Customer Reviews

Defcon One

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Joe Weber's debut is a good military techno-thriller that is just a little too rough to be a real winner. Basically it's a World War III novel, with the Soviet Union against the United States. This plot has been attempted by many authors, including Tom Clancy, Harold Coyle, Eric L. Harry, and a few others. While the idea is not original, the storyline progresses smoothly and without the tremendous technical details that a lot of readers dislike in Clancy's novels. Weber's characters need some work, however. The leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States are the same stock politicians you find in all the other techno-thrillers. Of course the Soviet General Secretary is an insane dictator, and the American President is unsure about how to fight World War III. The only character who even resembled being dynamic was Steve, the Special Forces guy. Weber's sequel Shadow Flight, which is a little better than DefCon One, also features Steve as a main character. Both books are hard to find, so the library is your best bet if you want to get hold of copies to read. Weber gets better with every book, and his most recent release, Primary Target, was excellent. Your really can't go wrong with his books.

He, like several new technothriller authors, writes well, but his inaccuracies were widespread, from noting that people unfamiliar with pistols hit high (they anticipate and jerk it low) to F-14s closing to gun range (they aren't maneuverable, they'll stand off and use Sparrows or better yet and unmentioned in the book, Phoenixes) to nautical terminology ("heavy" cruisers and indicating direction in points) to general naval knowledge (you don't escort carrier battlegroups or go inside enemy territorial waters with SSBNs) to secrecy (there are higher classifications than Top Secret). From a former Marine, I expected better technical details.

Defcon One is written by Joe Weber, the author of the book Shadow Flight. On a scale of 1-10 I give this book a 9.5, not a 10, due to the fact that the book skips between all the events happening at any given time. For instance the point of view goes from an American submarine to the Russian ship that is pinging it on the sonar to a US aircraft carrier and finally to American bombers that are going to assist the submarine, so it is somewhat easy to get lost if you dont pay close attention. The author, being a former Marine Corps pilot, uses vivid imagery and real pilot lingo to make you feel like this is real happening events. The detail and description of the events makes you feel like it's you in the seat of the roaring F-18 or manning the submarine not the author.

I liked this book very much. I believe it is a very real scenario
for the world to be worried about, and that makes it all the more
interesting. I like the large amount of details that were put into the book, even if some of them were slightly innacurate.
The extra details give the book an air of authority that cannot be given to unknowlegeable books that have simple plots and no twists at the end of the story that make them unpredictable. Predictable books do not have this level of information regarding the U.S. and Soviets Unions weapon capabilities and their ability to destroy the entire world at the command of one man. This is the only book that is willing to actually show what one man can do in a high seat of power. There are many other war books like this one, such as "Fortunes of War", but those only show details that are easy to take and are not so likely to happen. Joe Weber rivals Tom Clancy, and I believe that although Clancy has the upper hand, the tides could turn very easily.

great war story! A book that covers all branches of the military, from the submariner down in the ocean's depths to a pilot at 50,000 ft. I couldn't put it down. Be prepared to lose some sleep.

This book, like many mid-to-late 1980s works, addresses a big concern of the time: would the US and USSR come to conflict, especially nuclear war? The Russian regime was already looking unstable, and the Americans suspected they'd prevail unless something went wrong and the world found itself entrenched in a war far more destructive than anything it had seen before. Written by an ex-military man, Defcon One describes a scenario where an insane and ailing Russian premiere attempts to provoke the US into attacking, with a wrinkle that I can't reveal because no one likes a spoiler. While the book is competent, and a really fun read, it eventually pulls its own punch and does not, like Clancy, get far enough into the horror for us to really feel the weight.

I don't know why the author did it, but he stuffed so much military jargon and slang into the book that I found myself lost on a number of occasions. The story was very interesting. A really good WWWIII book. I would have given it a 4 had I been able to comprehend what the author was talking about.

This was my first and last Joe Weber book. The story was predictable and the characterizations were not compelling. It's not that Weber is a bad writer, it's just there are others who are so much better. I would rather read a bad book by a good writer than a good book by a bad writer. I love Clancy type books but this fell way short. He gets 2 stars for effort.

I liked this book very much. I believe it is a very real scenario
for the world to be worried about, and that makes it all the more
interesting. I like the large amount of details that were put into the book, even if some of them were slightly innacurate.
The extra details give the book an air of authority that cannot be given to unknowlegeable books that have simple plots and no twists at the end of the story. This makes the other books very boring. Predictable books do not have this level of information regarding the U.S. and Soviets Unions weapon capabilities. It also shows their ability to destroy the entire world at the command of one man. This is the only book that is willing to actually show what one man can do in a high seat of power. There are many other war books like this one, such as "Fortunes of War", but those only show details that are easy to take and are not so likely to happen. Joe Weber rivals Tom Clancy, and I believe that although Clancy has the upper hand, the tables could turn very easily.
In summary, this was a very good book, augmented by the fine details, but was taken away from by innacuracy.

I liked this book very much. I believe it is a real scenario about the world being destroyed by two superpowers
that the world should be worried about, and that makes it all the more interesting. I like the large amount of details that were put into the book, even if some of them were slightly innacurate.

The extra details give the book an air of authority that cannot be given to unknowlegeable books that have simple plots and no twists at the end of the story. This makes the other books very boring. Predictable books do not have this level of information regarding the U.S. and Soviet Unions' weapon capabilities. It also shows their ability to destroy the entire world at the will of one man. This is the only book that is willing to actually show what one man can do in a high seat of power.

There are many other war books like this one, such as "Fortunes of War", but those only show details that are easy to take and are not so likely to happen. Joe Weber rivals Tom Clancy, and I believe that although Clancy has the upper hand, the tables could turn very easily.

In summary, this was an extremely interesting book, augmented by the fine details, but was detracted from by innacuracy.