Customer Reviews

Dark Pacific

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is easily the worst book I've read in years. Here's why:

- Inane dialogue. Sailors spend pages trash talking with no purpose. This is evidently the author's way to establish his "creds" with some sea talk. But the only time people actually talk like this is when they're bored and have nothing to do, not in the middle of a crisis. If things are really that boring, there's no point writing a book about it.

- Deus ex machina. The plot involves hooking 7 fast sealift ships together into a huge floating airfield. Several pages cover the actual linking up of the ships. But then, without a word of explanation, "a miracle happens" and a solid deck appears overhead, then the aircraft start landing. How could the ships have carried all that material, much less had a way to hook it all together well enough for aircraft operations? And have this happen virtually overnight?

- Physics thrown out the window. For example, after the airfield is operational, one of the characters notes how low the ships now are in the water. Huh? Wasn't all the mass on those ships when they sailed, or did the airfield just fall out of the sky during the miracle stage, suddenly making the ships heavier?

- Repetition, repetition, repetition. I lost track of the number of times characters complain about the Navy doing things the business school way. OK, mention it once or twice to make a point, but this is obviously one of the author's pet peeves that he pounds on ad nauseum. Other peeves get similar treatment.

- No adult leadership. I spent my career in the Air Force, but from my dealings with USN acquaintances, I'm pretty sure they like to keep officers in the loop, especially when out of the ordinary events happen, like submarines showing up, torpedoes launching, etc. Granted, this is set in a future where things are downscaled and manning is thin, but the chain of command problems here are ludicrous.

- Boring. Pages and pages go by with nothing useful or interesting happening. This book is a "page turner" in the worst possible way - you keep turning pages just to see how much worse it's going to get.

I haven't read the author's other books - they may be better. But if you want an authentic slice of military life, or even a mildly interesting read, this isn't it.

Before I rant, let me make sure I state that I have read everything this author has put out. I loved the last two book series and I couldn't wait to start this one.

That being said, this book is bloated. There is far too much time spent with unimportant conversations taking place between the main characters and a massive amount of plot development that ultimately went almost no where.

There are two main plots. One involving the NCIS and one involving the main characters. The NCIS storyline introduced new characters and spent significant time developing the plot. Unfortunately, at the end of the book, this entire plot is left unaddressed. The author took you right the point of them solving their mystery, and then the book ends. No closure at all.

After pages and pages (and more pages) of the main characters chatting amonst themselves (with decent attempts at comedy), this plot comes to an decent end.

I finished the book thinking that David Meadows "phoned this one in". It's no where close to the quality of his other books. That all being said, I purchased all three of the books of this new series and am now starting on the 2nd. I hate hammering Mr. Meadows on a book, but I feel a bit cheated on this one.

I found this book to be a disappointment. The plot is slow, with too much padding by describing each persons every body movement, much too often. I also found his political and religious bias to be just a bit too pronounced. Overall, the scenario is a depressed situation where only low level enlisted men know what is happening and the leadership either incompetent, spies, or other unpleasant descriptions.
This book sounds like the product of a disgruntled employee, with an imagination.
I wasted my money.

Thank You Captain Meadows. Finally, another Navy novel that features USN petty officers as the main characters. As soon as I read chapter two, I knew the author had been enlisted at one time. A quick search on his website revealed this retired Captain spent several years enlisted and made Chief (E-7) before becoming an Officer. This is the first novel since Jeff Edwards "Torpedo" that stars our fine Navy enlisted personnel. This is the first David Meadows book I've read, so maybe I've been missing his doing this all along. I intend to remedy that soon. The only minor flaw I found was a timeline mistake on Master Chief Jacobs time in the Navy but that could be easily explained by broken service,(I am a prime example of that experience). Don't be fooled by the back cover storyline, the NCIS agent is part of the story, but not the main character. Great twist ending but be warned, the author leaves just enough unanswered questions to make you anxiously await the next book in this series.

I gather from some of the poor reviews for this book, that Mr. Meadows has written some much better ones. I MAY try one of his highest rated books despite this one being a real stinker. But, given the 5 star ratings that four people gave this boring, poorly written book I no longer trust the customer reviews.

A real pageturner--page after boring page of whining and moaning about how bad the navy brass is. This book sucks big-time.

Another winning military-thriller series by Captain Meadows!

After reading this author's best-selling series THE SIXTH FLEET and JOINT TASK FORCE, I just couldn't wait for this series to debut. But then I got busy writing another novel of my own and had to wait all this time to start this series. A much longer wait than anticipated, but it was worth it!

David Meadows is at the top of his game!

This is an exciting reading adventure that had me on edge, wondering what would happen next and when WERE they ever going to catch the bad guys wreaking havoc on this very original Sea Base.

David Meadows is great at suspense, and the characters are so believable I felt like I were traveling the ocean with them. I particularly loved the feisty little woman the second lead in this book left behind. What an interesting couple to have as friends. They spiced up the book, sending it off on an occasional funny tangent.

To set sail with an intriguing cast in a really different kind of sea story is high adventure. I heartily recommend this series; not only for men but for women and young adults too.

Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, January 2009
author of Millennium Babe: The Prophecy

I've read all of David Meadows previous books and enjoyed them. They are good light reading with characters and plots that were sufficiently compelling to keep me looking forward to the next installment. I was really disappointed in this book, though. The characters, for the most part, weren't particularly likeable and the major plot points seemed to alternate between predictable and irrational. I didn't bother to read the rest of the books in this series.

I have been a fan of DAVID MEADOWS since reading his Sixth Fleet series. I enjoy this genre very much. The characters Mr. Meadows creates are larger than life and his plots are very exciting. Be warned however...once you begin this fabulous story you will not want to put the book down!!! That's a fact! I highly recommend this book and ALL books by David Meadows!

An excellent and gripping story. I hope the start of a long series.