Rating: 
Summary: The Price of Honor
Review: I normally stay away from non-fiction authors who write fiction because their fiction usually is rarely as good as their non-fiction (the Late Carl Sagan comes to mind.) However, I made an exception for David Hackworth's first novel.This exception was well worth it. I enjoyed the book as a good, well done read. The plot about the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) and greed is well thought out. I had a problem with some of the climax because some of it turned into stuff from a really bad conspiracy movie. This is a good solid adventure to be enjoyed. Finally, I would like to make a comment about Hackworth being an SF groupie. That's total BS. He led the equivalent of a Ranger unit in Korea, and his actions in Vietnam from My Canh to his quest to improve small unit training showed that he walked the walk. I really believe that he respects those who live, not speak, the warrior spirit. And if they happen to be SF types, so be it.
Rating: 
Summary: A good 200 page novel...
Review: Books like this used to go directly to paperback and were sold in bus station and airport newsstands. In effect, pretensions as literature aside, this work is a comic book for those who have a movie image of what special operations forces do and who the operators are. Too much of the "there I was surrounded, down to my last magazine..." war stories told in bars and various clubs. All that aside, this novel contains some good battle sequences and the dialogue, when it is the soldiers talking, is right on. COL Hackworth is on less firm ground with the love story. He does not do women characters particularly well; the reporter and her butch friend both wind up as hardcore and glib in the face of danger as the SF troopers. You know, trading quips while shooting, etc. Great movie stuff. The relationship between the main characters is rife with really bad dialogue and any SF captain who allowed himself to be referred to as "Pups" by his girlfriend in front of his sergeants would have a really hard row to hoe when she wasn't around! It's all here, though, the loyal subordinates, the central casting stock characters (a hairless villain, no less, and a pervert to boot!), and complex conspiracies. There's even a more than passing nod to evil industrialists trying to sell a flawed fighter to the military. The plot twist was telegraphed early on, so the ending of this was no real surprise. I have read COL Hackworth, both his books and his columns, for a number of years. I wish he hadn't ventured into fiction. This was a great 200 page book... too bad it was 490 pages!
Rating: 
Summary: Not that good.
Review: This is not a good book - the characters are cardboard cutouts and the dialouge is lame. It's much worse than it's average rating reflects.
Rating:
Summary: Hack, stick to the guns
Review: I have read and enjoyed Col. Hackworth's previous works. He is the consumate "truth-teller". In "The Price of Honor", Sandy Caine's search for the "truth" about what occurred in Vietnam follows Hack's principles. The few combat scenes are well told and page turning, but too brief. The comaraderie between good officers and men in the Special Forces is on target. Where Hack goes somewhat astray in this tale is the foray into Sandy Caine's sexual activities with Abigal Mancini. While the depictions may arguably provide the reader insight into their relationship, Hack should have fallen back on the more subtle and less graphic. For more on SF ops and the frustration to win hearts and minds, try "Immaculate Invasion". Or, for more on Somalia, try "losing Mogadishu", or "Backhawk Down". While not a top on my list, I'd compare it to a W.E.B. Griffin genre. Next time Hack (and I do hope this is just the beginning of his fiction writing)...stick to the guns and leave out the bedroom details.
Rating: 
Summary: Prepare to subordinate all else to the reading of this book.
Review: The weekend was a pleasant disaster. I made only one mistake. I took "The Price of Honor" with me and my wife on an out-of-towner, and for once in my life, she came in second. I simply could not put it down. Col. Hackworth is the heir apparent to Tom Clancy, the mantle fitting so much better because of Hack's credibility as a warrior. Only a man who has walked on the thin edge of life and death, known the love of soldiers, and who has ultimately received from his experiences "beauty for ashes" could write such a tale. Captain Sandy Caine leads the ghost of his warrior father from the ignominy of official disgrace to the honor of moral victory, on the way paying a price that allowed not only the martial spirit of the Caine generations to rest, but his human spirit to be healed by the love of a woman. Once started, you won't be able to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Could not finish it
Review: As a retired Air Force officer who enjoys listening to Hackworth on talk shows, etc., I realy wanted to like this book. However, the characters are cardboard cut-outs with no believable human emotions, the plot is slow, and the writing is stiff and unimaginative. Even the sex scenes were boring! He clearly knows his stuff when it comes to combat and the military environment, but maybe Hack should stick to nonfiction. I gave up on this book after reading about half of it, something I almost never do.
Rating:
Summary: Grab ahold and hang on!
Review: This is a great read! You can tell Colonel Hackworth has been there, done that. The gritty combat scenes in Vietnam, Somalia and Bosnia are realistic and recognizable. However, the core of this book is honor. Honor to self, to country and to one's fellow soldiers. WIthout giving anything way, there is a supreme price for dishonor. Buy this book, read it, then read it a second time and tell somebody else about it as well.
Rating:
Summary: May Rate this as a negative star.
Review: The only reason this book got printed was because of the name of the author. I am a 20 year veteran of special ops so I have some insight. His naration of Somalia was simply shoddy re-telling of other material. It lacks creativity. I fail to understand how a man with as much experience as he does could produce such a bad piece of fiction. Colonel Hackworth should stick to writing about combat and leave the romance to the professionals at "Harlequin". Do not buy this book. Especially if you prefer realistic military style books.
Rating: 
Summary: Hackworth should stick to non-fiction...
Review: I just finished "The Price of Honor" and was seriously disappointed. I have read all of Hackworth's other works, and although not always agreeing with him, found them all insightful and interesting. Not this book. In some parts its actually pretty ludicrious, particularly all the conspiracy-theory nonsense and the Vietnam Vet who relives the war in the forests of Montana. Some of the characters are simply thinly-guised real life people, and the F-44 is a thinly-guised F-22... The best parts of the book are the combat narratives from Somalia and Bosnia. Hackworth has extensive knowledge in both areas and considerable combat experience as both a solider and journalist. In authoring a plot, he stumbles badly. Overall, for readers of Hackworth, there should be enough fiction in his non-fiction to satisfy you (if you get what I mean). If you are determined to read, get in paperback.
Rating:
Summary: rayjoy@ipa.net
Review: This a must read.Another book that kept me awake at night. Once I picked it up it was hard to put down. I kept wanting to read one more chapter. Col. Hackworth did not pull any punches.Many mistake were made in The Nam, and very few commanders wanted to take the blame for anything. Many of our BRAVE young men did not come home because of these mistakes. Roadrunner6 Out
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