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War Against the Mafia (The Executioner Book 1) Kindle Edition
Overseas, Mack Bolan was dubbed “Sgt. Mercy” for the compassion he showed the innocent. On the home front, they’re calling him the Executioner for what he’s doing to the guilty.
In the jungles of Southeast Asia, American sniper Mack Bolan honed his skills. After twelve years, with ninety-five confirmed hits, he returns home to Massachusetts. But it’s not to reunite with his family, it’s to bury them—victims in a mass murder/suicide. Even though Bolan’s own father pulled the trigger, he knows the old man was no killer. He was driven to madness by Mafia thugs who have turned his idyllic hometown into a new kind of war zone.
Duty calls . . .
Introducing an action hero “who would make Jack Reacher think twice,” this is the first book in the iconic series of vigilante justice that has become a publishing phenomenon (Empireonline.com). With more than two hundred million Executioner books sold since its debut, the series continues to stimulate. Gerry Conway, cocreator of Marvel Comics’ The Punisher, credits the Executioner as “my inspiration . . . that’s what gave me the idea for the lone, slightly psychotic avenger.” The series is also now in development as a major motion picture.
War Against the Mafia is the 1st book in the Executioner series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherOpen Road Media Mystery & Thriller
- Publication dateDecember 16, 2014
- File size5288 KB
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About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B00OYMPCYO
- Publisher : Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller (December 16, 2014)
- Publication date : December 16, 2014
- Language : English
- File size : 5288 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 230 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #169,681 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #554 in Crime Action Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #1,400 in War & Military Action Fiction (Books)
- #1,981 in Action Thriller Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Don Pendleton (1927-1995) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. At the age of fourteen, during World War II, he enlisted in the Navy, serving until 1947 as a Radioman. He returned to active Naval duty during the Korean Conflict. Following the war he worked as a railroad telegrapher, CAA/FAA air traffic control specialist, and aerospace engineer. In the latter career, he worked as a senior engineer for Martin-Marietta's Titan ICBM programs and as an engineering administrator in NASA's Apollo Moonshot program. He published his first short story in 1957 and his first novel in 1961. Leaving his aerospace career behind, Don turned to full time writing in 1967, produced a number of mystery, science fiction and futuristic novels, a screenplay, and numerous poems, short stories and essays.
In 1969, War Against the Mafia, featuring Mack Bolan, the Executioner, was published. The phenomenal success of the first novel led to thirty-seven sequels over the next twelve years. Dozens of imitators, inspired by Pendleton's success, arose during the 1970's to constitute a new particularly American literary genre and the term Action/Adventure coined by Pendleton himself, has since spread to encompass television and motion picture formats as well. The original best-selling Executioner novels have been translated in more than thirty languages with in-print figures of more than 200 million copies worldwide. Pendleton franchised "Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan" to Harlequin's Gold Eagle Books in 1980, and more than 900 books based on the Executioner and spin-offs--Phoenix Force, Able Team, Stony Man, Mack Bolan, Super Bolan, have been published under their continuing program.
In December, 2014, Open Road Media released 37 ebooks of the original Don Pendleton's The Executioner. Mack Bolan's war against the mafia begins again.
As of October 11, 2016, Open Road Media is putting War Against the Mafia, Death Squad, and Battle Mask, books 1, 2, and 3, into print.
In November 2018, an Executioner short story written by Don Pendleton in 1978, "Willing to Kill, The Executioner: Mack Bolan Short Story", with an Introduction by Don's widow, Linda Pendleton, was published in ebook and print by Pendleton Artists.
Don's more recent works include a series of six mystery novels based the exploits of Joe Copp, Private Eye, and another six mystery novels based on the character, Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective. Both series are in print, Kindle, and in audiobooks.
Don turned to nonfiction in 1990, and with his wife, Linda, produced To Dance With Angels, a definitive study of life after death and spirit communication. Published in hardcover by Kensington, it had four editions. Linda wrote a new Introduction and put the latest edition into print and Kindle. Don and Linda also co-wrote Whispers From the Soul, available now in audiobook, print and Kindle.
Don's last novel was Roulette: The Search for the Sunrise Killer, co-written with Linda Pendleton, and is available in Print, Kindle, and audiobook.
Together, Don and Linda, adapted and scripted The Executioner, War Against the Mafia, to Comic graphic novel format, which was published in 1993. Following Don's death, Linda adapted and scripted the second Executioner novel, Death Squad, published in 1996 by Vivid Comics.
His last nonfiction books are A Search for Meaning From the Surface of a Small Planet; and The Metaphysics of the Novel and a Novelist by Don Pendleton with Linda Pendleton, a book for aspiring writers. Recently Linda published a collection of Don's Metaphysical writings: The Cosmic Breath: Metaphysical Essays of Don Pendleton. Also published was Soul Expressions: Poetry Collection Linda Pendleton and Don Pendleton.
In 2012, Don's science fiction was republished for Kindle and Print: The Guns of Terra 10; The Godmakers; and The Olympians. The three books are also available in a Kindle box set.
Don was a long time member of the Authors Guild; Authors League of America; Writer's Guild of America, West; Past West Coast Director of Mystery Writers of America; International Platform Association; and a frequent speaker on campus and writers' symposiums.
Don Pendleton published more than 125 books in his career. For biographical reference and bibliography on Don Pendleton, see:
Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers, (St. Martin Press); Contemporary Authors (Gale); Queen's Edition, Dictionary of International Biography (Melrose - London, England); Murder Ink (Workman); Who's Who in the Midwest.
Official Don Pendleton websites: http://www.donpendleton.com
http://www.executionerseries.com
Photo of Don Pendleton by Linda Pendleton.
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Mack Bolan, a reputed sniper, earned his laurels in Vietnam War, is granted special leave for the funeral of his father, mother and sister and to arrange for the treatment and rehabilitation of his younger brother. The father had shot his wife, daughter and younger son and takes his own life, but the younger son survives the shooting. Mack learns that the shooting is the direct result of a small loan taken by the father which he was unable to service/repay and the sister had agreed to work off the debt by selling herself.
Enraged at the loan sharking which killed his family, Mack Bolan is up at arms to eliminate the evil and this becomes a war against the Mafia.
This is indeed an action packed drama of one man’s fight against evil and Don Pendleton deserves high appreciation for his detailed planning of the war.
Well conceived, crisply described, with limited characters. Sharp, focused and fast.
As a teen, I used to spend a lot of time on bookshops ... okay, I still do, but back in the 1970's I was trolling the bookshelves, looking for anything that I could get excited for. I would ALWAYS pick up one of The Executioner titles, stare at the action on the cover and wonder how much fun the books would be to read, but I also knew that books with such depicted violence would not be particularly welcomed into my household (though the sci-fi books were often much more violent ... it just wasn't so obvious). Now, decades later, as these books are being reissued by Open Road Media, I finally get to dig in past the cover.
The book is pretty much what I expected it to be, more or less. More violence, more story, less sex.
The story is pretty classic pulp fiction. A sharp-shooter in Vietnam, Mack Bolan, comes home to the States to bury members of his family. The Mafia was putting pressure on his father and did everything that they could to get a little money from him. But the deaths of his family members is only the beginning of the blood that will fill the streets. Mack is a trained, cold-blooded killer. Now he turns his skills on the Mafia, taking on this legendary nation inside a nation. Secretly, the cops are delighted to see someone taking out the trash, but even so, if they can get their hands on Mack Bolan, they'll have to take him in for murder after a score of Mafia loan-sharks and hired guns face The Executioner's justice.
I was surprised at how much Bolan relied on the help of a young woman - a woman he hadn't even met until he needed her help - and how quickly the relationship developed.
There's a lot of killing and no remorse, even from our hero. In part this is because the 'bad guys' are set up to be so bad that we can't feel bad in any way. The nameless who are killed are simply bodies, in the way, working for evil, and better off dead. It was a precursor, in 1969, to the sort of drama we'd be seeing in the movies, with Dirty Harry and the like, in just a few years' time.
This is escapist, pulp fiction and as such it reads quite well. The action moves along rapidly, and the action doesn't stop to get gratuitous in a sex scene (the sex happens behind closed doors whereas the violence is right out on the street). And even though it's violent, the reader is a lot like the cops in the book. We know it's wrong, what Bolan is doing, but we also know how much he was wronged and how nobody - until now - has been willing to take the Mafia on. He's fighting fire with fire and we love it.
Looking for a good book? Want fast, escapist adventure fiction? The first book in <em>The Executioner</em> series: <em>War Against the Mafia</em> by Don Pendleton, delivers.
Taken only on its own merits, I'd probably rate this title as four stars. It's a little slow in the beginning, and spends a lot of time building up Bolan as simultaneously a veritable god of the battlefields, and an aw-shucks sort of guy who feels his accomplishments were nothing more than "doing his duty". While I've always enjoyed the Executioner series, the portrayal of Bolan as this HumbleBragging super-man has always irked me a tiny bit. However, With no real basis of comparison in the "anti-Mafia vigilante" fictional theme category, I suppose it was necessary to create this sort of deadly Boy Scout so we could sympathize and root for Bolan even as he goes around blowing away Syndicate scumbags.
In addition, I found his infiltration of the Mafia organization a little too pat. These guys are supposed to have a very acute sense of duplicity and make a habit out of sniffing out snitches, backstabbers, turncoats, and undercover cops. For Bolan to slip into their organization so effortlessly seems a bit cheesy, and I feel this is handled much better in the third book, Battle Mask.
Overall, however, this is still a great book, and should absolutely be read by any fan of Men's Adventure fiction. It is the first of what serves as the Pater Familias of the genre, and as such, needs to be respected, even if it isn't quite as polished as some of the titles that follow.
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But that is now. Back in 1968 when War Against the Mafia was published, he was a lone vigilante who was just starting his war. For long time I’ve been trying to track these early Executioner books, and now thanks to Kindle I can download them in few seconds.
War Against the Mafia is the very first Executioner book and it is here that we are introduced to Mack Bolan. The book opens in August 1968. Mack Bolan is a sniper serving in Vietnam. We are told that he is thirty years old and has been a career soldier since signing up at eighteen. Although not a special forces commando, he had to operate behind enemy lines fighting Vietcong on their own terms. As a result, he had become so good at his job that he might as well be a commando.
So here is Mack Bolan happily assassinating high ranking Vietcong officials, when he receives some very tragic news. Few months earlier, his father, a steelworker, had a stroke and had to spend some time in hospital. When he finally got out, he had medical bills to pay. Unable to do his old job due to poor health, he was moved by his employers to another position that was paying much less. Badly in need of money, he took a loan from a loan shark. When he fell behind his payments, very unpleasant characters started showing up and roughing him up. His daughter went to speak with the loan shark and they made her an offer she could not refuse. To pay them back, she agreed to work as a part-time prostitute.
When pops found out, he went ballistic (quite literally) and shot his whole family before turning the gun on himself. (One more argument for universal healthcare. When you get sick, you don’t have to borrow money from criminals and your daughter won’t have to sell herself.) The only survivor of the massacre is Bolan’s younger brother, who told Bolan the whole story when Bolan was allowed to return home on emergency leave.
Bolan decides to avenge his family. He first destroys the loan shark operation with the help of high-powered sniper rifle. He kills five men, but soon discovers that they were not an independent outfit but part of the Mafia. And so Bolan goes from waging war against five loan sharks to waging war against the whole of organization.
To get more information about Mafia’s operations, he tricks them into hiring him as an enforcer. (I thought that they accept only Italians.) For the next few days Bolan serves them loyally all the while familiarizing himself with various Mafia personalities and operations.
Then, one day, Bolan gets a warning from a friendly cop that the Mafia decided to put a contract on his head. The assassins show up soon after, but he quickly kills them and starts a full blown offensive against the whole organization. And because cops do not like vigilantes, Bolan is forced to wage a guerrilla warfare against Mafia all the while eluding the authorities. Along the way there are some twists and turns, some gunfights and lots of action before the final big battle between Bolan and the local godfather and his not-so-small army.
This, basically, is the plot. So what can I say about the book? I like it. Sure, it has weaknesses. For example, when Bolan joins the Mafia, they tell him that the word “Mafia” is never used. He is to say “the organization.” Fair enough; it makes sense. But then the word Mafia is used all the time. Even the gangsters use it when talking amongst themselves. (Yes, I know that it is a very minor detail, but it irked me for some reason.)
And what about the order to kill Bolan? Who gave it? And why? When Bolan offers his services to the Mafia, they do not trust him completely, but they take him in nonetheless. So what made them change their mind?
Also, at the end, when Bolan destroys the Mafia’s base, we do not find out what happened to the main bad guys. Bolan never sees them die and the police never confirm whether they are dead or not. We only find out what happens to Lou at the end. (There is a plot twist here that I didn’t see coming, but I won’t say more.)
The biggest issue I had was with Bolan’s psychology. Remember, this is the very first book in the Executioner series. This is the book where Bolan becomes the man who devotes his whole life to fighting and killing criminals. I was curious about how that happened. I am not talking about the events that led to it (the death of his family) because that is well described. I am talking about what goes on in Bolan’s head.
And what does go on in his head? Not much. When he learns about his family’s death, Bolan takes it very calmly. The fact that his own father had murdered Bolan’s mother (who was completely blameless) and his sister (who only wanted to help), tried and almost succeeded in murdering his brother (who too was blameless) and then turned the gun on himself causes no shock or psychological trauma. Yes, his father was pushed into it by the circumstances, but many people are harassed by criminals and yet they do not resort to murder-suicide. If your own father were to do that (assuming that your father is a good, decent man with no history of violence), would that not shatter you? Or at least make you question certain things?
To say that Bolan has no emotional reaction to his family’s death is wrong. He is angry, but in my opinion not angry enough. Any normal human being in this situation should be overwhelmed by pain and rage. But then, maybe Mack Bolan is not a normal human being.
But the book, despite these flaws, is good from the action point of view. Don Pendleton wrote the first thirty-something Executioner books. All Executioner books after that were written by a multitude of other writers. Some did good job at it, some did bad job, but after reading War Against the Mafia I believe that Pendleton was the best of them all. (At least out of the ones I have read. Since there are hundreds of Executioner books, I cannot read them all. I do have a life, after all.)
The action and the narrative flow smoothly and draw you in. It is interesting to read how Bolan learns how to fight in this new, unfamiliar terrain. After all, he was a regular soldier before and not an urban vigilante.
In modern Executioner books Bolan is often portrayed as some sort of terminator who can walk into the bad guys’ lair and wipe them out head on. Not so here. Yes, one against one, Bolan is superior to his enemies, but almost always he is heavily outnumbered. His training and combat experience give him an edge, yes, but that is not enough to simply walk into a room and casually shoot up all the bad guys. To win (or even just to survive) Bolan has to rely on cunning, tactical thinking, psychological warfare and superior weaponry. Even at the end, when he attacks the Mafia’s headquarters all by himself, he does so from long range with sniper and mortar fire.
He is vulnerable. He makes mistakes. He gets hurt once in a while. There are moments when he is unsure of himself and at a loss of what to do. I find that a hero who can (and does occasionally) fail and who does not always dominate the situation is far more appealing and interesting than some superman terminator type.
Oh, and there is also a lot of sex in the book. Some of it is described in graphic, lurid detail.
It’s not that I am a fan of erotica, or that I believe that Executioner books could benefit from more sex. (Although, coming to think of it, in some cases they could.) I was just surprised because modern Executioner books have zero sex. Even when Bolan meets women who are ready and willing, and even if the story is set up in such way that sex would be perfectly natural under the circumstances, absolutely nothing happens.
I guess that modern writers are prudish and picture Bolan as some kind of monk. But I guess that it goes back to the pervasive trend in modern culture where showing horrible violence and making it look like something fun and entertaining is okay, but erotic activity in any shape and form is taboo.
Of course, War Against the Mafia might be one of the best Executioner books I have read so far, but in the end it is just one more Executioner book. Do not expect it to be deep or intellectual. For what it is, it is a good book, but what it is, is a 1968 equivalent of one of those modern straight-to-DVD action movies..