Hunt the Wolf

SEAL Team Six #1

by Don Mann, Ralph Pezzullo

Navy SEAL Team Six commando Don Mann infuses his debut military thriller with the real-life details only a true insider can reveal.

In the midst of a grueling training exercise, Thomas Crocker, USN, unearths a pocket of terrorism that leads straight from the slopes of K2 to the cities of Europe and the Middle East. Crocker and his team, who are trained for the most intense kinds of combat in the most extreme environments, must blaze through a perilous web of terrorist cells to track down a ruthless sheikh who is running an international kidnapping ring before his captives pay the ultimate price.

Hunt the Wolf is an adrenaline-packed novel sure to appeal to fans of Vince Flynn and Brad Thor, featuring the world's most elite soldiers and based on the experiences of renowned SEAL Team 6 commando Don Mann.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Military Fiction, Action, War, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

308 pages, Hardcover

First published June 26, 2012

About the author

Don Mann is a decorated combat veteran, motivational keynote speaker, athlete, and author.

Reviews

[PamG · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an action-packed military thriller! Hunt the Wolf by Don Mann and Ralph Pezzullo is the first book in the SEAL Team Six series and it is an exhilarating and hair-raising novel. Featuring U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer Tom Crocker and several of his teammates. From a grueling mountain climbing training exercise to various nefarious plots that are unearthed, the team must dig deep to overcome everything that is thrown at them.

Crocker is straightforward, hardworking, and an elite soldier. He also has no patience for bureaucracy that impedes missions. The other characters are reasonably well developed.

As a former Navy SEAL, the author provides detail that ensures the novel feels authentic including the required mental, physical, and emotional toughness that is required. The story starts out strong, then eases up as readers become acquainted with the team and the plot is set-up. After that, it is action-filled, intense, suspenseful, and profound. While some of the scenes are over-the-top, I was along for the ride.

Overall, this is a riveting, dramatic, and frightening to think about novel that kept me engaged throughout. If you enjoy action-packed military thrillers, then this may be the series for you.

I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was June 26, 2012.

---------------------------------
My 4.1 rounded to 4 stars review is coming soon.

[RM(Alwaysdaddygirl) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars.

One of the authors( Don Mann) is a retired Navy Seal. To some of the negative reviews( I did not read all of them), read his background. There is no question on his knowledge. His writing is from someone that been HAS been there. Things do not go always as planned. Good soldiers learns to adapt. Read non fiction books written by our military. That can be a start. Again, one will see things do not as planned when in combat, etc.

🇺🇸🦅

[Sean Peters (A Good Thriller) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Net Galley, the publishers and the authors for an advance copy for a honest revuew.

Firstly I would like to say, I preferred the second half of the book, the first half was slow, yes I know an important part of the story, but made this book an okay read, then the second half the book came alive, and became a action packed thriller.

Hunt the Wolf starts well, with an explosion at the US Embassy in Morocco. It continues well slowly, with a Seal team preparing to seek revenge and be thrown into action, and head through the mountains.

On their return from the mountains, the action really starts, and it becomes a fast paced action for the last third of the book.

Don Mann shows the true life of a Seal leader and mission focus of a Navy Seal team leader. The things he took for granted, the things he depended on, and the heights he pushed himself too. A look into the life and struggles of the modern warfare. The dedication, training and commitment of modern soldiers in an increasingly difficult and convoluted war. One man's commitment training and sacrifice show the heights of human endurance, strength of character, the commitment of brotherhood, shown in the difficulties of the main character Tom Crocker.

An okay read for me, as Seal information great, but a little more work on the delivery of an even paced action thriller.

[Chris Haught · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free ebook of this novel from NetGalley.

Now this was a nice break from everything. An espionage/action/adventure that was quickly paced and well developed. The writing itself wasn't spectacular, but it was solid. The characters are interesting, though I'd like to see them drawn out a bit more. Perhaps in future books in the series.

It was a bit pro-military-rah-rah, but that's to be expected when one of the co-authors was a SEAL himself. And that's fine; it was appropriate here. I'm ex-military myself, so it's refreshing to see that patriotism and pride in service still exists out there.

I do think this would make for a cool TV series, if done right. I'm certainly interested in reading more of the books.

[Chris Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of intrigue, action seems authentic but not a ton of character development and is a little jumpy. Entertaining for sure though, a good rainy day read!

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually while this is listed as an action book it only manages to brush up against action for most of it's length. This isn't a bad book, but sadly it never manages to be what it was supposed to be. You'll get a fairly long set up and introduction. Then you'll get some personal struggles and sacrifice. It's well trodden ground, but it's an okay serviceable read.

I've said before that the fact a plot has been used before isn't necessarily a minus...it's just how well that plot is done. After all there are (literally) millions of stories out there. I just wish this could have been better.

I admit a lot of that is my own respect for the service and for service people and while this tells a pretty good story I wish it had drawn me in and held me spell bound from the first. It didn't do that.

So you get a fair action tail here with some emotional involvement and a pretty reliable taste of reality. I'd say try this one and see what you think if modern military reads are your cup of tea. Not the best out there, not bad.

[Dave Wickenden · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a disastrous assault on a terrorist stronghold, which allowed the mastermind to escape, a SEAL team is requested to track down a young girl who has been kidnapped and sold into the sex slave market. Fighting with their own CIA leaders turns out to be as vicious as their fight against enemies of freedom. At the heart of this entire conspiracy is a terrorist plan to destroy the world's economy.

The story is a very fast-paced thriller with more danger than you can imagine. From tactic assaults to surviving an avalanche in the Himalayas, to attacking a tanker in the Persian Gulf. The story has a ring of truth, considering it is based on the experiences of former SEAL Team commando Don Mann.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friends asks a SEAL for a favor. Apparently, a young Norwegian girl has been kidnapped, and some very important people want her found. Thanks, Angela Merkel! The SEAL jumps right in with both feet, chasing her all over the world.

Exposes the horrors of human trafficking, but really isn't as exciting as top tier books in the genre.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hunt the Wolf is the first of the SEAL Team Six series, it's written by Don Mann a retired NAVY SEAL himself and writing with Ralph Pezzullo. Hunt the Wolf is full of first hand knowledge that leads to a colorful and vivid description of scenery and action. It was exciting and suspenseful I couldn't put it down. It reminded me of John McClane and Bryan Mills (Die Hard and Taken) mashed together. The main character just kept getting beat down but never gave up, and if that's what NAVY SEALs do they so don't get paid enough. It's more of a Tom Clancy type action (talk action, talk action) then continuous nonstop action.

The story quite literally starts with a bang. Thomas Crocker and his SEAL Team Six is leading a quiet mission to flush out a terrorist, Zaman, well they blow up part of the building he was in. The Zaman manages to escape but left some clues behind about his plan, but not enough to accurately piece together what. What was supposed to be a specialty training Crocker was taking his men climbing up the K2, and waylaid by the CIA to run that quick mission but the CIA had it declared a screw-up, so on with the trip as planned.

At the base camp for K2 Crocker is approached by a Norwegian national asking for help. In the last year more young adults have gone missing, sold into the white slave trade. The last girl to go missing, Malie, had connections to the King. The Norwegian government can't do anything about by themselves so as a person favor to the King of Norway they are asking Crocker's team to help. With permission pending Crocker goes up the mountain with his men as planned and then back down again, with weather turning worse and an avalanche that almost took the life of one of his men They return to base camp with permission granted. But the CIA has put that on the back burner and told them to go after someone else.

Crocker and Akil must go to France to flush out Rafiq a known connection to Zaman. After some cunning acting and getting beat up they finally find themselves at Rafiq's hideout. After a fire fight they discover the connection between Zaman, Rafiq, and the white slave trade circle. They are able to save some young woman and find out more about where Zaman is. Together with his team Crocker pieces together what's going on and faces a court martial to find Malie and track down Zaman once and for all.

The ending is just as explosive as the beginning and a happy ending to boot. This amazing introduction to Tom Crocker and his team is well worth the read. I can picture this a movie. First published in 2012 it has three books to follow so far the newest coming out this month.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unless you have had the horror of experiencing war, never being able to really feel safe and coming home with those nightmares haunting you, one can never really understand what one human can do to another. Hunt the Wolf by Don Mann is raw, horrific and brutal, a fictional account of the realities of war and how honor, duty and the will to survive are tested far beyond their breaking points for a well-trained SEAL team. By accidentally uncovering an international human trafficking ring, this SEAL team is thrown headlong into a world where life has little value, unless it can be sold for a price.

Don Mann isn’t out to create fictional heroes that are larger than life; he is telling what the REAL heroes in life must face. His writing is intense, the action finely detailed, sometimes to a tee, but never once did anything sound unreal. His characters are soldiers, trained to be the best and go where no one else will go, putting their lives and very sanity on the line. From the torturous details of the victims of slave trafficking to the man behind it all, there isn’t one moment that will let you down. Every detail is needed, as dark as they are, to fully appreciate Mr. Mann’s tale of some of the unsung heroes who went through hell to save strangers.

I was caught like a deer in the headlights, my stomach churned, but I had to read this through to the end.

I received this copy from Mulholland Books in exchange for my honest review.

Series: SEAL Team Six - Book 1
Publication Date: June 26, 2012
ISBN: 9780316209571
Genre: Adult Fiction
Print Length: 320 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

[Tyler · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read 170 pages really hoping the good part would come but it never did. It's one random event after another with continuous interjections about someone's bland backstory or how attractive a given female is. There were a few brief action scenes in those 170 pages but those hardly made up for the terrible character development or plot. Not worth the time I put into it.

[Geoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the military segments, but the long section in the middle that covered the author's obvious love of mountain climbing had nothing to do with the story. A good editor would have culled it.

[Alfonso · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good way to know about SEAL's work. Easy to read.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first experience with this author and with the SEAL Team Six Series. I thought it would probably be a good book, but it turned out to be a very good book.

The main character in the story is Tom Crocker who is the leader of this SEAL team. The main objectives of this particular operation are to location a terrorist and discover what he is planning. During the unfolding of the operation, many other nefarious activities were uncovered. The only part of the story I had a problem with was a mountain climbing expedition by Crocker and his team. Apparently, it was supposed to be a cover story for the team but was also something they did to keep their training and skills honed to a high level. It just didn’t seem to fit the story. It was also hard to believe that guys who faced death on a near daily basis would need any additional challenges or stimulation. I know if I were in their place, I would opt for rest and relaxation rather than more life threatening struggles without any obvious payoff.

With that being said, I found the book fast paced and exciting. It kept me on my toes trying to figure out the next turn of events and what each side would do in response. I have always loved to see the bad guy “get it”. It works great in books and movies. It is wonderful when it works in real life, but often, in reality things don’t go as planned and the good guy is not always lucky.

I really liked this book and highly recommend it to anyone who likes action stories. But one small warning to prospective readers, occasionally a word or two of the language is just what you might hear from some people in real life. Not what I prefer to hear or read, but it is “true to life” none the less. It wasn’t used just for the sake of bad language but did seem to be natural to the characters. It wasn’t distracting enough to impact my enjoyment of the story. Read it if you get the opportunity. I plan to read more in the SEAL Team Six series.

I was provided a free copy of this book for review from Mulholland Books and Net Gallery. I was under no obligation to provide a favorable review.

[Jarek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hunt the Wolf by Don Mann and Ralph Pezzullo is a military thriller, telling a story of a team of Navy SEALs tracking a leader of a terrorist organization, while at the same time trying to rescue a young girl kidnapped by human traffickers. The action takes place in many spectacular locations, from the snowy slopes of the Karakorum, through picturesque towns of France, to the coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

The best thing about this book is its authenticity, ensured by Don Mann, an experienced Navy SEALs veteran. Don Mann was a SEAL for seventeen years, eight of which he served as a member of SEAL Team 6, which later became the famous DEVGRU. I think his personal experience greatly contributed to a convincing portrayal of SEALs in the book. All the main characters of "Hunt the Wolf" are multidimensional and believable. They behave and speak in a natural way, and consequently seem very real. Interestingly, the main protagonist Thomas Crocker bears a significant similarity to Don Mann himself.

Excellent characters contrast with the plot, which is the main weaknesses of the novel. Although it is based on an original premise and the action is fast paced and interesting, there are just too many lucky coincidences throughout the book to treat the story seriously.

Despite the minor drawbacks, "Hunt the Wolf" is definitely worth reading, and thanks to the strong, authentic characters many readers will find it quite inspirational.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a great deal. It was fast paced and full of adventure. I am not sure how realistic time lines were or some of the other details but sometimes you just need to set realism aside and enjoy the ride. This novel confronts a very evil and dark topic for our world today. It is one that affects every community and it is an issue that is not limited to the poorer countries of the world. Human trafficking. Many of us like our warm resorts in tropical lands and do not realize how many of the women that are seen around these resorts are actually there against their will. How many missing women are imprisoned in some rich, sicko's mansion somewhere? I admire the authors of this book for confronting this hidden issue.

[Eric]

Just not in the mood for this one. Seemed like a pretty formula based book. The characters were uninspiring. Maybe another time.

[Connie N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

#1 in the SEAL Team Six thriller series

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is way out of my usual comfort zone so it's hard for me to judge if it's realistic and/or common for this type of plot. I found it to be very brutal many times. It was clear that this SEAL team is made up of determined and sometimes ruthless men. The characters seemed to rationalize that they were the good guys so they had a pass on their sometimes horrendous actions. Furthermore, I thought Crocker, the team leader, was pretty much a loose cannon who insisted on going by his instincts rather than waiting for rules and red tape to be cleared. I think that was meant to be a good thing, but I found it scary and uncomfortable. In any case, the team was having a hard time tracking down and neutralizing a known terrorist. While still in the Middle East, they become embroiled in a sex trafficking ring that eventually seems to have ties to the terrorist they are searching for. Lots of exciting moments came together to create a perfect storm of excitement at the end, that's for sure. The action scenes were well done, but the in-between writing occasionally felt a bit awkward, slowing down the forward movement of the story until we came to another action scene. All in all, I would definitely call the book fast and furious, although I'm certainly not the typical target audience.

[Dawn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hunt the Wolf A Seal Team Six Novel by Don Mann

321 Pages
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Release Date: June 26, 2012

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Military, Terrorism

In Morocco, a bomb goes off at a U.S. embassy. Thomas Crocker is a member of Seal Team Six and is sent to provide aid and security. While on a climbing trip on K2, they meet a couple of Norwegians. Crocker is asked to investigate the kidnapping of Malie Tingvoll, an 18-year-old living in Oslo. The mission takes Crocker and his team to Marseille, France where they find four young women in cages. None of them are Malie. A tip leads them to Karachi and Oman.

This is a fast-paced book, and the action is non-stop. The characters are developed and barely have time to take a breath before they are back into action. It is written in third person point of view. I could not but it down until I finished it. This reminds me of Tom Clancy and Jason Bourne type of action adventures. If you like fast pace action, you will enjoy this book.

[Tyler Hetland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this novel didn't jive with me. I listened to the audiobook and was presented with multiple stereotypical accents that could be offensive to some listeners. TW for human trafficking, rape and forced drug abuse, terrorism, death and torture. Curiosity won over in the end but I probably should have stopped reading much sooner. The plot was slow and focused a lot on the characters' personal adventures, during times of political negotiations, rather than the rescue missions. I understand the validity of asking for permission when entering foreign countries but the inconsistency shone starkly through when the MC disobeyed orders and did his own thing occasionally. The author also seemed to have a strange fascination with sleep as dreaming and napping were mentioned too many times to count, especially when these guys are supposed to be trained and hardened SEALs. The descriptions of female bodies also seemed of poor taste and necessary. The false resolution was appreciated and is the main reason I’m giving it this high of a rating.

[David Dalton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say I was disappointed in this story. It certainly did not live up to what I expected to read. I did not see anything special about Chief Warrant Tom Crocker. For a SEAL on Team 6 I expected a lot more. He seemed to stumble his way thru things and went off half-cocked most of the time. I think the authors have a background in Special Ops but it does not translate well into a novel. Pretty sure I will not read anymore books in this series. Time to go back and resume my sniper series written by Jack Coughlin (Running the Maze).

[KL B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not taking away from what I know are realistic situations that are written about or SEALs...but an over abundance of boobs, sex cliches and situations, infidelities, legs spread, rapes, half naked women, playboy mags galore, and old stereotypes mentioned more than enough throughout...I am definitely not the target audience of these authors. I finished for respect of the work that goes into a book. I’ll look at the next one and If it’s for the same audience then I know to pass. There were some great parts, I appreciated those to counter and encourage me to get to the end.

[Denée · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't a bad book nor was it a great one. The first half seemed almost lost and disconnected but by the end it all came together more or less. The author could have written it in half the pages and it would have been twice as good. It felt almost like he was cramming every bit of research and information into the pages when a brief summarization would have sufficed. I will not be reading the remainder of the series.

[Kristen Tarr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hunt the Wolf
Don Mann

💥 This review contains spoilers💥

“Don’t raise more demons than you can put down.”

Follow Crocker and his seal team through the ups and downs of their mission. This action packed book takes you on a mountain climb that turns into the depths of a rescue mission after a treacherous storm.

Crocker and his team leave their climb in order to locate a missing teen. This leads the team into a whirlwind of attacks, missions and unraveling a sex trafficking operation.

[Kevin Loveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

No spoilers in this review.

Enjoyed the book, it was pretty slow to start, however, after a few chapters the story began to become more and more interesting. The style of writing was easy to read and comprehend.

Would recommend this to anybody who wants a bit of escapism. Looking forward to reading the 2nd book in the series (Hunt the Scorpion).

[Christine D · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was action and suspense but the writing wasn't very good. It almost felt like the author couldn't decide whether to focus on the team and it's members or just the leader of the team, Crocker.
A so-so substitute for fans of Vince Flynn, Brad Thor and the like.

p.s. I respect the author's service to our country so this review does not reflect that.

[Kristin Lisa Kadaj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. Wasn't my favorite read. Good story, but felt like there was no real purpose until the very end. LOVE that the author was a member of ST6 so I felt as if the details of the op were close to that of a real op.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a ton of SEAL books now and was excited to do one that was a novel. That being said even with this being penned by an actual SEAL, I felt this lacked a sense of authenticity. Most of the book felt like it was an an international mystery with the SEAL component thrown in at the very end.

[Leland Dunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had too much filler. To me I put the book down serveral times because the way the story being told felt it focused on too much detail outside the main story. I probably won't read the rest of the series if it's alot like this one. The series is gonna hard pass for me.

[Kristin A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this book not knowing exactly what to expect. What I found was a story of the elite men who serve our country, often at the detriment of their lives. These men must be able to depend on each other, unquestionable trust is a must.