First let me just say that the word smirked is not a synonym for said. It was absolutely jarring how often the dialog was spattered with "he smirked" in place of "he said." Probably 20 or 30 times in the book. That's a lot of smirking.

Barring that I really liked this near future military thriller. The main idea of using convicts for cannon fodder was really interesting. The setting of a war with China was plausible. The future tech seemed a rational extrapolation of current technologies. The story was faced paced and intricate enough to be interesting but not so convoluted that you couldn't keep track of what was going on. There weren't really any dragging spots and the story was told through action not character introspection. There were no big info dumps. My only real complaint is that the convicts straightened up so quickly and easily after Nick took over. Some of the gritty feel was lost once they became a well oiled and highly functioning military team.

Still a quick fun read for military thriller enthusiasts. ( )

It's mostly an action novel... a military action novel. Originally I had it tagged sci-fi, but there is no science fiction here.

It is a bit unbelievable in how the main character went from newbie convict to super-hero-soldier, but as long as you don't really think about it, it doesn't ruin the story. In other words: don't try to pick holes, or the entire thing will fall apart.

As an action novel, it was fast paced and intense but not gory. The setting and situation were believable (i.e. that war could happen, and the military could need convict soldiers). There was not much gun porn, so we aren't told the bullet types or firing speed of each gun, though most of the guns are named (i.e. M5, Glock, etc). That is... most... not all: the level of detail consistency is not 100%. Sometimes we get quite an in-depth description of [insert object name/action here] and then next chapter it goes back to "an assault rifle" or a "bullet hit him"

All in all it was a quick, entertaining, and not very deep read. I'd read more by this author. ( )

I stumbled across this book when it was mentioned in a book discussion thread. I went to the website to check it out. There was an excerpt available and after the first few paragraphs, I was hooked.

47 Echo is about a near future war against the Chinese and North Koreans that is going so badly that prisoners are being offered the opportunity to fight in exchange for freedom. The worst of the worst, the murderers, are assigned to Echo. Nick Morrow is the latest recruit. Echo gets the assignments so dangerous they are little better than suicide. 47 Echo is his story of perseverance and redemption.

This book is first and foremost an escapist military sci-fi thriller. Not a lot of time is spent on the brutal crimes that put these convict-solidiers in the spot they find themselves in. They quickly develop into a group of characters that you love rooting for.

47 Echo reminds me of Starship Troopers or Old Man’s War without the aliens. You have a bunch of guys thrown into action who become almost impossibly heroic and improbably good at their jobs. But you don’t care because the ride is so much fun. The book is well-written and well-paced. You’ll read it in big gulps if not all at once. Highly recommended. ( )

Shawn Kupfer delivers with an explosive military techno-thriller set in the near future. The plotting is excellent, the pacing swift, and the characters just colorful enough to keep you interested. It's a quick read that reminds me of what good military fiction can be. Today, there are too many authors who want to show you how much in the know they are, or how fancy their tech is, or what brilliant political observers they are, and they forget what the readers really want - action and combat, military style! 47 Echo harkens back to those stories, and keeps the page count down. Kupfer doesn't need 700 pages to thrill you, just 227.

Very well written and very entertaining, an excellent read from beginning to end. More thrillers should be like this. Well done, Mr. Kupfer! ( )