Tomahawk (Dan Lenson Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]

David Poyer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dan Lenson Novels | Publication Date: January 15, 2000

The bestselling novels of David Poyer have been read by millions around the world, and The New York Times Book Review has proclaimed: "Poyer knows what he is writing about when it comes to anything on, above or below the water." Now he unleashes a heart-pounding new novel combining the thrilling elements of military intrigue, Pentagon politics, Chinese espionage and human drama in his finest work to date.

It was a missile that would change the world. He was the man at ground zero.

Once Lieutenant-commander Dan Lenson had a ship and a family. Now he is on his own, deep within Washington's military industrial complex. His task: shepherd a controversial weapon through the Navy's testing process to deployment. But powerful forces are lined up against the Tomahawk missile-- and against Lenson. For Dan Lenson, separating his enemies from his friends is the beginning of the most dangerous war of all...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest in Poyer's popular series about the modern U.S. Navy (after The Passage, 1995) continues tracing the career of Lieutenant Commander Dan Lenson, a 30-something Annapolis grad who is earnest, hard-working and, considering the life he leads, surprisingly dull. Tapped in the Reagan years to work on the new Tomahawk missile program, unhappily divorced Dan falls in love with a peace activist, struggles in a crisis of faith (Are nukes necessary?), gets very drunk a couple of times and joins AA, loses the girl to murder on Washington's mean jogging paths, almost loses his own life in a Canadian blizzard (retrieving a failed missile), does yeoman duty in the cynical world of Congressional deal-making, nearly dies (again) in an FBI sting against Chinese spies, hands in his resignation from the Navy, changes his mind about it and works his tail off to save the Tomahawk missile program during an action against Libya. Everybody here sounds like everybody else except top brass, who tend to boom. Lenson's depth is apparently indicated by his care for his young daughter, who's in faraway Utah with his ex-wife, but he manages to speak to the girl only once in the book. His agonizing about nuclear weapons is sporadic and forced, while the book's relentless globe trotting and heavy jargon will be meaningful mostly to devoted Navy buffs.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In the mid-1980s, Poyer's continuing protagonist, navy officer Dan Lenson, is a lieutenant commander holding a vital Pentagon position in the trouble-plagued development of the Tomahawk cruise missile. Long divorced, he is in love with Kerry Donovan, a peace activist who awakens in him new doubts about the navy's mission. When Kerry is murdered in connection with Chinese espionage involving the Tomahawk program, Lenson faces personal alcoholism and bereavement as well as professional crises--for instance, the deployment of the Tomahawk to the Middle East when it is only just barely operational. Congressional ineptitude, interservice rivalry, and corruption in beltway think tanks also complicate Lenson's life and the plot. Poyer's Lenson novels are so character driven that calling them thrillers is misleading, and here Poyer includes a solid cast of secondary characters who are thoroughly individualized yet serve to raise the ethical questions Poyer always brings to the fore. This demanding, excellent novel is probably the best so far in a major contemporary seafaring saga. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 468 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (January 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312965613
• ISBN-13: 978-0312965617
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #390,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars USN LT Dan Lenson is UNBELIEVEABLE, August 13, 1999

By 

P. Connors "Colonialpara" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tomahawk (Dan Lenson Novels) (Hardcover)

I have read the other David Poyer novels featuring USN officer Dan Lenson. They are THE MED, THE GULF, THE CIRCLE and THE PASSAGE. I liked all of them because Poyer, a Naval Academy graduate writes well about men and the sea.

I had trouble with TOMAHAWK mainly because Poyer turns Lenson into (in my opinion) a very unbelieveable character. While I will grant the possibility of a career naval officer falling for a peace activist, I think the way Poyer writes about it is unrealistic and I think readers who buy the premise are simply naive romantics.

For those who have never served in the officer corps of any of the armed forces, let me say this. Dan Lenson's misgivings about the TOMAHAWK as a then new weapons system would have caused him a lot of trouble. Since the system gave him a moral dilemma, it follows that those doubts would reflect in his performance. The doubts did and his OER (Officer Efficiency Report) suffered.

To be sure, there is an incredible amount of waste in military procurement but, I really think that if LT Lenson had or developed moral qualms about the weapons systems the US Navy was seeking to develop and procure, he owed it to himself, his service and his nation to resign his commission and find another way to make a living. Most officers who leave the service do so for a variety of reasons. Some of them hate the OPSTEMPO, the deployments, separation from family, living conditions/low pay, etc. All of these are reasons retention of personnel in the military today is heading SOUTH!!!

I served on active duty and am now a member of the reserves and I found Dan Lenson unbelieveable in this book. If I served with a fellow officer like Dan Lenson, I would probably sit down with him and recommend that he find another career path because he was deliberately shooting himself in the foot. Well educated Annapolis grads like Dan Lenson don't do that. If they have a problem with the system, they make their recommendations for improvements; if they go unheeded, they either shut up and press on or they request a transfer. If the navy itself is what's getting to them, they generally put in their resignation papers and head off to greener pastures.

I just couldn't find any sympathy for Dan Lenson. If Poyer writes another Dan Lenson novel and I read that he has become an Admiral, I think I'll be sick. Dan Lenson is not Flag Officer material, not even with all the fictitious license in the world. The way it was written tells me that TOMAHAWK should probably be the last installment in the continuing saga of Dan Lenson, USN.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars David Poyer turns left!, November 16, 2001

By 

Ron Russell (Lodi, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tomahawk (Dan Lenson Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Tomahawk" was a major disappointment to this fan of the Dan Lenson series. "The Circle," "The Med," "The Passage," and "The Gulf" were outstanding and authentic, written with great skill by one who had "been there, done that." But it seems that Poyer underwent some sort of social/political rebirth just before writing "Tomahawk," for the book is filled with a boring mish-mash of alcoholism, girlfriend woes, and Lenson's highly unlikely involvement with a radical pack of peaceniks out to sabotage the development of the cruise missile. Too bad, for this could have been a fine tale if it had been crafted in the style of the previous four books in the Lenson series. If you subscribe to turn-the-other-cheek pacifist theories, you might like this novel. Otherwise, save you money and your disappointment--this is NOT the Dan Lenson you knew and loved in the previous stories.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting military thriller, April 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Tomahawk (Dan Lenson Novels) (Hardcover)

After three consecutive humdrum tours at sea, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Dan Lenson has been assigned shore duty, working on the TOMAHAWK cruise missile project. While stationed in the DC area, the divorced Dan meets and falls in love with an anti-nuke activist, Kerry Donovan, who helps the career naval officer renews his flagging spirit and energy.

However, Dan's newborn enthusiasm for life is abruptly aborted when Kerry is murdered in what seems to be a senseless killing. As he tries to regain his equilibrium, he finds his loyalty questioned due to his association with Kerry. He knows that he must still adhere to his oath to serve his country while trying to ferret out the identity of his beloved's killer.

TOMAHAWK is an exciting military thriller that will be loved by fans of the sub-genre. Dan's agony while finding ecstasy feels genuine and turns the lead character into a human being the audience can identify with. The story line has a bit too much vernacular for us civilians, but remains fast-paced and fun to read. David Poyer shows much talent that will please those readers who enjoy a military thriller.

Harriet Klausner