Rating: 
Summary: The Demise of Demo Dick?
Review: It's aptly named; violence is all it's about. There is none of the finesse, characterizations or political subtleties that made the previous Rogue Warrior novels, co-authored by John Weisman, so entertaining and - yes - uplifting.
Marcinko is a bona fide warrior - a BTDT whose two non-fiction books, Leadership Secrets, and Strategies for Success, are permanent installations in my home library. His original book, Rogue Warrior, the autobiography, is another keeper - one of the most inspirational and motivating I've ever read.
Unfortunately, Violence of Action makes a mockery of all that went before. It's cartoonish in its simplicity, gratuitously violent without any redeeming qualities, and mouthily preachy without being the least bit inspiring. When one of Demo Dick's teammates died, in prior books, you really cared... about them, their families, the SEAL community. Not so in Violence of Action; I kept wishing someone would shoot either the characters or me and put me out of my misery.
I am crazy about Commander Richard Marcinko. I have the utmost respect for all that he's accomplished, all that he's survived, and the kind of life he's lived. Yes, he's rough around the edges and I probably wouldn't want to bring him home to meet my mother, but he also has the courage of his convictions, which is rare today.
Please don't judge his abilities by this book; it is NOT a good representation (although a lot of his detractors would say it is) of the Rogue Warrior character. There is none of the self-deprecating humor found in the earlier works.
It begs the question whether Mr. Weisman was the driving force behind the other bestsellers.
Rating:
Summary: Ashcroft thanks you, Marcinko
Review: It's not hard to invent a scenario where there's a "ticking bomb," and the bomber must be tortured in order to save the lives of thousands of people. But such scenarios rarely happen in real life.John Ashcroft would love this book. The dog kennels where we've housed prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are clearly cruel and unusual punishment, if not torture. We're treating these "enemy combatants" just like the Japs treated our guys in WW II. The rest of the world is outraged, but Ashcroft can say that we need to interrogate these terrorists thoroughly. Why? Because they might have knowledge of a "ticking bomb." Yeah, right. The truth is that this cruel and unusual punishment is ROUTINE. It is not just used on those who might have crucial secrets. This depravity is used against them all. But when Ashcroft is asked to justify such abuses, he points to books like Marcinko's, and he says, "See?"
Rating: 
Summary: Fast and Fun BUT....
Review: ive read the entire rogue warrior series, the latest being violence of action. i have enjoyed them all. before i get into violence of action, id first like to say that i have recently found out from a very, very credible source that the rogue warrior fiction series, after the original rogue warrior autobiography, are written entirely by richard marcinkos co-authors. weisman and now greg walker. marcinko only reads them over and gives his ok. very little contribution at all from the rogue warrior himself. this bothered me greatly. i know they are fiction, but i at least expected it to be fiction written by him, using his thoughts, ideas and knowledge. after all, it says by richard marcinko on every book. very dissapointing. as far as violence of action... more of the same fast, violent action. however, nowhere near as complicated and in depth as previous books. it seemed rushed to me... or, overedited i dunno. also, as another reviewer has stated, you simply dont care for the charactors like in earlier books. overall, a good, fast special forces novel, if not taken too seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Pulled Half-Baked from the Rogue Warrior Oven!!!
Review: Let me start by saying that I'm a die-hard Marcinko fan. I absolutely loved RW and RW:RC. After those first two, the series seemed to take a little creative dip and the plots followed a somewhat predictable pattern. Not a bad thing as the subsequent RW books offered the same rolling action and hillarious run-on strings of creative Rogue profanity we've all come to know and love. Not so with VoA. There is a marked departure from the shoot & loot Sharkman characters we grew fond of in the previous books of the RW series. First, straight away Dick's character has a mental crisis/breakdown and goes on some cross-country, Rogue Grasshopper, need-to-find-myself journey. WTF?!?! Instead of seeing the Wrathful God of Combat leaping into the next hair-raising hop & pop plot of intrigue our Rogue Warrior wants to go find himself. WTH?!?! Obviously something has gone very, very wrong in the head of Dick somewhere between the BS Meter and the "P" Detector. Second, I have to agree again with some of the other comments on this: the plot is thin - none of the crooks and turns of the previous books - and the characters are weak shells compared to his previous bands of Merry Marauders. Third, as others have mentioned, we are confronted with the dark spectre of ends-justifies-the-means torture. Demo Dick is no stranger to the topic and gives it drive-by comments in some of the previous books. But in this one we, the readers, are given a live-in-concert front row seat to a gruesome, graphic - dare I say "Roguish" - interrogation. WTF?!?! I was expecting to see Dick whip out his 10 inch "Friendly Weapon" and slap the bad guys around, NOT flick a guy's jewel across the room from a knife-point and then hear some BS psycho-babble about how the world is a better place when we torture bad guys for information. I suppose that is really the biggest shortcoming of VoA: it fails to present the rough & tumble, shoot & loot, Demo Dick with his band of *MERRY* Marauders we grew to know and love in the previous RW books. Instead, we are confronted with a limp Dick who procedes to brood, torture, and be malevolent in general. The Rogue Warrior appears to have gotten old and cranky. Say it ain't so, Dick. Say it ain't so....
Rating:
Summary: Tugging at Reality
Review: Marcinko seems to try to make himself into a divinity with his fans. He simply cannot let go of the fact the navy put it to him. The arguing about his shattered carrer and the "men in my image" bit causes one to raise an eyebrow as Marcinko slips back into fantasy about things that have never occurred. The books have no doubt been a tactical read for fans and terrorists alike. It's too bad unprofessional fantasy has to be mixed with real world dealings especially from an individual who is supposed to represent the hardcore in elite. I understand we all need to make a buck but this book leaves me with the thought Marcinko is delusional - one can short of a six pack as he tries to combine the fantasies of his mind with his own personal redemption that he never received and pawn it off on the reader as if the events have actually happened. The book isn't about stopping terrorism it's about trying to mold the readers mind to what he wants them to believe about himself. I think the character Col. Blanchard in the book represents Marcinko best but he doesn't use religion he uses books instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Dick Marcinko
Review: Marcinko's latest Rogue Warrior book was a major disappointment. I have read all of Marcinko's books and have been a big fan. I had a real hard time buying the change in Marcinko's character. This book was definately NOT written by Marcinko. If so, I don't know what happened to him? I would prefer having the old Dick back...
Rating: 
Summary: A Concealed Warning In This Story
Review: OK, other reviews may discuss the style of Richard Marincko's book. And the action in the story may occasionally make a thinking reader skeptical or disgusted. However, I believe that there is a concealed point to the story: It is a model story that could apply to many cities instead of only a threat to Portland Oregon, the target city. The story opens in Washington DC. A white supremacy group kills a famous jurist who is thought to favor blacks, Jews and equality. When Capt. Marcinko and his people get called in hours later, they suddenly spot one of the bad guys still in the neighborhood to assess the aftermath of the murder. Now this is a lucky, mind-stopping coincidence, is it not? But the whole remainder of the story depends on this unlikely sighting, because it leads to the man's capture, interrogation and the further responses of Marcinko's team. This is an indication of how a real investigation would be going nowhere unless there is a big mistake by the terrorists. Much later in the story, the group is transporting a stolen nuke into Portland by river. Of course the M-team stops them, after a lot of carnage to both sides. But think a little larger, and it suddenly becomes apparent how the water avenue is wide open in many other cities. Here is a short list of American cities: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, Miami, New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu, and even Chicago, Memphis and others. This story is a parable. It shows the danger to one city directly, and many others indirectly. There are all sorts of vulnerabilities in the world, especially by water. If there is ever a nuke threat, I hope the real response teams get as lucky as they did in this novel!
Rating:
Summary: Pinocchio as a former SEAL
Review: Routine domestic terrorist plot where Marcinko's "Szeb" grows proportionately to the tale told... currently at 10-inches! The Rogue is aging: a woman operator?[...]plot development and character development are definitely limited in scope. RM, if you are listening: More of the old stuff, please. All-in-all, an entertaining, but quick, read.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best
Review: The acronyms needed translation like in the other books and Trace Dahlgren was too badass a character for my taste. Also the fact that Marchinko was the romantic lead with every female in the book was a little far fetched.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to Rogue Warrior standards
Review: The Rogue Warrior novels are predictable sure, but they have a quality that makes them difficult to put down. At least they used to. This installment is not all that bad compared to other spy/spec-op fiction, but not when compared to previous RW novels.
Here Demo Dick, Fearless Shark Man of the Delta, has been reduced to a cartoon character and not a very interesting one.
The end result is that as you read you really don't care about any of the characters. The story line is adequate but the detail, the spy craft that makes all the other novels work is missing. It's been replaced with descriptive gore and a focus on matters that are uninteresting, making this a tedious read. True RW fans will just have to see for themselves no matter what they see in these reviews. Anybody new to the work of Marcinko would best start off with Red Cell or Rogue Warrior and never touch this novel. Like most of the other reviewers I hope the next installment brings back some familiar characters and gets away from the "I must be getting old" musings of the Sharkman. One of the great things about fiction is that heroes never have to grow old, weak or frail. To those of us who look up to the Rogue Warrior as a larger than life hero Demo Dick will always be THE toughest hombre on the planet, always able to out muscle, out shoot and out think any bad guy that's dumb enough to cross his path. Marcinko doesn't seem to appreciate that his character in his novels has the potential to be as enduring as James Bond. Let's hope we see the RW we all know and love make a triumphant return in his next adventure.
|
