[HDNA #7] - War Against the Mafia (The Executioner Book 1) by Don Pendleton

[Alien Redrum]

I just finished B2 Ch2.

Spoiler:

Jesus, this...okay, I blew through all the sexy time stuff. It's SO weird and forced. They love each other? It's been what? Two days?

[Neon Maniac]

When I was a kid I thought the sex was the weakest part of the story, and I still think it is today

It's forced, weird, and there could be better things happening here. It really interrupts the story, I think. If I remember right, the older mafia books have the sex, but that drops off in the 80's books where it does happen, but it's just not as pronounced I think. The 80's books were the ones where the last page was an info sheet on one of the firearms used in the book. It would have a drawing of it and specs. I think they did that in the Able Team and other similar series I forget the name of.

[Neon Maniac]

You'll enjoy Book 2. It's nonstop action!

Or should I say.... nonstop Macktion!

[Alien Redrum]

Since you're reading again I am too. Don't freak out about numbers, as you've undoubtedly learned by now, each chapter is basically a single scene, this book is super short.

These are all about 180-200 pages, and I'm wondering if the average time to read them corresponds with average flights or train trips? It seems like a lot of quick genre books like these (I'm going cross genre and including Harlequins) are about that size. I'm just curious because these types of books seem to be the type that you buy, then you leave behind after you've read it so someone else can find it and read it. I imagine up until the early 2000's that was more common than it is now.

That makes COMPLETE sense. Back when these were published (like late '60s and early '70s), I bet it was predominantly business men who were flying. I bet these books did gangbusters in the airports. Quick reads you can leave behind on the plane.

B2 Ch5

Spoiler:

Wow, Mack's a dick. I don't think he cares about getting those people fired at all. Also, what would your reaction be if someone came into your work and started doing this shit? He'd probably shoot me because I'd tell him to fuck off.

Also, where is he getting all of these marksmanship medals? He's giving them away like candy.

At what point do the matthews who know everything about him just go kill his brother and laugh at him? I'm thinking that would've happened for sure after the boss's house.

The rate he's giving them out, they must have had to press more medals when he was in the military.

I bet after he started handing them out like candy, they said, "Wait, shit. We should have had him hand out playing cards. He's handing out way too many."

"But we don't have word processors to find and replace 'marksmanship medals' with 'Ace of Clubs'."

"Fuck. Okay, maybe no one will notice."



OH and he rested one on the slope of that woman's boob!

[Alien Redrum]

When I was a kid I thought the sex was the weakest part of the story, and I still think it is today

It's forced, weird, and there could be better things happening here. It really interrupts the story, I think. If I remember right, the older mafia books have the sex, but that drops off in the 80's books where it does happen, but it's just not as pronounced I think. The 80's books were the ones where the last page was an info sheet on one of the firearms used in the book. It would have a drawing of it and specs. I think they did that in the Able Team and other similar series I forget the name of.

YES! I remember those!

Phoenix Force. That was the other series.

It was Mack Bolan, Able Team, and Phoenix Force. Stoney Man somehow fits into all of this, but I'm not sure how.

You'll enjoy Book 2. It's nonstop action!

Or should I say.... nonstop Macktion!

[Neon Maniac]

That makes COMPLETE sense. Back when these were published (like late '60s and early '70s), I bet it was predominantly business men who were flying. I bet these books did gangbusters in the airports. Quick reads you can leave behind on the plane.

That's what I'm thinking. Because scifi books were about the same length. I think it must go back to the whole dime books thing that really is no longer around due to ereaders. I bought a lot of the 80's Mack books off of the spinning rack at the drug store and the 7-11.

[Neon Maniac]

The rate he's giving them out, they must have had to press more medals when he was in the military.

I bet after he started handing them out like candy, they said, "Wait, shit. We should have had him hand out playing cards. He's handing out way too many."

"But we don't have word processors to find and replace 'marksmanship medals' with 'Ace of Clubs'."

"Fuck. Okay, maybe no one will notice."



OH and he rested one on the slope of that woman's boob!

When I go full Mack Bolan in a few years and start my own war against the Mafia (Fuck it, gonna call them Matthews so when I'm caught I sound like a hillbilly) I'm going to leave old Pogs on them. Those should be easy and cheap to find. Maybe bosses get a tomagatchi. Probably not though, millennials probably bought all those up. Definitely pogs though.

Yeah, Phoenix Force! I think I must not have liked them as much so their name won't stick. For about 6 months I did subscribe to the books and would get an Able Team and a Phoenix Force book one month, and 2 Mack books the other months.

[Neon Maniac]

Out of curiosity, I started following a group on FB called "Men's Adventure Paperbacks of the 20th Century". It's pretty interesting. I don't post obvs, but it's a bunch of people posting their finds and collections of series, sometimes with a little review or comment about what they're like.

JFC, Mack's just the tip of the iceberg, really. Lots of series like this, set in different time frames. Westerns, WWIIs, etc. I mention it only because it's really good for browsing pulp book porn. Because one thing I've learned is that I love the old books, I just don't want to own any of them.

This series was written by a former WWII British officer. Apparently he wrote a lot of different series and they were mainly from the German perspective. So basically a series starring nazis. Who read these?!?! lol

[Alien Redrum]

WHAT THE FUCK?

[Neon Maniac]

Here's what the guy who posted them said about them:

When l was at school l was a big fan of Leo Kessler war novels. Kessler was one of a number of pseudonyms adopted by British writer Charles Whiting (1926- 2007). A veteran of WW2 and a prolific writer of mass market pulp novels in the 1970s & 1980s, Whiting churned out over 350 books during his career. Leo Kessler was his most often-used pen name and, beginning in the early 1970s, Futura paperback editions of his works were released in quick succession.
The bulk of Kessler novels were about WW2 from the German perspective. His longest and most popular series was the Wotan (War Dog) series about a regiment of the Waffen-SS which takes part in nearly every German campaign of the Second World War. The series was extended to one or two survivors continuing their combat exploits into serving with the French foreign legion in Africa & Indo-China in the postwar era. The Wotan series extended to over 30 novels although the last half dozen or so which appeared in the late 80s or early 90s were released in hardback only.
Kessler novels were designed to appeal to the younger readership with plenty of graphic violence & gore sprinkled with crudely described sex scenes. There were generally half a dozen stock characters in each novel or series, only the names were different. These included the liberal, naive officer whose sole character arc is to become progressively more disillusioned with Hitler’s war; the working-class NCO who is as cunning, cynical and insubordinate as he is sex-obsessed ; the corrupt or sleazy senior commander who usually turns out to be a coward ; and the fanatical and uncompromising Nazi-type with the crisp on his shoulder.
Other series of Kessler novels included Stormtroop which featured an elite unit of mountain troops, Submarine, about a U-Boat crew, The Black Cossacks, a pro-German cavalry force, The Otto series about a rogue NCO who was a black marketeer and SS Stuka Squadron (pictured here), a special unit of Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers attached to the Waffen SS. The series, published in 1983-84, only lasted 4 novels, beginning in Belgium in 1940 and ending in East Prussia in 1945. The fourth book ended with a possible opening for further books but no more appeared.

[Neon Maniac]

That group is kind of a rabbit hole that I didn't mean to go down

I didn't realize it, but the Fred Ward movie, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, is from the The Destroyer series, also published by Mack's publisher, Golden Eagle.

[Neon Maniac]

B3 C1

Spoiler:

JFC. Nobody asked for emo Mack. WTF?

oh geez and then we get the world's worst sex scene ever. Maybe the world's most unsexiest sex scene.

[Neon Maniac]

B3 C2

Spoiler:

Oh Jesus please us! How's this even a chapter? It's basically still chapter 1. And what a weird debate about good and evil.

At this point, apparently I'm the only one still worried about Johnny Bolan, because I think Mack and Don Pendleton both have forgotten about him entirely.

[Alien Redrum]

OMG, that emo Mack Bolan. WTF. Gross. NGL, I just started skipping mushy scenes entirely. They are so weird.

B3C2 annoyed me. A lot. Look, it's a goddamn Mack Bolan book, not Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Stop trying to philosophize. The fancy man in his fancy suit on the fancy plane doesn't care.

I finished the book. Here are some spoilers for the last few chapters.

Spoiler:

That guy being a cop? I don't know, man. If The Exepenetrator was trying to kill me, I'd probably tell him I was on his side. HOWEVER, that guy was also an overall piece of fucking shit. He's a cop and the #1 sex trafficker for the mob? I was honestly upset Mack didn't put a bullet in his head.

Mack literally road a horse off after the battle, having brained a cop to do it. So I'm going to laugh even harder at those stupid rednecks and their Punisher logos on their stupid trucks. Mack Bolan and his son Frank Castle don't give one shit about cops.

So, in the end, he just gives Val a bunch of money to take care of his brother. He should have given Neon that money since Neon is obviously the only one that cares.

Dude killed what? 60 people? Don't worry, a new pair of spectacles and he's unrecognizable!

Still lots of fun though.

[Neon Maniac]

You finished it!?! I felt bad for reading the 2 chapters of B3 because you hadn't told me you'd gotten that far yet

I've been sitting around waiting for you to catch up. This is the longest it's taken anyone to read a Mack book, I think.

I'll knock the rest of the book out soon now that I can.