The first installment in the now famous The Executioner series, its creator, Don Pendleton, created the greatest literary action hero, who has now been featured in over 600 novels. Pendleton himself wrote 37 of the first 38 books published by Pinnacle before licensing the rights to Gold Eagle, who then started to use a series of ghost writers to continue the series as MACK BOLAN. Pendleton wrote only 2 of these new episodes before his death in 1995. This first episode tells the background story of the Executioner: released from Vietnam on compassionate leave after the death of his father, Mack goes after the mafia loan sharks who cause his father's demise. Thus starts the greatest and longest running action series ever as Bolan attempts to eradicate the Mafia across America.