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Pressure Point
Delivering "a gripping insider's view of the secret world of nuclear security" (W.E.B. Griffin), Dick Couch's explosive novel poses the chilling and timely How safe are America's waterways from terrorist threat? Riding quietly at her moorings on Puget Sound, the U.S. Navy's deadly weapon -- the Trident submarine -- waits for her return to the sea. But an Arab terrorist known as the Shadow has targeted the USS Michigan , with nearly three hundred nuclear warheads nestled in its missile silos. He intends to take the deadliest weapon of the Cold War and turn it into the deadliest dirty bomb conceivable -- by hijacking the Spokane , flagship of the nation's largest ferry fleet. The nation, caught by surprise, sends a select team of Navy SEALs to stop the Shadow. They are aided by a savvy FBI agent and the ferry's captain, Ross Peck. Unless the U.S. wields its political might to support his terrorist brothers in the Middle East, the Shadow will unleash a radiological holocaust, and a nightmare beyond imagining. . . .
- GenresMilitary FictionThriller
448 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 17, 1992
17 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Dick Couch
34 books159 followersMr. Couch graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1967. He graduated from BUD/S training in Class 45 in 1969. He was a case officer for the CIA.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 7, 2015
A well paced thriller with many characters, but no central or main character to focus on or root for. While it works at times like in Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy, I usually prefer the outlook from one main (mostly) like in Alpha by Greg Rucka or in movie "Die Hard".
The story was set back in 91 so it might seem dated a bit, but I didn't feel it was that big a deal. I thought the ending could have been handled a tad better with a little more ceremony for those killed by the terrorists.
Adding it all together, I did like the book. The main villain was determined (no Hans Gruber, but he was okay). I have another book or two by Dick Couch on my tablet and will be reading one of those books soon (probably The Mercenary Option).
The story was set back in 91 so it might seem dated a bit, but I didn't feel it was that big a deal. I thought the ending could have been handled a tad better with a little more ceremony for those killed by the terrorists.
Adding it all together, I did like the book. The main villain was determined (no Hans Gruber, but he was okay). I have another book or two by Dick Couch on my tablet and will be reading one of those books soon (probably The Mercenary Option).
April 11, 2025
A good action book, enjoyable, and rather hard to put down. It's a very novel interesting idea and I like the way that Couch takes something innocuous like a ferry, and shows us how it could be used by terrorists in ways that we never would've thought of.
I also had a few criticisms of the book, but overall it was a good read and I enjoyed it.
Firstly, it's slightly odd that there's no main protagonist to get behind. That's not necessarily a flaw, and Couch does a good job of balancing between several characters and their mindsets. But it does mean that instead of being heavily emotionally invested in a central character, we're lightly invested in multiple characters. But Couch kinda makes it work I think.
Secondly, some aspects of the book - particularly killings - are handled pretty matter-of-factly. I suspect that this is due to the way that elite special ops soldiers (such as Couch) are trained, as well as the extreme situations they experience in combat, e.g. having their buddy/ies die right next to them. They have a tendency to "step over" the death in a perfunctory way and just move on, something I've noticed in one or two SEAL autobiographies as well. And I can see that this would be a *very* necessary way to handle comrade deaths in a combat situation - there's no time to deal with that when bullets are flying. But in life outside of combat - including writing fiction books - this surey becomes an emotional handicap.
I feel like that's what happened in the final takedown scene in this book. I'll try to avoid spoilers with careful choice of words here, but when military personnel - and even some of the terrorists - are cut down with bullets, the book just moves on and doesn't dwell on it. That might be how a real soldier experiences it, but that's not how readers want to experience it. They want to be taken on all the highs and lows, the rollercoaster of emotion. We want to invest in a character, and then be shocked and temporarily gutted when that person is cut down with bullets. I was astonished that one fairly central character basically has the following happen to them: they step through a doorway and they're immediately cut down by three rounds to the chest, and slump to the ground. Then the book moves on. Even after the shooting is all over, and the bodies of the soldiers are all arranged on deck with a tarp covering them, there's an opportunity for the author to connect with the sense of sadness at a life cut short, and all that ambition and intense training to become a SEAL just being ended in half a second. But no. The book just moves on, and to me, this felt weird.
The book is indeed hard to put down, and several nights in a row I stayed up way longer than I intended to. There's something about the writing that makes you just constantly want to know what's going to happen next. But I feel that the second half of the ferry-takedown scene wasn't as climactic as it could've been, and then the book segued into a tidy ending and that was that.
Something I really appreciated about this book, is that Couch has adept insight into the ways that military and senior government personnel think and act, particularly with little nuances. I liked the nuance with which he described little things, like why one person wouldn't salute another, or how an Army colonel bristled a bit during a briefing by a Navy person, etc. Those kinds of little details are essential in fiction and I respect the way he's observed those nuances and weaves them into every interaction.
I also appreciated the way that Couch handled the core grievance of the "terrorists" in this book, and he even opened the debate on why they're called terrorists when there was another entirely valid way to look at their reasons for doing what they did. It would be very easy and typical to have simply painted them as crazed turban-wearing AK-47 toting foreigners who just like doing bad stuff to people. Or to just be glib about their reasons. But I felt that we got a reasonably good if somewhat factual (rather than emotional) window into Jamil's motivations - but I also sensed that Couch was leaving space for the possibility that Jamil's professed cause was actually just a thin veil covering his underlying psychopathic enjoyment of inflicting cruelty and of dominating and demeaning others. This is borne out in how he feels when he is having sex with Michelle in the solarium of the boat - he looks at her in disgust but still ravages her anyway - why? Because he is the chosen one and she is his plaything and serves a purpose for him. That's psychopathic. He's a cold cruel person, and I finished the book thinking that perhaps his holy 'cause' was a crock of sh** excuse to just inflict cruelty in revenge for his fallen brothers.
At first I thought that this treatment of the "baddies" and their cause was quite open-minded writing for a book written in the 90s, especially one from an author who was in the military - but then I remembered that this was pre 9/11. It was after 9/11 that attitudes and the associated lexicon changed vastly, as it often does after a horrifically scarring and devastating event like that. But my point is that I felt that the book at least gave insight into the thought processes of the "baddies" and what they were motivated by, and that takes maturity as a writer (and as a person) - to accept that your enemy has their reasons, rightly or wrongly.
I also had a few criticisms of the book, but overall it was a good read and I enjoyed it.
Firstly, it's slightly odd that there's no main protagonist to get behind. That's not necessarily a flaw, and Couch does a good job of balancing between several characters and their mindsets. But it does mean that instead of being heavily emotionally invested in a central character, we're lightly invested in multiple characters. But Couch kinda makes it work I think.
Secondly, some aspects of the book - particularly killings - are handled pretty matter-of-factly. I suspect that this is due to the way that elite special ops soldiers (such as Couch) are trained, as well as the extreme situations they experience in combat, e.g. having their buddy/ies die right next to them. They have a tendency to "step over" the death in a perfunctory way and just move on, something I've noticed in one or two SEAL autobiographies as well. And I can see that this would be a *very* necessary way to handle comrade deaths in a combat situation - there's no time to deal with that when bullets are flying. But in life outside of combat - including writing fiction books - this surey becomes an emotional handicap.
I feel like that's what happened in the final takedown scene in this book. I'll try to avoid spoilers with careful choice of words here, but when military personnel - and even some of the terrorists - are cut down with bullets, the book just moves on and doesn't dwell on it. That might be how a real soldier experiences it, but that's not how readers want to experience it. They want to be taken on all the highs and lows, the rollercoaster of emotion. We want to invest in a character, and then be shocked and temporarily gutted when that person is cut down with bullets. I was astonished that one fairly central character basically has the following happen to them: they step through a doorway and they're immediately cut down by three rounds to the chest, and slump to the ground. Then the book moves on. Even after the shooting is all over, and the bodies of the soldiers are all arranged on deck with a tarp covering them, there's an opportunity for the author to connect with the sense of sadness at a life cut short, and all that ambition and intense training to become a SEAL just being ended in half a second. But no. The book just moves on, and to me, this felt weird.
The book is indeed hard to put down, and several nights in a row I stayed up way longer than I intended to. There's something about the writing that makes you just constantly want to know what's going to happen next. But I feel that the second half of the ferry-takedown scene wasn't as climactic as it could've been, and then the book segued into a tidy ending and that was that.
Something I really appreciated about this book, is that Couch has adept insight into the ways that military and senior government personnel think and act, particularly with little nuances. I liked the nuance with which he described little things, like why one person wouldn't salute another, or how an Army colonel bristled a bit during a briefing by a Navy person, etc. Those kinds of little details are essential in fiction and I respect the way he's observed those nuances and weaves them into every interaction.
I also appreciated the way that Couch handled the core grievance of the "terrorists" in this book, and he even opened the debate on why they're called terrorists when there was another entirely valid way to look at their reasons for doing what they did. It would be very easy and typical to have simply painted them as crazed turban-wearing AK-47 toting foreigners who just like doing bad stuff to people. Or to just be glib about their reasons. But I felt that we got a reasonably good if somewhat factual (rather than emotional) window into Jamil's motivations - but I also sensed that Couch was leaving space for the possibility that Jamil's professed cause was actually just a thin veil covering his underlying psychopathic enjoyment of inflicting cruelty and of dominating and demeaning others. This is borne out in how he feels when he is having sex with Michelle in the solarium of the boat - he looks at her in disgust but still ravages her anyway - why? Because he is the chosen one and she is his plaything and serves a purpose for him. That's psychopathic. He's a cold cruel person, and I finished the book thinking that perhaps his holy 'cause' was a crock of sh** excuse to just inflict cruelty in revenge for his fallen brothers.
At first I thought that this treatment of the "baddies" and their cause was quite open-minded writing for a book written in the 90s, especially one from an author who was in the military - but then I remembered that this was pre 9/11. It was after 9/11 that attitudes and the associated lexicon changed vastly, as it often does after a horrifically scarring and devastating event like that. But my point is that I felt that the book at least gave insight into the thought processes of the "baddies" and what they were motivated by, and that takes maturity as a writer (and as a person) - to accept that your enemy has their reasons, rightly or wrongly.
October 18, 2017
An excellent well researched adventure
The first question is, could it really happen?
The dialogue, given facts and descriptions of the armed forces, the area involved and the inclusion of how the system works for command made this book a gripping read..
Extremely well researched and full of action, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a cracking adventure
The first question is, could it really happen?
The dialogue, given facts and descriptions of the armed forces, the area involved and the inclusion of how the system works for command made this book a gripping read..
Extremely well researched and full of action, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a cracking adventure
July 16, 2018
This is the second of Couch’s books I have read and I enjoyed it very much. However, unlike the first book, this one didn’t really have a main protagonist per se. Rather, there are many great characters. It didn’t slow the read or make the overall experience any less enjoyable really, just something that I noticed.
October 15, 2018
Good read
I gave it a four star rating meaning it was a interesting read about a nuclear sub and a ferry with hostages taken by a terrorist group it involved the navy seals who were sent in to stop the terrorist attack the submarine was a nuclear sub with nuclear missiles the navy seals did a good job of stopping the terrorists was a good read
I gave it a four star rating meaning it was a interesting read about a nuclear sub and a ferry with hostages taken by a terrorist group it involved the navy seals who were sent in to stop the terrorist attack the submarine was a nuclear sub with nuclear missiles the navy seals did a good job of stopping the terrorists was a good read
July 16, 2018
Outstanding Adventure!
Dick Couch presents a story that I think many in the American military have pondered once or twice in their lives. Outstanding adventure and a great page turner. I highly recommend this book!
Dick Couch presents a story that I think many in the American military have pondered once or twice in their lives. Outstanding adventure and a great page turner. I highly recommend this book!
February 28, 2024
...and the SEAL's have the final word!
Want to read
August 5, 2012haha
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews