Rating: 
Summary: Dirty Dick at it again!
Review: After reading Marcinko/Weisman's last effort; Echo Platoon, I was glad to see an improvement. I found the same political and military commentary, the same profanity (I'd always like less of that)tactical detail and a generally good story. These books are only about a third, or less, the length of what Tom Clancy does these days but they have a lot of detail that just seems to make sense to me, even the plot line of this story isn't totally out of whack. So many action adventure writers don't seem to know which end of the gun barrel a bullet comes out of, these guys do. If you want something less than Clancy length but entertaining to read get this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Rather Spiffing!
Review: As a Brit female, I approached RW with caution, especially after watching those SEAL documentaries on Discovery and noting a definite lack of black and Native American faces..maybe they all had flu, that week...but I doubt it, so giving more money to prejudice supporting ex-Seals wasn't something I was hot on. Plus all the swearwords, which are only usually used by people who have nothing worth saying... BUT I salute RM, cos I liked it..lots! Just like the "Sten" books (you'll love em boys), silly things like character development are sacrified for a breathless, headlong dash of a plot that has no mercy for pointless waffle. There's loads of action, blowing things up and male bonding, done with suitable stiff upper lip Britishness by Mick and square jawed Yank machismo by Dick (unfortunate names there, RM, Mick & Dick sounds like a Morcambe and Wise sketch). of course it's the same book the 9th time with a few minor alterations, but it's so well done that it's highly enjoyable, with plenty of humorous asides - it knows not to take itself too seriously. I heard of these through Suzanne Brockmann's Alpha Squad seal romances (sorry, boys to use the r word) and I would not only read another one but I'llkeep it for reference as I'm a writer - if I want to utilize some "gun words" but don't want more than surface details, I can bang in the MP5 HK room broom with confidence! If your male partner won't touch the written word, the RW series is the place to start, as it's Boys Own all the way, and there is no actual depth to it - like Brockmann, RM addresses no real issues like sexual harrassment of female military personnel or persecution of same for their sexuality in the US Armed Forces, it's a straight rollicking adventure swashbuckler! The one part I strongly agree with is their views on authority - I know what it's like when them Above ingore the advice of them that actually does the work, and who has to clean up the mess...? RM and JW deserve every penny they've grafted out of this series, though I'm curious to know what real SEALs think of these and Brockmann et al.. Well done and let's have a few more!
Rating: 
Summary: yet another chance to play "smack tha' rogue.."
Review: Eventhough the Rogue Warrior series has become fairly predictable, i have to say i always enjoy reading the latest installment, and this one was no exception. Yeah, he is always suffering "painfull dings", losing his gun, and having to kill the bad guys single handed, but hey. real life has plenty of "Murphy Moments" too. even if your the toughest navy seal in the U.S. I do think he comes up with some very interesting scenarios for his books, it's just that they all follow the same storyline.
Rating: 
Summary: Losing his luster
Review: I have been a big fan of the Rogue Warrior since his first book was released. While much of the books are fiction, there is also a great deal of understanding you can receive on what the military has the capability to do. I read this latest book after the 9.11.01 attack because I appreciate Marcinko's patriotism and desire to create warriors in the military. It seems to be the job of military shoul be to protect and defend, sometimes be being offensive. The two negatives I have towards his more recent books are the increased use of foul language and his use of "insights" of people, places and things during an action sequence in the story.
I understand that the language used in the book is authentic but at what point there seems to be more of it just to reach the number of words appropriate for the book, what's the point? He also spends more time telling background on people or past events during an action sequence that should either be more concise or placed before the sequence begins. I find myself skipping over some of the history of his friends to find out what is happening in the present.
I will look forward to future books, especially in light of the bombings and the American response and hope that Marcinko will return to a more direct type of story-telling that will encourage us to create and support men of war.
Rating:
Summary: Losing his luster
Review: I have been a big fan of the Rogue Warrior since his first book was released. While much of the books are fiction, there is also a great deal of understanding you can receive on what the military has the capability to do. I read this latest book after the 9.11.01 attack because I appreciate Marcinko's patriotism and desire to create warriors in the military. It seems to be the job of military shoul be to protect and defend, sometimes be being offensive. The two negatives I have towards his more recent books are the increased use of foul language and his use of "insights" of people, places and things during an action sequence in the story.
I understand that the language used in the book is authentic but at what point there seems to be more of it just to reach the number of words appropriate for the book, what's the point? He also spends more time telling background on people or past events during an action sequence that should either be more concise or placed before the sequence begins. I find myself skipping over some of the history of his friends to find out what is happening in the present.
I will look forward to future books, especially in light of the bombings and the American response and hope that Marcinko will return to a more direct type of story-telling that will encourage us to create and support men of war.
Rating:
Summary: He's a rogue, but he's OUR rogue!
Review: I have read most all of the Rogue Warrior series, and I must say, this is among the best. As a library administrator and ex-Marine I can recommend this book because it is at the top of its genre. Sort of the manly man's version of what women refer to as "light summertime reads", this novel is full of what action novels should be. I recommend it to all fans of action and suspense.
Rating:
Summary: Predictable and poorly developed...the worst of the series
Review: Let's get one thing straight right out of the chute: the "Rogue Warrior" series of novels aren't going to be winning Pulitzers anytime soon. These are pure, testosterone-driven, profanity-laced, escapes from reality; they have been a collection of books that have been fun to read. However, after reading "Rogue Warrior: Detachment Bravo", I have come to the conclusion that it may be time for Richard Marcinko to retire to his Rogue Manor.For starters, the most obvious criticism of "Detachment Bravo" is its utter predictability. It is a trend that started several novels ago and gets worse with each successive book. Heck, even someone who has only read one or two of his books could guess the action and plot. You can ALWAYS guarantee one or more sequences where Mr. Marcinko loses his weapon or runs out of ammo and has to grapple in hand-to-hand combat with a bad guy, will go personally greet and smack around the chief villain in the story, will go meet and smack around his superiors, and - in the climatic battle at the end of the story - will lose his weapon or ammo and kill the villain in a prolonged hand-to-hand combat sequence. Honest to goodness: for a guy who preaches perfection and team support, he is always goofing up, and his teammates - who are there to back him - are never around to shoot the bad guy he's wrestling. Again, I know it's fiction, but it really starts to grate on a reader after a while. The second criticism is that the plot in "Detachment Bravo" was poor. This series has never been too much about a plot, but he has done better. This one was not well thought-out, seemed disjointed in a lot of places, and was simply poorly developed. Yes, the reader knows who the bad guy(s) are, but it is never fully certain what their ultimate aim is or - more importantly - what they're doing other than trotting the globe on a yacht. What the reader is left with are the usual Rogue Warrior cliches found in every one of his books and the aforementioned predictability. Readers who want to get Richard Marcinko at his very best should read his first two books: the nonfiction "Rogue Warrior" and the first fiction book "Rogue Warrior II: Red Cell". They launched him to stardom, but he never really held this high level, slowly tapering off until a precipitous decline in quality of his last couple of novels. I rate the book with two stars; it could have easily been a one-star review, but he still wins points for sheer escapism in his writing. As I indicated at the outset, it may be time for Mr. Marcinko to put the "Rogue Warrior" series out to stud. If he decides to continue the series, this reader hopes that he will take a year or two off and develop a better story. Otherwise, I'm not wasting my money.
Rating:
Summary: Another Feast for Marcinko Fans
Review: My wife takes it as evidence of something profoundly wrong with me that I've read every one of Dick Marcinko's books. But then ... she can hardly be expected to understand anything about the joys of Rogue Fiction. Yes, sure, this is formula writing at it's most extreme: Marcinko has gotten rich writing the same book nine times. And, worse than that, if you think it's bad, I suspect he delegates all the work to co-author John Weisman, confining his own contribution to probably not much more than his name, Rogue persona, and the ugly mugshot they print on the flyleaves of these books. But Marcinko fans don't care about any of that, and in fact we admire him all the more for his self-interested Rogue cunning. Moreover, we like to think that he has more important things to do with his time - especially now - than sitting around like some kind of wonk in front of a keyboard typing out entertainment for us chair-bound tadpoles. Detachment Bravo has all the classic Marcinko plot motifs. It opens with a fast action scene in which Dick and his squad of oddly-named heroes take down a band of Tangos (terrorists for those unschooled in Rogue lingo), foiling their bloodthirsty plans. But, as always, there's no gratitude for Dickie. By flaunting the rules and showing up the incompetence of pencil-pushing military bureaucrats, he's brings down their vengeance instead. He and his loyal boys are forced out on the lam to unravel the vast Tango conspiracy, of which the opening attack was only a small manifestation. Relying on the limited protection of one True Warrior who has somehow survived in the military high command, and supported by his dwindling and embattled network of old-salt chiefs and other kindred sprits still scattered around in various places, Dick and his team go to work. They head off to various parts of the world and for several chapters engage in global high-tech sleuth work. They soon uncover evidence of a degenerate billionaire somewhere who is funding and masterminding the terrorists. Dick quickly tracks the guy down and, while not having enough evidence yet to take him out, nevertheless initiates an up-front-and-personal confrontation with him (i.e., slaps him around) just to let him know who's on the case. ... There is, of course, at least one detailed and slow-motion account of hand-to-hand combat between Dick himself and one of the unfortunate tangos, who meets his just end inevitably with something gruesome like a crushed skull. To anyone who has read even one of the books in this series, all this should all sound very familiar. Not that Detachment Bravo, like the others, doesn�t have it's own unique wrinkles. The degenerate billionaire, for example, here is actually two degenerate billionaires, a couple of twenty-something Irish brothers who have made it as (what else!) dot.com entrepreneurs. Who says Dickie can't stay current with the times? The novel also sports all the trademark stylistic devices: half a dozen or so 'f' and 's' words per page, parenthetical lectures on the perils of underestimating Mr. Murphy, goofy asides to the pedantic APE (All-Powerful Editor), sappy prayers of gratitude to the God of War for the privilege of leading brave warriors into battle, panegyrics to the healing powers of Bombay gin, and so forth. I sometimes worry about what would happen if Marcinko ever goes creative or sensitive on us, the way Clancy has tried to do in his more recent novels. However, I can happily report that Detachment Bravo gives strong evidence that we have nothing to fear on that score. I'm afraid I can't recommend this book to most wives or other sensitive souls, but Marcinko enthusiasts will love it. If he writes the book another nine times, I intend to buy every one.
Rating:
Summary: Rogue, Twisting in the Wind...
Review: Not quite as good as Echo Platoon, or previous works, but still a decent read. The basic gist is that Dick has been exiled to running a joint counter-terrorist operation in England/N. Ireland with Mick Owen and soldiers from various services. They're hunting the True IRA, a group that in Real Life is laughably incompetent but suddenly has an infusion of funds that they're using to do some really unpleasant stuff. Things go wrong, Dick gets his face in the news, again, and he gets an assignment to hunt down a splinter group, the Green Hand Defenders, and to eventually get their backers, a pair of Irish dot-com billionaires. Several themes stand out. First, the Rogue Warrior (R) is getting really old. He misses stuff he would've picked up on three books ago, stuff that's blindingly obvious to the reader. His network of support is retiring, and his patron, General Crocker, is taking his terminal leave. There's also more of a focus on Dick this time. In past issues, his supporting cast was a lot more involved. This time, though, it seems like they're just...there. Even Mick Owens barely does anything all novel long. Oh, they do stuff, it's just more glossed over than anything else. Finally, the opposition...just doesn't have any caliber to it. The dot-com billionaires are really rather pathetic, and none of the hired hands stand out as worthy opponents. The method the tangos were going to hit Target # 1 with was impressive, to say the least, but that was it. I'd really've liked somebody for Dick to fight who I could be truly worried would win. This is, of course, a good novel. It's entertaining, informative, and downright humorous at times. It's not quite as good as those that have come before, though.
Rating:
Summary: Move fast, stay low!
Review: Once again, the Marcinko/Weisman duo take the us on a trip with the wild bunch (read Rogue Warrior: The Real Team). And once more, the bad guys get theirs from every direction imaginable and a few that are beyond imagination, in spite of the incompentent leadership at the top. Dirty Dick will warp your mind if you don't move fast, stay low and watch your six! As the author of FADED COLORS, knowing personally "Nasty Nick Grundle", "Indian Jew" and some of the other sorry lot of heroes, brave American warriors each, put nothing past these characters. Grab a copy, bite a nail and cheer them on to victory over evil...or? And sleep tight tonight. They're really out there.
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