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Mack Bolan the Executioner #47
The Executioner #47: Renegade Agent
Frank Edwards, a busted CIA agent, was trafficking with terrorists in Europe. His illegal-weapons supplier was a Defense Department contractor in Massachusetts. His European connection was a high-ranking British Intelligence Officer.
Mack's task: eliminate all of these bastards. He blows the hell out of an armament factory in New England, flattens a munitions warehouse at Londons Heathrow airport. Then on to Frank Edwards base to bring hell on earth.
The man from blood moves with the speed of a shock wave. To the Executioner, there is no worse scum than a turncoat agent.
Mack's task: eliminate all of these bastards. He blows the hell out of an armament factory in New England, flattens a munitions warehouse at Londons Heathrow airport. Then on to Frank Edwards base to bring hell on earth.
The man from blood moves with the speed of a shock wave. To the Executioner, there is no worse scum than a turncoat agent.
- GenresFiction
Unknown Binding
First published October 1, 1982
2 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Don Pendleton
1,540 books182 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 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 13, 2023
47 books into this series and Mack Bolan, the executioner, is still doing his thing. Only now, instead of wiping out murderous mafiosos, he’s got a blank check from the United States Government to kick ass and take names of the world’s worst terrorists. We’ve already seen him head to Panama, Algeria, to his proving grounds of Vietnam, and the Florida Everglades, all in effort to confront and destroy terrorist head on.
In Renegade Agent he’s globetrotting from Libya, to Italy, to London, all in an effort to take down Frank Edwards, an ex CIA agent who has turned his back on America and joined forces with the Communist forces of Russia. In typical Executioner fashion, Bolan blasts his way through countless bad guys, discovers and ex-love interest/coworker, and manages to save the day, all wrapped up in a nice and easy to read 188 pages.
Written by Steven M. Krauzer, I had extremely high hopes for this one. Krauzer had previously written Double Crossfire and Terrorist Summit 2 of the best of this iteration of the executioner books. Sadly, that’s not the case and, unfortunately, Renegade Agent is, at this point, the weakest of these white cover Golden Eagle publications.
Rather than be a straight up thrill fest like previous entries, Agent takes far too long to get moving. The opening chapters crawl at a snail’s pace and have next to no bearing on the eventual outcome until about 30 pages in. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of expiation and set up, however Krauzer, for whatever reason, wasted all that on countless and pointlessly repetitive flashbacks to previous books in the series. At this point, 47 books in, I think it’s safe to say that most readers are at least marginally familiar with the storyline and don’t need to be reminded multiple times of the cast of characters or Bolan’s past exploits. Fans are also pretty well versed in our main protagonist’s point of view regarding violence and killing. Krauzer took every conceivable opportunity to beat the audience over the head with Bolan’s pseudo-philosophy and made this a slog to get through.
The last chapter does set the course back on track, though it’s too little, too late and ends up leaving this book with a pedestrian rating of 3 stars. That’s not necessarily that bad, but Krauzer is a much better author than Renegade Agent presents.
In Renegade Agent he’s globetrotting from Libya, to Italy, to London, all in an effort to take down Frank Edwards, an ex CIA agent who has turned his back on America and joined forces with the Communist forces of Russia. In typical Executioner fashion, Bolan blasts his way through countless bad guys, discovers and ex-love interest/coworker, and manages to save the day, all wrapped up in a nice and easy to read 188 pages.
Written by Steven M. Krauzer, I had extremely high hopes for this one. Krauzer had previously written Double Crossfire and Terrorist Summit 2 of the best of this iteration of the executioner books. Sadly, that’s not the case and, unfortunately, Renegade Agent is, at this point, the weakest of these white cover Golden Eagle publications.
Rather than be a straight up thrill fest like previous entries, Agent takes far too long to get moving. The opening chapters crawl at a snail’s pace and have next to no bearing on the eventual outcome until about 30 pages in. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of expiation and set up, however Krauzer, for whatever reason, wasted all that on countless and pointlessly repetitive flashbacks to previous books in the series. At this point, 47 books in, I think it’s safe to say that most readers are at least marginally familiar with the storyline and don’t need to be reminded multiple times of the cast of characters or Bolan’s past exploits. Fans are also pretty well versed in our main protagonist’s point of view regarding violence and killing. Krauzer took every conceivable opportunity to beat the audience over the head with Bolan’s pseudo-philosophy and made this a slog to get through.
The last chapter does set the course back on track, though it’s too little, too late and ends up leaving this book with a pedestrian rating of 3 stars. That’s not necessarily that bad, but Krauzer is a much better author than Renegade Agent presents.
August 22, 2024
5/5
This was one of the best Bolan books I’ve read. It has a very heavy Bond vibe to it with espionage front and center instead of action. Don’t worry. There’s still action.
The threat this time is an underworld CIA that Bolan must take down with the help of by far the best Bolan girl the 80s books has had yet.
I’m keeping this short because I don’t wanna spoil anything. Read it.
This was one of the best Bolan books I’ve read. It has a very heavy Bond vibe to it with espionage front and center instead of action. Don’t worry. There’s still action.
The threat this time is an underworld CIA that Bolan must take down with the help of by far the best Bolan girl the 80s books has had yet.
I’m keeping this short because I don’t wanna spoil anything. Read it.
May 6, 2015
My Rating Scale:
1 Star - Horrible book, It was so bad I stopped reading it. I have not read the whole book and wont
2 Star - Bad book, I forced myself to finish it and do NOT recommend. I can't believe I read it once
3 Star - Average book, Was entertaining but nothing special. No plans to ever re-read
4 Star - Good Book, Was a really good book and I would recommend. I am Likely to re-read this book
5 Star - GREAT book, A great story and well written. I can't wait for the next book. I Will Re-Read this one or more times.
Times Read: 1
One of the first series I read consistently. This series and the Destroyer series are responsible for my love of reading and stories.
Characters - Looking back to my younger reading days, I loved Mack Bolan and thought he was one of the coolest characters in history. 30 years later, I realize that the characters were pretty stereotypical, but I still love him.
Story - The stories are average and fairly typical. Bad guys going to kill or hurt, Mack is going to kill them or die trying. Not much in creativity but it really worked for me as a male teenager. I wanted to own guns and protect the world just like Mack.
Overall - I started reading these when I was 16. I enjoyed them up until about age 19. My tastes changed from Military intrigue to Fantasy / SciFi. I would recommend reading these especially for younger males.
NOTE: I am going to rate these all the books in this series the same. Some of the stories are a bit better or a bit worse but I can't find one that I would rate a 2 or 4.
1 Star - Horrible book, It was so bad I stopped reading it. I have not read the whole book and wont
2 Star - Bad book, I forced myself to finish it and do NOT recommend. I can't believe I read it once
3 Star - Average book, Was entertaining but nothing special. No plans to ever re-read
4 Star - Good Book, Was a really good book and I would recommend. I am Likely to re-read this book
5 Star - GREAT book, A great story and well written. I can't wait for the next book. I Will Re-Read this one or more times.
Times Read: 1
One of the first series I read consistently. This series and the Destroyer series are responsible for my love of reading and stories.
Characters - Looking back to my younger reading days, I loved Mack Bolan and thought he was one of the coolest characters in history. 30 years later, I realize that the characters were pretty stereotypical, but I still love him.
Story - The stories are average and fairly typical. Bad guys going to kill or hurt, Mack is going to kill them or die trying. Not much in creativity but it really worked for me as a male teenager. I wanted to own guns and protect the world just like Mack.
Overall - I started reading these when I was 16. I enjoyed them up until about age 19. My tastes changed from Military intrigue to Fantasy / SciFi. I would recommend reading these especially for younger males.
NOTE: I am going to rate these all the books in this series the same. Some of the stories are a bit better or a bit worse but I can't find one that I would rate a 2 or 4.
February 1, 2017
A pretty lackluster entry into the Bolan series. This book is bogged down by to much flashbacks. A few chapters are nothing but flashbacks. We hear so much about past Bolan missions, that the author seems to forget that he is on a new mission.
The other problem is that the author puts the plot on hold and has Mack go on a narrative about good and evil. The reason he fights. The everlasting war. Walking through the hell ground. Etc. Etc. If you remember Oliver Wendell Douglas from the show Green Acres, he would start a speech about the greatness of farming. Music would play and people around him would look at each other in confusion. That is exactly what happens here. Gun battles are going down and Mack would tell us all why these people are vile and must depart this world. Why he is the man who walks through hell to do this. I can only imagine the bad guys standing around looking at each other with smoking guns pointed down wondering what to do.
What little story there is is good. Traitors are selling guns and trying to start a "black" CIA operation. Not much is done with this. Just average action. Black and white. Could of been so much better.
The other problem is that the author puts the plot on hold and has Mack go on a narrative about good and evil. The reason he fights. The everlasting war. Walking through the hell ground. Etc. Etc. If you remember Oliver Wendell Douglas from the show Green Acres, he would start a speech about the greatness of farming. Music would play and people around him would look at each other in confusion. That is exactly what happens here. Gun battles are going down and Mack would tell us all why these people are vile and must depart this world. Why he is the man who walks through hell to do this. I can only imagine the bad guys standing around looking at each other with smoking guns pointed down wondering what to do.
What little story there is is good. Traitors are selling guns and trying to start a "black" CIA operation. Not much is done with this. Just average action. Black and white. Could of been so much better.
July 31, 2021
If Frank Edwards succeeded, the result would be awesome, almost unbelievable, but inescapable fact: the terrorist network would have an intelligence capacity nearly equal to that of the great free nations. (An international intelligence agency with loyalties to the highest bidders.) Already the wheels were in motion. The only way left to destroy the corpus of the scheme was to cut out its heart.
In the long sordid history of mankind few spectacles rival the gladiatorial combat before tens of thousands of bloodthirsty citizens for the sheer savagery of which animal man was capable. Now Mack Bolan stood against another manifestation of that savagery the bestiality of international terrorism. And its perpetrators existed outside of law, society, or civilization. Though they sometimes carried on about "liberation," "power to the people," and "democratic revolution," their creed was control, suffocation and the eradication of anyone standing in their way...The tireless Warrior was no Gladiator. Nor was he kin to those ancient blood-lustful Romans who had crowded the stadium to see the sands flow red; he took no pleasure in battle for its own sake, had no deranged need to wash his hands in his enemies gore. It was far more simple than that. Mack Bolan new that passive lip service to the desirability of a better world never would be enough. As the statesman Edmund Burke had written, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." It was as elemental as that. And Mack Bolan could no more do nothing than stop breathing... Sometimes a man had to be willing to die for what it was right. And sometimes a man had to be willing to kill.
In the long sordid history of mankind few spectacles rival the gladiatorial combat before tens of thousands of bloodthirsty citizens for the sheer savagery of which animal man was capable. Now Mack Bolan stood against another manifestation of that savagery the bestiality of international terrorism. And its perpetrators existed outside of law, society, or civilization. Though they sometimes carried on about "liberation," "power to the people," and "democratic revolution," their creed was control, suffocation and the eradication of anyone standing in their way...The tireless Warrior was no Gladiator. Nor was he kin to those ancient blood-lustful Romans who had crowded the stadium to see the sands flow red; he took no pleasure in battle for its own sake, had no deranged need to wash his hands in his enemies gore. It was far more simple than that. Mack Bolan new that passive lip service to the desirability of a better world never would be enough. As the statesman Edmund Burke had written, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." It was as elemental as that. And Mack Bolan could no more do nothing than stop breathing... Sometimes a man had to be willing to die for what it was right. And sometimes a man had to be willing to kill.
December 28, 2023
Kind of funny that this book reuses the love interest from the 9th book in the series, while the next book reintroduces the love interest from the 10th book. I wonder if the pattern continues, but I'm afraid my spotty collection won't currently allow any further investigation into the pattern.
We're still early on after Pendleton handed off the series to ghost writers and the brand has expanded to include the other parallel series, so there's a focus on tying those properties into this book. Lots of Able Team going on here, which I haven't read so not a particular draw for me personally. The adventure itself is fairly nondescript.
We're still early on after Pendleton handed off the series to ghost writers and the brand has expanded to include the other parallel series, so there's a focus on tying those properties into this book. Lots of Able Team going on here, which I haven't read so not a particular draw for me personally. The adventure itself is fairly nondescript.
December 17, 2022
Krauzer does a solid job with this one. Bolan is tasked in taking out traitors led by an ex CIA agent who was setting up a CIA type service for terrorist groups. He was providing intel, training, support, and weapons of all kinds to the highest bidders, based in Libya under the protection of Khaddafi, who gave him some official cover. Though Bolan doesn't do things officially, his job is to make sure the service never gets set up and to destroy everything.
Recommended, again for the genre its fairly solid with a nice pace.
Recommended, again for the genre its fairly solid with a nice pace.
December 17, 2007
read 05.21.90
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews