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

[Alien Redrum]

War Against the Mafia (The Executioner Book 1) by Don Pendleton



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...

Purchase here (or at the bookstore of your choice) and join in on the discussion:

[Alien Redrum]

I just want to say, I love that fucking cover.

[Neon Maniac]

Yeah, that cover's great

[Alien Redrum]

Holy shit. I just read the prologue and it's like...okay, say it's 20 degrees and you need a blanket. Last week, the only blanket you had was an afghan. I mean, technically it's a blanket, but it has all these holes in it. So it kind of keeps you warm, but we can all agree it's a ruse. It just makes you think it's fine.

This week, though, one of those 50 lb weighted blankets arrives, and HOLY SHIT this is what you needed the entire time! Not that fucking afghan.

That's the feeling I have right now, and I only read the damn prologue.

Speaking of which:

Spoiler:

I forgot how fucked up the story is that got Mack on his path. For some reason, I always go back to the Punisher's backstory and associate it with Bolan. No, no. Bolan's story is MORE fucked up. Dad killing mom and daughter and putting little bro in the hospital? Jesus fuck.

It always kind of surprises me how bad something looks when the thing it's trying to ripoff is placed right next to it.

[Alien Redrum]

Okay, I finished chapters 1-3.

Spoiler:

This is already really good. I like how Bolan is fallible and not smarter than EVERYONE. He left cigarette butts behind! Good thing there was no DNA back then. He'd be in a pickle for sure.

On the flip side, that detective is the worst. I wouldn't want him investigating any crime against me (although I'd want him investigating crimes I committed). This motherfucker out here telling Bolan everything they have and don't have in an active investigation where he's the lead suspect.

The writing is really night and day here. Although the use of "The Executioner" is starting to piss me off.

[Alien Redrum]

Spoilers for 4-6.

Spoiler:

Okay, so am I the only one that is bothered by Bolan fucking a sex worker under the same pimp as the one that pimped his sister out, all while looking for revenge for his sister being pimped out? There may be some hypocrisy there.

Still digging it, regardless. This is how a man's man book is written.

[Neon Maniac]

lol wow you've really taken off with it. I still need to get started.

[Alien Redrum]

Don't worry! I don't know how much I can read until Saturday.

[Neon Maniac]

I just started reading it. Some thoughts on the Prologue:

- I didn't realize that Able Team's first appearance was in the Prologue of Book 1. You can't get much earlier than that!

- I could read a book of just the letters he and his family exchanged while he was at war, especially all the advice he gives his sister

- Yeah, that prologue and origin story is quite the fucked up tale I love how Johnny's telling Mack how their sister became a hooker, and he says, "She was sellin' her ass! Don't look at me like that, she was!" Talking about their sister. Not something like, they made her be a prostitute. Nope. She was selling her ass. No other way to say it, because she was.

- It's true. When I was in the mob we only called people who carried firearms, Mister.

- I like that instead of dry narration, the events are told through the accounts of different witnesses. Only, they're supposed to be Mack's diary entries, so it doesn't make sense that they'd be random eyewitness accounts

[Neon Maniac]

Okay I read the first three chapters also. These chapters are cracking me up. I'm not even sure what I read as chapter 2 I think maybe it was just a lot of Mack's internal dialogue?

Yeah that police guy, he is awful. And you know he's going to be crawling up Mack's ass. I was really cracking up about the loan situation though because I just want to tell Mack, hey that's what they call a payday loan

how far have you gotten?

[Neon Maniac]

Finished up to 6.

These chapters, man lol.

Yeah the sex was kind of skeevy, I thought but I'm thinking they just put that in there mainly because they wanted to have the steamy sex.

I really can see why 14-year-old me dug this book. Having mainly read fantasy and sci-fi at that point, this was a completely different world. All of this was much closer and more related to the brand new cable TV and the late night movies it showed on the weekends.

While the chapters are flying by, it seems like not much is actually happening. I think the prologue contained more information than the last six chapters.

Two last things:

1. Yeah you can really tell the difference between this and the other one. This has a lot more richness to it for lack of a better term.

2. I really wish Shiki was reading this with us. I would really want to know his hot takes.

[Neon Maniac]

Chapter 7

Spoiler:

hahahaha I think those chapter is basically a tutorial about how to set up a database for prostitution. Also I found a photo of Mack hacking into the 1968 Mafia hooker database.



How big is the town of Pittsfield that this guy has multiple brothels and literally hundreds of whores?

[Neon Maniac]

Spoiler:

I'm assuming that the 32 Caliber pistol they give him to carry in his shoulder holster is a Beretta 81 Cheetah. I believe this pistol was also in the other book.




Also, Mark had a .44 magnum rifle. Mack has a .444 Marlin rifle.

[Neon Maniac]

Ch. 8 the last chapter in book 1.

Spoiler:

okay how is this the end of book 1? honestly I feel in some books we would be in chapter 3.

I feel like I could open up a brothel now. And I'm kind of done with the bolan sex scenes. Okay I get it he likes whores, 'nuff said!

All of this sounds very sex worker positive to be honest. It sounds like all the hookers have to want to be there and get paid a decent amount. Nobody's trying to put them on drugs or anything crazy like that.

[Alien Redrum]

Two last things:

1. Yeah you can really tell the difference between this and the other one. This has a lot more richness to it for lack of a better term.

That's a perfect way to describe it. This is richer than...THE PENETRATOR.

2. I really wish Shiki was reading this with us. I would really want to know his hot takes.

So do I. But he'd probably only read the first three chapters and then ghost us.