbath but kinda stops abruptly as well. I would have liked to see the outcome of what happened next. I own the entire series, so I look forward to getting to them all over the next decade 😂
3.5 stars.
March 19, 2011
In the second book of Don Pendleton's long-running "Executioner" series, entitled "Death Squad," Mack Bolan enlisted the help of ten of his old Vietnam War buddies to help him take down a Mafia family in California. More than ten years later, after Pendleton had stopped writing the series and ghostwriters had taken over, the only two surviving characters from Bolan's death squad, Herman "Gadgets" Schwarz and Rosario "Politician" Blancanales, were teamed up with another character from "The Executioner #2: Death Squad" -- Carl Lyons, the LAPD detective who pursued Bolan -- for this spin-off series. All three characters are Vietnam veterans, and as "Able Team," they function as an invisible arm of the N.S.A. Or something.
"Tower of Terror" is a book so unsubtle that Lyons, "Pol," and "Gadgets" are code-named "Hardman One," "Hardman Two," and "Hardman Three" during their mission to rescue hostages in a high-rise office building in Lower Manhattan.
L.R. Payne (writing under the house name "Dick Stivers") crafted an entertaining, quick read here. There's wall-to-wall action, which is sometimes ridiculous, but it all moves at a nice clip. The bloody finale on the helipad of the tower was especially well-done.
I needed something quick to read on the subway, and this book definitely fit the bill.
"Tower of Terror" is a book so unsubtle that Lyons, "Pol," and "Gadgets" are code-named "Hardman One," "Hardman Two," and "Hardman Three" during their mission to rescue hostages in a high-rise office building in Lower Manhattan.
L.R. Payne (writing under the house name "Dick Stivers") crafted an entertaining, quick read here. There's wall-to-wall action, which is sometimes ridiculous, but it all moves at a nice clip. The bloody finale on the helipad of the tower was especially well-done.
I needed something quick to read on the subway, and this book definitely fit the bill.
March 19, 2019
The series starts off with a bang as gonzo writer L.R. Payne (G.H. Frost) spins a wild tale with Puerto Rican terrorists, shady businessmen, Vietnamese agents, and ex-commies involved in a “Die Hard” type attack on a NYC skyscraper. Non-stop action with an exciting and exceedingly gory climax are highlights. Lack of character depth and a hurried ending are weaknesses. The mysterious Frost wrote most the the early Able Teams books and I like his out of control style. I have some of his other works in my TBR queue. Looking forward to reading them.
August 3, 2023
Not a bad start to the series. I've read them slightly out of order, skipping the first half dozen I didn't have but have read 45 or so of these so know the characters well. LR Payne did a good job in writing the characters true to form which some didn't later on. This time they are trying to stop terrorists from blowing up a building. It seems Puerto Rican terrorists are saying they are going to blow it because of the company's business with Puerto Rico. However that's not exactly right and the team has to figure out who is running the show to figure out how to stop the terrorists from exploding the 100 story building on Wall Street.
Recommended if you are a fan of mens adventures, its not the best in the series but its not a bad start.
Recommended if you are a fan of mens adventures, its not the best in the series but its not a bad start.
January 12, 2019
Typical early 80's pulp fiction (guilty pleasure). The book manages to incorporate a Vietnamese revenge squad, a Puerto Rican independence organization, and a corrupt Wall Street banker. It has a fast pace, and really requires no thought. It's like a Stallone or Schwarzenegger movie in book form. If you can excuse the racist undertones, it's a good quick read. It would be great for a two hour flight.
March 7, 2013
This book was action-packed from begining to end. Full of action, blood, gore and great dialogue, can't wait to read more by this author.
October 23, 2019
A spin off series from his Executioner books. This series follows several secondary characters that band together. Recommended
December 10, 2022
I read several of these Able Team novels back in the 80's when I was a kid. These, along with Choose Your Own Adventure, Mack Bolan, and Phoenix Force books were among my regular checkouts from my local library. I had not read a single one of this since the early 90's when I was a young teenager, but I never forgot them.
With the advent of online shopping, you can find almost anything for sale from any era, including these books. So I thought it would be fun to buy every Able Team book I could find and reread them, one by one, starting from the very beginning, and see if they held up all these years later. I currently have numbers 1-10 in a pile waiting to be read now.
Well, I just finished the first book. This is Round 1:
I do not recall reading this one as a kid. The small town library I went to had very limited stock, and these Able Team books showed up randomly and usually out of order. Since these books were usually stand alone adventures, though, this did not really matter. You could pick up pretty much any Able Team book to read and be fine. But since nothing in this book rang any bells for me, I believe this is the first time I have ever read Able Team #1 Tower of Terror.
As a starting point for the Able Team's solo books, this one is okay. It's not great, and I remember liking some of the other novels more, but this one got the job done. It gives you a pretty good introduction to the characters, their behaviors, personalities, and skills. We get a good sense of the tone of these books (surprisingly more graphic in its violence than I remember) and we get a feel for the pace these books try to keep.
At this point in history, the "terrorists taking over something" plot has been done to death, but it probably was not quite as played out in 1982 when this novel was released so I will not ding the novel for that. But the plot and setup is nothing you have not seen or read before. Do not go into this one expecting something new. But that's okay, all that matters is how well did they do something we are familiar with.
Well, that is a bit of a mixed bag.
My largest complaint is that the plot of this book follows 2 story-lines that barely seem connected until the final 10 pages. The crux of the novel is that terrorists have taken over a building full of hostages and wired that building to explode unless their demands are met (think Die Hard, basically), but we actually spend very little time in the building with them. We see them briefly here and there throughout the book, but mostly just to show them behaving in very one-dimensional evil ways in very short scenes.
The vast majority of the book is spent outside of the building following Able Team as they try to find out who is in the building, why, and the best way to breach it. At times, this feels more like a detective story. This generally is not a problem, but in this case, the things they are doing just isn't as interesting as it could be. Through most of the novel, they aren't even anywhere near the building in question, and we have no idea what is going on inside.
I would have preferred the investigation portion be faster, then we spend more time following the team as they infiltrate the building. But as I stated, the entire time Able Team is in the building is summed up in the final 10 pages, which feels very abrupt and rushed.
Overall, this is not a bad start for Able Team and it was pretty cool to get back into this world I used to love so much. But I am definitely looking forward to a more balanced adventure in the future, which I am confident I will get as Able Team get their feet under them a bit more.
With the advent of online shopping, you can find almost anything for sale from any era, including these books. So I thought it would be fun to buy every Able Team book I could find and reread them, one by one, starting from the very beginning, and see if they held up all these years later. I currently have numbers 1-10 in a pile waiting to be read now.
Well, I just finished the first book. This is Round 1:
I do not recall reading this one as a kid. The small town library I went to had very limited stock, and these Able Team books showed up randomly and usually out of order. Since these books were usually stand alone adventures, though, this did not really matter. You could pick up pretty much any Able Team book to read and be fine. But since nothing in this book rang any bells for me, I believe this is the first time I have ever read Able Team #1 Tower of Terror.
As a starting point for the Able Team's solo books, this one is okay. It's not great, and I remember liking some of the other novels more, but this one got the job done. It gives you a pretty good introduction to the characters, their behaviors, personalities, and skills. We get a good sense of the tone of these books (surprisingly more graphic in its violence than I remember) and we get a feel for the pace these books try to keep.
At this point in history, the "terrorists taking over something" plot has been done to death, but it probably was not quite as played out in 1982 when this novel was released so I will not ding the novel for that. But the plot and setup is nothing you have not seen or read before. Do not go into this one expecting something new. But that's okay, all that matters is how well did they do something we are familiar with.
Well, that is a bit of a mixed bag.
My largest complaint is that the plot of this book follows 2 story-lines that barely seem connected until the final 10 pages. The crux of the novel is that terrorists have taken over a building full of hostages and wired that building to explode unless their demands are met (think Die Hard, basically), but we actually spend very little time in the building with them. We see them briefly here and there throughout the book, but mostly just to show them behaving in very one-dimensional evil ways in very short scenes.
The vast majority of the book is spent outside of the building following Able Team as they try to find out who is in the building, why, and the best way to breach it. At times, this feels more like a detective story. This generally is not a problem, but in this case, the things they are doing just isn't as interesting as it could be. Through most of the novel, they aren't even anywhere near the building in question, and we have no idea what is going on inside.
I would have preferred the investigation portion be faster, then we spend more time following the team as they infiltrate the building. But as I stated, the entire time Able Team is in the building is summed up in the final 10 pages, which feels very abrupt and rushed.
Overall, this is not a bad start for Able Team and it was pretty cool to get back into this world I used to love so much. But I am definitely looking forward to a more balanced adventure in the future, which I am confident I will get as Able Team get their feet under them a bit more.
August 17, 2025
(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)
I thought I added this book in ages ago when I was working through adding those on my list of books in my physical library.
As with others in it, I'm just giving a 3 star for now, because they'd be at least that if I liked them enough to keep and get more in the series. I'll update when I'm back in an 'action' book mood and do a re-read.
First time read the author's work?: No
Will you be reading more?: Yes
Would you recommend?: Yes
------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)
All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked
Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)
I thought I added this book in ages ago when I was working through adding those on my list of books in my physical library.
As with others in it, I'm just giving a 3 star for now, because they'd be at least that if I liked them enough to keep and get more in the series. I'll update when I'm back in an 'action' book mood and do a re-read.
First time read the author's work?: No
Will you be reading more?: Yes
Would you recommend?: Yes
------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)
All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked
Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)
July 7, 2024
A good start to one of two spin off series by the creator of Mack Bolan. It allows us to know the team of badass shooters but the plot moves a little too fast. So much happens in such a small book that small plot points you’re supposed to remember vanish rather quickly.
Able Team itself is great to follow though since it is made up of characters who appeared in The Executioner Series before.
The bad guys are bad and are fun to watch get absolutely smoked.
This book felt like a kick ass 80s action movie despite its trouble with the plot.
Able Team itself is great to follow though since it is made up of characters who appeared in The Executioner Series before.
The bad guys are bad and are fun to watch get absolutely smoked.
This book felt like a kick ass 80s action movie despite its trouble with the plot.
January 9, 2024
Rating 3
Pulpy, over the top non stop action, gun fights, pretty much what you expect.
Very much of its period - 1980’s American action novel/series , macho gun wielding heroes blowing the bad guys away. Prose equivalent of the 1980’s movies from what I remember.
Enjoyable, not as good as the executioner series which was written by DP and spawned this one.
Read it with the right frame of mind and it’s okay.
Pulpy, over the top non stop action, gun fights, pretty much what you expect.
Very much of its period - 1980’s American action novel/series , macho gun wielding heroes blowing the bad guys away. Prose equivalent of the 1980’s movies from what I remember.
Enjoyable, not as good as the executioner series which was written by DP and spawned this one.
Read it with the right frame of mind and it’s okay.
December 5, 2015
Pretty much zero in the way of characterization other than terrorists = evil, able team = good. A lot of fast action and shooting. Brainless but ok.
Read
April 1, 2017Good action
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews