Once a Ranger

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: As a woman who normally reads romance novels, when I first looked at the cover it looked nice but not like the normal book I would pick up to read, because of the military-themed cover. The first night I started reading this book, I could not put it down. I read to Chapter 13 and thought this book was really good. I also realized it has been a long time since I picked up a good book, I started to slow down the pace of reading because I knew it would be a while before another book captured my interest as much as this book. The characters were great. I could only imagine myself fighting just as hard for my kids and contacting every resource I had to rescue them. It wasn't until I was close to the end that I stop reading and looked at the cover and was able to really visualize what was happening and why a fighter plane was the cover of the book. I can't wait for the next release from this author.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: As a woman who normally reads romance novels, when I first looked at the cover it looked nice but not like the normal book I would pick up to read, because of the military-themed cover. The first night I started reading this book, I could not put it down. I read to Chapter 13 and thought this book was really good. I also realized it has been a long time since I picked up a good book, I started to slow down the pace of reading because I knew it would be a while before another book captured my interest as much as this book. The characters were great. I could only imagine myself fighting just as hard for my kids and contacting every resource I had to rescue them. It wasn't until I was close to the end that I stop reading and looked at the cover and was able to really visualize what was happening and why a fighter plane was the cover of the book. I can't wait for the next release from this author.

Rating:
Summary: Move over, Ludlum, Grisham and Clancy
Review: I have a new favorite adventure writer--Stan Johnson. I've read Clancy, Ludlum, Grisham and lots of others. This book is as exciting as anything I've read. It was so good that when my wife begged me to turn the light out I continued reading like my seven year old, with a flashlight. The book says the author was in the JAG Corps. OK, he probably was. With his obvious knowledge of commando operations, he must have firsthand experience in black ops as well. The story has everything, a beginning that will bring tears to any parent's eyes, excitement, intrigue, plot twists and a love story. I highly recommend it and hope Mr. Johnson writes another one soon. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll quit his lawyer job to write books like this full time.

Rating:
Summary: Move over, Ludlum, Grisham and Clancy
Review: I have a new favorite adventure writer--Stan Johnson. I've read Clancy, Ludlum, Grisham and lots of others. This book is as exciting as anything I've read. It was so good that when my wife begged me to turn the light out I continued reading like my seven year old, with a flashlight. The book says the author was in the JAG Corps. OK, he probably was. With his obvious knowledge of commando operations, he must have firsthand experience in black ops as well. The story has everything, a beginning that will bring tears to any parent's eyes, excitement, intrigue, plot twists and a love story. I highly recommend it and hope Mr. Johnson writes another one soon. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll quit his lawyer job to write books like this full time.

Rating:
Summary: BEGAN MY DAY, BEGAN AN ADVENTURE
Review: I received this book for Christmas and began to read it on my train ride to and from work (that is, after my wife swiped it and read it first!). It was the kind of book I couldn't wait to get back into. I didn't want the adventure to end, yet could not wait for the outcome. The author seems to have astute insight into the many details of commando-type assault and stealth tactics, which I found fascinating. I highly recommend this book and you will find it a very exciting "ride" into an absorbing adventure.

Rating:
Summary: Thank You Mr. Johnson-Looking Forward to More!
Review: Once a Ranger, right from the start grabs the reader in a very real way. There is no point where the author sells out with fantastic or non-sensical filler. This is my favorite category of Fiction and I read one-two such novels a month, so I am always on the lookout for that new author, who "keeps it real", makes his characters engaging & believable and makes the reader glad he spent the 5-6 hours in a world such as the one Mr. Johnson has created for us. Thank you for a refreshing approach & please, KEEP 'em Coming!!! Going out to buy Lethal Agent now!

Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLY EXCITING
Review: The author captures your attention from the very beginning and leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat throughout the whole book. I couldn't put it down. It is very easy to read and each chapter was truly a cliff hanger. By page 30 I was all choked up as David Craig recalls a Vietnam experience that brought to mind what my friends endured in that war. As a parent, I felt the pain and anxiety that David Craig and the other parents experienced with their children being kidnapped. I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is incredibly exciting.

Rating:
Summary: Jumps Back at You
Review: This novel is a "good read" that jumps back at you. So for me that's so meaningful, since I do not live among "the literati," I read solely for enjoyment - especially novels, where the didactic can often be a real stretch. Johnson has taken his knowledge and writing skill and gave me a pleasurable 2-day ride last Fall at a time when I was all stressed up. "Once a Ranger" had all the necessary elements: well-developed characters, informed plot, timely issues and familiar, but interesting, protagonists. My only knock, a familiar dialectic: an Antagonist on the stimulants of children fetish and a Conquistador-complex, but Johnson got this arch-Colombian Bad Guy character to support all the other elements. The Lead Guy is an ex-ranger, and a comforting dad whose son gets snatch. With some old Buds and his Wall Street squeeze, they retrieve his son and some other kids. I simply enjoyed Johnson's weaving of this story! It took me away from my troubles for a brief time - and has jumped back at me often since, as so many of Johnson's themes and human nature insights are reflected back in the glare of today's news. Read it, if you seek some moments of pleasure!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fabulous!!
Review: This was wonderfully written! I held my breath until the end - it was so very interesting to see the hero of this book go to the lengths that he did to get his son back. And to have the friendships that he had - it really was good to see men care so much about each other! Great action - and who knew you could throw a plausible love plot into the middle of all of that. I would (and have) recommend this book to anyone looking for an intelligently written action packed novel.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down.
Review: When my husband suggested that I read the book he had just finished in record-breaking time, I thought I was in for another "guy's book." Wow, was I surprised! From the first page, I couldn't put it down. Once a Ranger is every bit a "gal's book" as well. The women characters are very strong, especially Jenny Benson, David Craig's lover. Jenny is what every woman wants to be: brilliant, successful, sexy, courageous, and as kick-bum as the guys, but smarter. This book is a very powerful story of serial kidnappings and the parents' efforts to find the kids. The characters are amazingly powerful. You cry with them in the depths of their depression, and fight alongside them in their desperation, as if you were there. More importantly though, Once a Ranger, is really more about relationships, love, sacrifice and courage. It's the first book of which I am aware in which straight men, the ex-Army Rangers, love each other so profoundly and so expressively, and where the women are as strong, if not stronger, than the men. It's the characters and their relationships that make Once a Ranger an Oprah book for both sexes.