Customer Reviews

Echo Platoon (Rogue Warrior)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hey! I'm a girl, a pilot, and a SpecOps fan. Marcinko may be rough, gruff, and calloused, but there is little doubt that he is not intimately acquainted with his subject. Read Echo! It is one of his best--entertaining and educational. It won't let you down, and neither would His Team. Best to the Borderline Godfather. I'm waiting for the next installment.

You like him or hate him -- no in between. Politically incorect, profane and funny as hell! One of the best "Rogue Warrior" series in years. Will he run out of bad guys? Stay tuned. The only bummer is that now we've got to wait another year for the next version of the Roguester to arrive. WTF, A rollicking, action-packed good time with interesting asides and commentaries on the Nature of Warriordom.

These are the men I want to "help" me if I'm ever a hostage! This was interesting, excting, scary & sad book. MAJOR page turner. The doom on Dicky verbage can be mind boggling sometimes... but never dull. It's apparent that the writer knows the whole Politics, Special Ops...& Seals like the back of his hand or other part of his anatomy(his words,not mine)...Never candy coating the truth when he's wrong or made a mistake or soft soaping grief. I enjoy the reappearing Seals, Friends & Villians from the past, as this is a small world, with lots of paths that cross & recross. Though I never get the impression "Good conquers Evil" here, just stomps it back into place for awhile. It's enough to make me feel just a wee bit safer.

Yeah, we know how The Rogue Warrior says he "loves pain" because it lets him know he's "alive", but having enjoyed all of the previous titles in this series, this long awaited sequel was, to me, more than a bit disappointing.

First, we had to wait too many months for the paperback! Seems like TRW is milking his true fans for hardcover-prices longer and longer. Or is that his publisher we should blame?

Ol' Richard is getting on in years, as he admits himself. His formula plots are getting a bit tired too. This book reads just like the last two with almost identical action scenes. Haven't we clambered up the off-shore oil rig before? Didn't we waste some lizard-lipped political bad-guy in previous titles.

Marcinko is still at the head of the assault, but suffers more (self-sustained) injuries than any of his team. Will he ever admit he's too old for this kind of life? Still, the action is fast, the language "frank" and the victories oh-so sweet.

Not five stars, like the previous titles, but still worth a good read. But save your $ and just go for the paperback... preferably used.

Echo Platoon is just like those before it. Lots of blood, guts, cussing and thrill. Nothing here is new except the people who get killed. People should read this book if 1) they want to know more about the capabilities of the military, 2) they want to learn a little more about what happens around the world, 3) the just enjoy plain old action adventures. Stay away from the book if fair writing and extreme use of foul language bothers you. I would prefer Marcinko to quit making asides to his editor during the story. It only seems to help fill up pages. I would also prefer he stay within the action once it starts and identifies people and past events within another part of the book. Once the the hunter is after the prey and the killing begins, stay there. I find myself jumping through some passages just to stay on track with what is happening.
Marcinko will give you a slight sense of the fast-paced action of war and will give you an appreciation for those who still wish to make men of war within our military instead of trying to make the military a social club. I think future books will be even better based on the current status of our country and President Bush's attack attitude favored by Marcinko.

This is still one of the best-written series I've read. In a long, long time.

I'm still surprised I picked the first one up, but I kept getting each one as they came out, and Mr. Marcinko and Mr. Weisman are now on my hardback list. Each of these novels is consistently entertaining, and I heartily recommend you read the entire series; there are references to events in previous books, and while each book stands alone, it's nice knowing exactly how some things happened.

Now, on to Echo Platoon. It follows a similar formula to the other books in the series: Dick winds up in a sticky situation, investigates, identifies the bad guy, and deals with him/her/it in a spectacular fashion. In this installment, we find Dick on a training/intelligence mission to Azerbaijan, where they suddenly find themselves having to rescute hostages from an oil rig. This develops as Dick finds out that Russia and Iran both have agents on scene trying to influence the tiny nation, and between them both is the Sirzhik Foundation, run by a not-entirely-honest Steve Sarkesian.

There are familiar faces and new, and lots of political commentary and military insight. We also see loved ones die, and some people who'll never fight again. And, of course, lots of creative and intelligent fight scenes.

I like these books; I sometimes use them as fodder for my Shadowrun character to imitate. The only flaw with this novel was, really, that the ending felt a bit chopped off. Other than that, it's a great read.

Starts out slow, but builds up nicely into the hard-nosed, no-holds-barred action ol' Demo Dick is known for. A bit more intrigue to this one, though, which adds some unexpected suspense to the story. Again, you're there for every explosion, every round of ammo that's spent, all the while trying to keep alive while Demo Dick and his merry band of marauders do their dirty little deeds.

Those of us who are fans of the Weisman/Marcinko collaboration know what to expect, and we usually get it. Purple prose, riveting technical realism, and a refreshingly honest look at great men who overcome great odds in spite of malfunctioning equipment, fumbled flash-bang grenades, mashed noses and other Murphy factors. What can I say, I love this stuff. Reading Tom Clancy is like watching a video football game, while Weisman's work is like standing at the 50-yard line with the coach. Weisman understands that great men rise to greatness in spite of their occasional acts of bone-headedness! That's what separates the Rogue Warrior from the rest.

I have read all of the Rogue Warrior series but this book was the worst of the lot, I simply did not enjoy it nearly as much as the previous books.The plot takes bits from Designation Gold, Green Team and Option Delta and it just isn't as well written as the two best Rogue Warrior Novels, Red Cell and Task Force Blue. I just hope that the next book is back on track!!

I confess! Richard Marcinko's semi-autobiographical Rogue Warrior
series is one of my peculiar pleasures. "Red Cell" is still, far and
away, my favoite. But "Echo Platoon" is a treat with a new twist.
...It seems the old Rogue Warrior is starting to feel his age these
days. Even though he spends every free moment at Rogue Manor pumping
massive amounts of iron and honing his fighting and sharpshooting
skills, by his own admission he's having difficulty keeping up with
his young hunters. Sometimes enough to FUBAR the missions he leads.
And he's mellowing in other ways too, such as permitting a female
Marine to accompany the team this time out. But he can still kick that tango butt!
You might have caught the author on TV recently, describing SEAL
tactics in Afghanistan. Anyone else notice his splendid physical
condition? You have little trouble believing him quite capable of his
fictionalized exploits. You know he's intimately familiar with all
the weapons and gear he namedrops throughout his narrative. Despite
his ongoing love-hate relationship with the Navy, you can't help
admiring the Rogue for his swaggering patriotism, his fatherly
affection toward his young shooters, and his bantering, even bullying,
camaraderie with his readers. And then there's his trademark "Ten
Commandments of SPECWAR", which can be equally effective in whatever
non-lethal endeavor you might undertake, be it business to
bodybuilding. Credit also goes to John Weisman, Marcinko's co-author,
for the fast-reading, non-stop excitement and often laugh-out-loud
humor of this series. Sure, Dickie's getting greyer, but don't count
him out of the action yet! You know the old Rogue's got a few more
adventures to come!