Into the Maze

Able Team #14

by Dick Stivers, Don Pendleton (Series Creator)

When the Able Team takes on a huge new drug ring working in Mexico they face betrayal from both the U.S. and Mexican governments

Genres: Action

185 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

"Dick Stivers" is a house name of the publisher.

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Able Team plows Into The Maze of the largest city in the world, Mexico City. This book is a continuation from book #13. The Team comes out of The Sierra Madre Occidental to the densely populated urban sprawl of the city. They are hot on the trail of a new breed of fascists. Intrigue abounds as a turncoat drug cartel member, corrupt DEA agents, dishonest Mexican military units and an indigenous mountain warrior tribe all collide.

This book is just as action packed as the previous volume. They only draw back for me was almost half way through this, the author, G.H. Frost goes off track with a history lesson of the people of Mexico. Toltec to Aztec. This is all interesting, but it slows the book down. Everything said, this is a real ripper in the series.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a direct sequel to the previous novel in the series, with Able Team in Mexico investigating a vast Fascist conspiracy to take over Central America. The last novel ended with the Team and a ragtag group of Allies (A pilot who works for the DEA, a former drug cartel enforcer, and a trio of Yaqui Indians) capture a helicopter after wiping out a band of Fascist soldiers. Now they are on their way to Mexico City, hoping to find the leaders of the conspiracy and end things by cutting off its head.

When they get to the city (not without having bad guys shoot at them), they get involved in several car chases/running gun battles. The climax is a vicious gun fight that starts in a parking garage and ends up in the top floors of a sky scraper.

This is one of the finest Able Team novels, with villains we love to hate, strong supporting characters, plot twists involving apparent betrayals by friends, and brutal action scenes. It ends without resolution of the Fascist conspiracy story arc, which will be resolved in Able Team #19 & 21. Those are the two I'll be reading next.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid entry, plenty of action this is a direct sequel to book 13 and it looks like book 15 will be a part too since it was open ended. Well written for the genre though the plot is kind of a mess. However Able Team is a nice collection of characters and the other characters are written ok as well.

Recommended if you are already a fan of this era of Men's Adventures, this story arc is entertaining and typical of the mid range books of the genre.

[Sean Boyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was a bit of a mess. Continuing the story from the previous book, this one is heavy on action but light on plot, which is a shame, because there is some side-flipping intrigue that could've injected some suspense, but sadly is lost in all the fighting and never given a chance to really develop. The cover art has some great composition, though.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A spin off series from his Executioner books. This series follows several secondary characters that band together. Recommended