I received the four SEAL Team Six books Hunt the Wolf, Hunt the Falcon, Hunt the Scorpion, Hunt the Jackal on the same day and I binge read them one after the other. Other reviewers will tell you the details of the plots, but I want to write about the series as a whole.

Although I tried to read them in order, the e-editions I received did not clearly indicate the sequence, even on the OTHER BOOKS BY list. I took a guess and read them Falcon (3), Scorpion(2), Wolf (1), Jackal (4). It didn't matter much, though, there are some timelines of injuries, deaths, and traumas that run across the series but the books stand alone pretty well. The quality of the text is not even across the whole, however, with Jackal being more choppy than the others. I wondered if one of the writing partners put less effort into that one.

The world of these books is not like the one I inhabit, and I don't say that because I am not a SEAL running all over the world chasing bad guys. I need to sleep, I need to eat, and when I sprain an ankle or break a bone, it takes weeks and months to heal. Not these guys. Thomas Crocker tells us every book how many days a year he is on assignment and away from his family - 200, 260, 300 days. These guys don't have circadian rhythms, I guess. Jet lag, no worry. Sleep deprivation, no worry. Let's go. Let's go. Gunshot wounds, broken bones, sprains, torture, emotional trauma, all the standard ordeals of action thrillers, no worry. We are SEALS! We bounce out of the hospital onto a plane to the next assignment. It's exhausting just to read. And what's with the diet sodas? I would have thought these guys would need to pack calories to maintain this schedule. They even skip a meal now and again. Never knew soldiers to do that.

The texts are charmingly exact about technology and technological jargon, telling us the complete names of many pieces of equipment and operations protocols, and carefully adding the abbreviation in parentheses. As the Squad Leader, Crocker barks seemingly redundant and trivial orders to his guys, even though he runs them through the same drills every day. Not sure how this works in the military, in the business world he would get in trouble for talking down to his staff.

These are fun books but I imagine that my capacity would be about 6, especially if the writing quality remains at the lower level of book 4. Also, since they are written in supposed real time, the authors run the risk of getting ahead of current events.

I received review copies of Hunt the Wolf, Hunt the Falcon, Hunt the Scorpion, Hunt the Jackal by Don Man and Ralph Pezzullo (Mulholland Books) through NetGalley.com. ( )

DNF @30%

Book source ~ NetGalley

I read Hunt the Wolf, book 1 of SEAL Team Six and gave it a 3. Since I had both that and this book from NetGalley I moved on to this one. Ok, I made it through the sea of testosterone in book 1, but I just can’t do it in this book. The writing itself isn’t too horrible, but the pages of weapons and equipment descriptions are snoozeable. The main character is an alpha male constantly thumping his chest and talking about how awesome he is. It gets old real quick. I love a good military thriller as much as the next reader, but this book is filled with so much dick wagging that I have no desire to slog through any more of it. While it may appeal to many readers, I am not one of them. ( )

Another Seal Team Six thriller with the team walking a line between life and death as usual. I would have to say I did not enjoy this book as much as the first book, Hunt the Wolf. It was not until the second half of the book that the real thrills began taking place with off-the-wall adventure. It felt as if the first half of the book was mostly background information on Libya (where it took place), Gaddafi, nuclear arms, etc, and at times got a little tiring. Oh, there were some thrills, but then back to the background. Would I recommend the book? Yes, if you like the nitty gritty, hard core assignments, action, and thrill. There is still enough there to keep it interesting. I intend to read books 3 and 4 as well. ( )

He'd deal with it; take what was coming to him, as he always had. Figure out a way to make the best of it, if that was possible.

Hunt the Scorpion, while it had some great action, didn't hold my attention like the first book in the series did. In this one Crocker is back with his squad and this time they are trying to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

The first half of this book seemed to go slowly to me. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of action but I had a hard time staying interested in the story. I also had a hard time connecting with Crocker in this one. Crocker ends up going through some big things in this book and I did feel bad for him.

The second half really picked up and my interest in this book really grew. I loved the action towards the end and really enjoyed the ending. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read SEAL Team Six: Hunt the Scorpion. ( )

This is pretty standard stuff. The writing technique is good, the action is solid, but the book holds no real surprises. The characters are defined enough, but I didn't fell any connection to them, keeping them from feeling real to the reader. If you are looking for a procedural with plenty of action, then you'll be okay. If you're looking for well developed characters with a life of their own, you're in the wrong shooting house.

Mann and Pezzullo deliver a well written procedural with plenty of authentic details and action. That's the whole purpose of the book, and it delivers just fine. ( ( )