Where Mack Bolan Enters the Lions' Den

Panic in Philly by Don Pendleton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As I have seen pointed out, these books are guilty of glorifying violence. They absolutely are. No way around that. That's why I wouldn't easily recommend them for anyone else. These are like R-rated 80s movies that had to work to escape an NC-17 for violence, and readers have to decide how they feel about that before they pick up a book from a series like this.

But read as pulp fiction, as men's adventure, as a what-if, maybe even like a comic book, and imagined more like a John Wick or Jason Bourne movie, with all the violence coming against violent men who probably deserve it, they're very entertaining. I was surprised.

This is the last of 5 books (numbers 11-15) that I got used out of curiosity, remembering seeing them lying around other people's houses when I was a kid, including my much older brother's place. Nostalgia made me try them, but I found that, for the right audience, they're still very good, and they seem to be different every time. I can't speak for issue 250 or 300, but so far I'd say they actually vary a lot. I expected the storylines to be very similar, but aside from the main idea of punishing violent career criminals, the actual plots have been different in every one.

The language is a little raw, like you'd expect with 1970s books like this, but it reads quick and I found the writing to be appropriate to the task, with the right tone for this sort of story: tough, pretty spare, and to the point. I liked it fine, especially for an action story.

Is it a good book? I wouldn't make that claim. But is it entertaining? I'd say yes.

Anyway, I've made a lot of apologies for the book and for the series, and that's enough. My main interest in books is entertainment above all, not themes or language or some other secondary characteristic of the story, and it's fun. It is. The good guy outsmarts the bad guys. I like it.

I don't really believe in guilty pleasures--at least, I don't think people should feel guilty for the things they enjoy--and I liked this. YMMV

View all my reviews