Tier One

This One's a Keeper!!!

This is an excellent and believable mystery, thriller, terrorist, espionage book. There is tons of action throughout the entire story right from the very beginning. The protagonist Jack Kemper is a SEAL on a mission when his entire team is ambushed and slaughtered, he escapes with his life but is badly burned. Jack then joins another alphabet team and becomes John Dempsey, our hero on a mission of revenge for the team he lost. The rest of the book deals with his training, information gathering and how, loss of comrades and ultimately the shocking discovery of who was behind the initial ambush and why. For me the who and why was a shocker that was totally unpredictable but believable.
One thing I did like about the way the authors wrote is in taking into consideration that not everyone has been in the military and doesn't always understand some of the specific meanings behind coded language the authors have Dempsey decoding in his head as the conversations take place.
Ray Porter did an excellent job narrating.
This book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, I can only hope that a sequel is on the way! If you found this review helpful please indicate so.
Thank You.

188 of 191 people found this review helpful

Pretty good for fans of John Wells and Mitch Rapp

Where does Tier One rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Gave this a try after reading the feedback here and was pretty happy with it. I am a spy/ mil fiction fan and have read tons in this genre going back to Ambler and Deighton. This is more grunt and less intrigue but still entertaining and well told and narrated. Compared to Rapp and Wells books, this needs a bit more editing and character dev. It most reminds me of the Dewey Andreas books but those are better I think. I care more about the characters mentioned above. Bit deeper maybe, not sure. Good first try and I would buy another.

64 of 66 people found this review helpful

Not Easy To Put This One Down!

This type of book is outside of the box for me, but every now and then, I have a taste for something different, say, a spy novel. This one came at the right time, was on sale, and I am glad I grabbed it.

Audible gives a nice, tight description of the story. In brief, it is centered on Navy Seal John Dempsey, who transitions to a spy shortly after his Seal team is systematically destroyed by terrorists, leaving him the only survivor. It is the driving force behind his attempt to stop the terrorists and exact revenge for the unbearably sad loss of his Seal family.

At the very first, I thought the book was going to be too full of testosterone behaviors, macho man-talk, and superhero-ism. But my fears were needless and the author got on with business in a way that kept me engaged and reluctant to turn off my listening device. I am am happy to report that John Dempsey is not a glorified superhero but a very capable and believable protagonist.

I enjoyed the story all the way through to the end. Ray Porter is a very talented narrator as this book constantly reminded me. At times I believed there must be another narrator as Ray couldn't be doing all those accents so flawlessly (or at least it seemed to my ears.) No, just Ray, doing his thing. If I were to have one small complaint it would be his rendering of female voices. The few female voices sounded weak, wimpy, and sometimes childlike. I am hoping he can work on this aspect.

Overall, Tier One is a great listen. I am sure I will follow up in the near future with the second and third books in the series.

16 of 16 people found this review helpful

better than many in the genre!

Tier One is blacker than the CIA, blacker than Seal Team 6, Blacker than any other SpecOps groups. After the predictable beginning, you know, the loss of his entire Tier One team, Jack is given the opportunity to seek out those responsible. He is invited to join an even blacker group, but can this new team create cohesion? Can they trust each other to have their six? Will Jack be able to fit in and remain in the group, or will his hot-headedness and sense of right mean his being let go? Can he trust his own handlers?

Even while this new team is delving into the past, and forging present relationships, current and future events take the team into new terrorist plots which they must unravel and take down before they can unfold.

The story is chock-full of bad guys, surprises, plotting and counter plotting, turn-arounds, and very hard decisions. There are sad deaths to mourn, enemies to hate, and motives to question. And in the midst of this seriousness, there are even some very human chuckles.

The characters are well-rounded, conversations believable, actions and responses credible. The writing is up there at the top of the game--it can join the best authors. And then with the impeccable Ray Porter narrating, you have a treat for your ears and mind.

Definitely authors to keep track of, (Brian Andrews is the author of the Nick Foley series under the name Alex Ryan) and looks to be the start of a great new series.

37 of 39 people found this review helpful

Fantastic Book @ $8.08 It Is A Bargain

This book is an easy listen that is very engaging. I liked how the story line progressed as well as the twists and turns. Portions of the book were quite predictable, while others were a bit of a surprise. Aside from the story the language is heavily loaded with TLAs (Three Letter Acronymns), which can get confusing when you cannot remember what a TLA stands for.

The story is chock-full of bad guys, surprises, plotting and counter plotting, turn-arounds, and very hard decisions. There are sad deaths to mourn, enemies to hate, and motives to question. And in the midst of this seriousness, there are even some very human chuckles.

The characters are well-rounded, conversations believable, actions and responses credible. The writing is up there at the top of the game--it can join the best authors. And then with the impeccable Ray Porter narrating, you have a treat for your ears and mind.

Definitely authors to keep track of, (Brian Andrews is the author of the Nick Foley series under the name Alex Ryan) and looks to be the start of a great new series

Ray Porter was outstanding with the delivery of the story

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Best Book this summer

I frequently get the free books offered by Amazon and then buy the audio. This book from the start was full of action. I loved everything about this book. I hope there are many more to come.

19 of 20 people found this review helpful

A Page Turner

“Tier One” is a military action novel. I have not read these two authors, Andrews and Wilson, before. Apparently, this is book one of a series. Guess I am lucky I started with the first book.

The protagonist is Jack Dempsey/Jack Kemper, a Navy Seal. Jack survived a massacre at a U.S. base in Africa. Afterword, he is assigned to take charge of Task Force Ember, a secret unit that receives orders straight from the White House. It is devoted to destroying terrorists.

The book is well written and is packed with action and more action. Andrews and Wilson are Navy veterans so the scenes are fairly realistic. The characters are interesting and likable. These is a lot of military acronyms so the readers without a military background may have a problem. I understand that the book format has a glossary at the back of the book. Be aware there is foul language used in the book.

The book is just over eleven and a half hours. Ray Porter does a good job narrating the book. Porter is an actor and an audiobook narrator. He has won multiple Earphone Awards and has also been nominated for an Audie. I have had the pleasure of listening to Porter many times over the years.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

High Level Operators

The story lines may be from Operational Commanders' fantasy life and dreams but scenes & dialogue could have come only from those who had actually 'been in the area'. The authors had me deep enough into the story that they had referred to the TOC so naturally that I didn't realize they hadn't defined it at first. (TOCs differ by agency and purpose -- but these authors "know whereof they speak") It' s fun and well done ... deserves a BZ.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

excellent story very well done

the story is excellent from start to finish. There was only one point in the story that was a bit slow. But that transition worked itself out quickly. Very much enjoyed the narration, the character development and the overall storyline.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Took A Little Time But...

The plot took off about 1/3 of the way through the book, and it was very engaging from that point on.

The authors possess a vast knowledge of the subject matter; from the SEAL teams to the regions in which they deploy. While I found some of the narrative disingenuous respective of the SEALs desire to be anonymous (how many SEALs have written books, movies, screen plays, been part of a documentary, or participated in a TV special...or plainly stood up and said "I shot Bin Laden"?), it didn't take away from the plot as much as I thought it might. The story develops rapidly after the initial main character development, and it is furious to the end.

The narrator does an excellent job of bringing the characters to life using inflection, tone, accents, timbre, and vocabulary. He conveys the necessary emotion quite well, and does an exceptional job creating the character's personalities with his style.

I have already started the second book in the series. If you enjoy fiction with a contemporary theme, this is an excellent book. Very entertaining.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful