Customer Reviews

Seals #1

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"SEALS," by Jack Terral, is a novel about the exploits of a platoon of U.S. Navy SEALs. Known as "Brannigan's Brigands," the platoon is led by Lieutenant William "Wild Bill" Brannigan. The novel has a post-9/11 setting, and the Brigands' mission takes them to wartime Afghanistan, where they face conflict with a local warlord. The backdrop for the story includes opium poppy cultivation, the effort to bring democracy to Afghanistan, and the aftermath of the Soviet occupation; the hunt for Osama bin Laden gets mentioned.

"SEALS" is a fast-moving, entertaining adventure story that is full of violent action. There is plenty of killing. However, the book is hurt by painfully cliched characters and dialogue. For example, a SEAL named Bruno Puglisi is described as coming "from a mob family," and his dialogue further reinforces the unimaginative stereotype. The overall structure of the book is awkward; informational passages are clumsily incorporated into the story. There is also a ridiculous romantic subplot that seems absurdly out of place and includes such unforgivable lines as "'He's so handsome! So Brad Pitt!'" At times it almost feels like Terral is purposely trying to write an over-the-top parody of military fiction.

Readers may be offended by the author's frequent use of the slur "raghead" to describe Afghan characters. It's one thing for a character to use it, but the third person narrative voice also uses the slur a number of times. The overall portrayal of the Afghan people is very negative--in this story they basically are either corrupt, greedy exploiters, foolish religious fanatics, or pathetic, passive victims of abuse. Still, Terral's Afghan villains and their henchmen are much more interesting and entertaining than his ridiculous cardboard SEALs. Although Terral's "SEALS" can be fun at times, the book left a foul aftertaste. The book's back cover promises that it is just the first in an "explosive new military action series."

Jack Terral's 1st SEALS novel held much promise.

I was hoping for more, however. Mr. Terral's storytelling and characterization wasn't as compelling as other writers such as John Harriman's Delta Force series or James V. Smith Jr's Force Recon series.

Unlike the former writers series mentioned, Terral's characters seemed one-dimentional, and the story seemed mired down in stagnation.

I really wanted to find and read a new series such as this. I am this type of writer's target audience. But with lack of characterizations, along with lack of character's physical details - and there is a lot of them! - the story seems too bogged and clogged up.

This would've read better if the writer would have slimmed down the number of main characters. Just writing and concentrating on a small group of SEALS would have worked out better, I think.

What a shame. Jack Terral's writing itself isn't bad, just its execution. Perhaps after a shakey start of this 1st novel in a series, the next one will be better.

I won't purchase the next one unless some reviewers give it some high marks.

There have only been a couple books which I have not finished reading. This would be one of them... absolutely horrific writing. Poor story line and unbelievably terrible dialog !! Jack Terral could not possibly have any military experience and I'd be even more surprised if he had anything more than a grade school education. He could not have researched the US Navy Seals if this 'book' is any proof of his abilities.

A fast moving book that can be read without a lot of emotion or stress----has an unusal ending, but what else can be expected of fiction?

I enjoyed this first book of his, but I had some problems with some of the details of the story. The weapons are not as up to date, as the weapons that are described in the Seal Team Seven Series. And the other part of this first book that I had a rela problem with is that when this seal team goes into combat in Afghanistan, they are not equipment with weapons and ammo the way they should have been and they only took in one radio. What happens if that radio gets killer, which in the first book the radio gets killed by a helicopter attack. They have had supply drop made to them to bring in food, water, weapons, ammo, beer clothes and other needed supplies, why was another radio not brought in? The old Seal Motto, if 1 is good then 2 is better, when it comes to equipment to survive behind enemy lines. Why don't they have the new weapons, half rifle and half gernade weapon, and its all computer operated. Why was the intel on this area and this Warload of this area so weak and lacking in information. Thsi Warload has 3 working Hind Helicopters, yet no one knows about them at all. Where is the intelligence on this Warload and his people. How do you hide 3 Hind Helicopters, and keep it a secret? It is only logical that someone is going to know about them. Even with these things lacking in the story line, I still found Jack Terrals writting enjoyed and I would read more of his books. BUT THE VERY BEST SEAL STORIES I HAVE READ ARE, SEAL TEAM SEVEN".