The first team; [Unknown Binding]

John Dudley Ball (Author)

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 422 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown; 1st edition (1971)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0006DYS4K
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,427,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First Team: One of the best political thrillers ever, April 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The First Team (Hardcover)

I had read The First Team when I was a kid in Jr. High School - my dad bought these books, and I wondered what kept him up at night. When I read this paranoid Soviets-Invade-America thriller, I was completely enthralled by the detail, the character of Hewlitt, and the theme. This was indeed pre-Reagan times, America looked like it very well could die, and we were looking for heroes. We got one in Hewlitt, and as much as I like Tom Clancy's early books, this book is every bit as good as "The Hunt for Red October" (did Clancy "borrow" the idea from Ball?) and "Cardinal of the Kremlin." It is sadly out of print, but it deserves re-release as a historical political thriller (along with "The Jesus Factor" by Edwin Corley and the books of Fletcher Knebal). I recently ordered this out-of-print book from Amazon, and received, oddly enough, a British version of the book, complete with spelling changes to British-English! Nonetheless, I found myself once again engaged in this book, and I literally stayed up all night to finish it. The quaint sexism and Ball's restrained sex scenes are charming to 1999 sensibilities, and the theme of the USSR invading America without a shot seems incredibly anachronistic and unlikely - but the main idea that constant vigilance is the price of liberty remains as cogent today as then. I thank Amazon Books for finding this book for me in great condition, and will treasure it! And no, I don't get paid to say that - no one can buy me.

I wonder if John Ball is alive today. I'd love to option the book to make this into a film. I'd cast Donna Murphy as Barbara Stoneham, Val Kilmer as Percival, Danny Glover as Frank Jordan, Will Smith as Davy, and perhaps Alec Baldwin or Tim Matheson as Raleigh Hewlitt, the heroic Russian Language translator of the White House staff. Adm. Barney Haymarket could be played by James Earl Jones or even John Vernon (against type), and Zalinsky - ah, someone with a REAL Russian accent, cold as steel. Col. Rostovich needs an evil, vicious character actor, perhaps Rutger Hauer.

Does anyone know if John Dudley Ball, author of "In the Heat of the Night" and "The First Team", is still alive?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cold War Thriller, January 6, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Mississippi) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Team (Hardcover)

A stirring but believable pre-Reagan cold war thriller. A lame duck President is soon to be replaced by a liberal who campaigned on the promise to unilaterally disarm and achieve peace with the USSR by whatever means necessary. The outgoing President establishes a super-secret "First Team" to form the framework of resistance. Our story begins as the Soviet occupation troops land on American shores...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frightening possible, July 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The First Team (Hardcover)

When you read about the underground during the wars in Europe, it is hard to believe that any country could of won without it. The USA is not so big that it can not be taken down due to a lacked government. I would hope that the USA has something and someone intelligent enough to think ahead and prepare for the weak and inadaquate times to come. I thought that this book had a scary feeling of realism intertwined with fiction.