BOOK REVIEW--The Executioner #441: Murder Island by Joshua Reynolds

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After a nearly quarter-century hiatus, I have resumed reading The Executioner series, jumping back and forth between the early Mafia War years (not without its flaws, but still pretty damn good) and more recent offerings (which are wildly hit ‘n’ miss … unlike Mack Bolan himself, who almost never misses).

Unfortunately, Murder Island is one of the misses. Not completely off the target, but definitely a long way from the bulls-eye. Entries like this not only make me more appreciative of the skilled prose of series creator Don Pendleton, but are the reason I stopped reading The Executioner 20 years ago. They had become rote and formulaic, and it appears that particular problem has not been completely rectified in the interim. Of course, in the publisher’s defense, with such a long-running series, keeping things fresh is undoubtedly a bit of a challenge.

That said, while Pendleton created a fascinating character in Mack Bolan, far too many recent authors have settled for churning out generic action-adventure novels under The Executioner banner. Hey, it’s a paycheck and I don’t fault them for it—hell, I’d probably do it if I was asked—but Murder Island feels like just another soulless, assembly-line entry in the series. No disrespect to author Joshua Reynolds, but it just felt like his heart wasn't in it this go-round. The last Reynolds-penned Executioner novel I read (Arctic Kill) was superior to this one, so perhaps Murder Island is an anomaly, not the norm.

The plot is yet another homage/variation of "A Most Dangerous Game," with humans being hunted for sport. Nothing wrong with that; if you’re going to borrow, why not borrow from the classics? Normally I enjoy these kind of man-hunting-man tales, but it all just seemed so perfunctory and lacking any semblance of tension, suspense, or even style. Even the action came across as lackluster ... despite Bolan wrestling with saltwater crocodiles in an eye-rollingly ludicrous scene. That said, more such ludicrous, pulp-flavored shenanigans might have helped lessen the generic feel of the book.

Bottom line, this one isn't worth hunting down unless you absolutely have to read every Executioner novel ever written. Murder Island certainly wasn’t subpar enough to make me abandon the series again, but it did make me reach for a Pendleton-penned entry (Battle Mask, in case anyone was wondering) to remind myself how good an Executioner story can be. There are many reasons this series has lasted so long … but Murder Island isn’t one of them.