Customer Reviews

Rogue Warrior Detachment Bravo

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

 

 

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.

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.

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, doesnt 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I have read and own every one of Marcinko's books. I have been reading his stuff since his autobiography and am still enjoying them. As always the book was blunt and expressed good views about politics and the military. As for the plot the book was written as always in his way of non-Hollywood fakes but realistic not to mention creative way. He shows what having a military especially such a highly trained one is for and how it should be used.... not how it should be managed like we see to much these days.

Probably the weakest of the entire Rogue Warrior series, but the Rogue at half-strength is still much better than 90% of the writers out there and still worth reading. Some polemical asides on the nature of war, warriordom, spec ops, anti-terrorist tactics, etc. His explanations on some of the technical aspects of operations are interesting.

When will he run out of Bad Guys? Who's next?

Not a bad read but I am eager to see the next novel.

Just finished this book. The "proof" on which the Rogue Warrior bases his decision to seek to punish the "bad guys" is a little thin, except that in the final momemnts he is proven to be correct. One only hopes that somewhere the goverment actually does have at least one real rogue warrior out there protecting us from the real bad guys. The world does need real SeAls to keep us safe.

Having known a number of SeAls, the fact that the fictional Marchinko speaks several languages and can drop literary references is not at all farfetched. These guys are world class athletes and top notch people doing a much meeded job. Another in his series of execellent action thriller books.