Mack Bolan, the Mafia's worst nightmare, returns to the States after a brief "vacation" in Europe, and after getting winged upon arrival (like within minutes of disembarking!) he finds himself in a winter hell of the mob's making.
Nursed back to health by a trio of lovely lady fashonistas, each with a suitable personality for the era, Bolan figures he can just cut and run, but the snowy NYC landscape has a lot worse in store for him than a bruised shoulder. Soon he's up against Don Freddie Gambella, a smooth-talking baddie with a penchant for torture and plans to topple New York's political machine. Bolan's not interested...until Freddie has his goons go after his lady angels.
That's when this book hits hard. Real hard.
Pendleton manages to skirt some of his prior pitfalls (weak villains and hysterically awkward female characters) and he plays up to his strengths, which of course are thrilling action scenes and Mack Bolan becoming a force so powerful even the NYPD decide to just kind of let him do his thing.
I mean he gives full fury on the mob once they do a very BAD thing. Full fury. Bullets, bombs, rockets, and knives are the choice of weapons in a war that turns into absolute annihilation. It is stellar. If you've been reading along with the series and savoring the grand scenes of well-written carnage, Pendleton delivers in this majestic volume. He goes above and beyond.
It helps that we have evil villains willing to commit terrible atrocities to further their ends. Gambella is perhaps the most entertaining villain Pendleton has yet committed to paper. And Bolan, despite the ultimate vengeance he brings down upon them, manages a few moments of compassion, including a scene of unexpected mercy that shows us the real difference between the cannibals and the Executioner.
One spectacular highlight is when Bolan blitzes the big bad's mansion, the scene a rush from start to finish, with action aplenty and a righteous sense of justice to be imparted for what they've done. It's a scene that in any other novel would be the climax, but here is just the prelude to the real end, which ups the scale times ten!
My only gripe was that it seemed awful easy and hand-waved for Bolan to acquire a lot of high-end military weapons. We're a far cry from the early days of a revolver and a rifle, when he now has grenade launchers, rockets, submachine guns, and plastic explosives!
The end also leaves the reader in the dark about the fate of several characters. Not any principals, but some of the villains, and that ambiguity makes it feel a little rushed by the final pages.
But those are minor qualms when reading one of the best action novels I could ask for. This is a dizzying feat from Don Pendleton. A must-read for any fan of the series I'd say.