ROGUE WARRIOR: ECHO PLATOON

A sixth blood-and-guts novel in the series spun off from Marcinko’s bestselling (nonfiction) memoir of his career as a Navy SEAL (Rogue Warrior, 1992). As the tale begins, our hero is swimming toward an oil platform in the Caspian Sea where Iranian terrorists have taken the Western workers hostage. He’s loaded down with 70 pounds of equipment (pistol, submachine gun, the usual) and covered with crude from an oil slick—hey, nothing a little Bombay Sapphire won’t fix. Marcinko is there to help the Azerbaijan army get rid of the baddies, but American Ambassador Marybeth Madison doesn’t like him or his tactics. That’s okay, he doesn’t like her either, and Article 88 (which forbids military personnel to disparage civilian authorities) has never kept him from voicing his opinions. It all gets more complicated from there on, with the usual rip-snorting action sequences and acronyms aplenty, plus a glossary for the confused.

The first-person narration is as mannered as a Restoration comedy, but fans will enjoy the customary blend of heroics and politically incorrect commentary.