Rogue Avenger

Rogue Submarine #1

by John R. Monteith, Jeff Edwards (Illustrator)

THEY STOLE HIS FUTURE. HE STOLE THEIR SUBMARINE.

The accident changed everything… One moment, Lieutenant Jake Slate was going about his duties aboard the ballistic missile submarine, USS Colorado. The next second, he was sprawled on the deck plates in a spreading puddle of blood and hydraulic fluid. But it wasn’t the injury that ruined his life and doomed his military career. It was the rescue effort.

Now he’s being thrown to the wolves to cover up the misdeeds of a superior officer, and Jake doesn’t care for the role of sacrificial lamb.

Blinded by rage and unsure of his future, he finds himself at the center of a treacherous plot to hijack the Colorado and sell her nuclear warheads to a foreign power. Jake no longer knows who he can trust. He doesn’t know what the future holds. He really only knows one thing. He will have his revenge.

Book 1 of the Rogue Submarine Series... Rogue Avenger (2005), Rogue Betrayer (2007), Rogue Crusader (2010), Rogue Defender (2013), Rogue Enforcer (2014), Rogue Fortress (2015), Rogue Goliath (2015), and Rogue Hunter (2016).

This novel is part of the Rogue Submarine fiction series, launched in 2005 by John Monteith, a former military officer and naval warfare instructor. Beginning with Rogue Avenger, the books are titled in alphabetical order for ease of reference. Although the stories are best read in sequence, each installation is written for enjoyment as a standalone adventure.

Genres: Fiction, Action, Thriller, Military Fiction

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2005

Reviews

[Larry Laswell]

Rogue Avenger
By John Monteith

Fate brings two men together. A submarine officer has had his life destroyed by an ambitious captain and seeks revenge. An arms dealer wants to correct the imbalance of power he has helped to create. Together they steal a Trident submarine for a third-world country to harvest its nuclear warheads. The US Navy wants to find out which nation is behind the heist before they destroy their own submarine.

Then everything really goes wrong.

Rouge Avenger is plausible, unpredictable and tense. After the first chapter you won’t put this book down.
Montheith has the submarine and tactical experience to write an accurate and gripping techno thriller. He didn’t have to research his subject, he only had to remember and it shows in the detail that is both surprising and illuminating.

I particularly appreciate the Monteith’s skill in providing each character’s backstory that provided depth and motivation without bogging the story down with long excursions into their past. The story is well written and well balanced. Overall it is one of the best novels of this genre I have read in the past several years.

I highly recommend it.

Larry Laswell – Author of Vows to the Fallen
Visit me at www.LarryLaswell.com

[Walter Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where it all started

I read Rogue Avenger again “for the first time”. The actual “first time” feels like it was a long time ago. I just finished the pair of novels based on an assignment to Nigeria – Rogue Poseidon (#16) and Rogue Queen (#17). I stuck with John R. Monteith because of how well-written the first book was. A couple of the books were not his best. But all of them were worth reading, because things really hit home with the latest ones.
Rogue Avenger introduces the two main characters of what became the Rogue Submarine mercenary series. But this series is character-driven, so by the time of Rogue Queen, you get to meet the people who move into leadership roles, and spend time inside their heads, and inside their skins. And that also includes individuals who might be considered the “opposition”, but who stand out as fully-realized characters as well.
John R Monteith is not a writer who read a lot about submarines and watched many movie and television shows that had something to do with submarines. Monteith has served aboard a nuclear ballistic missile submarine and has been a top-rated instructor of combat tactics. His biography includes his interest in cutting-edge technologies, and this is one of the reasons his stories are so fascinating.
All of the novels have come as downloads to my Kindle. But a month ago I purchased five of them in paperback. My sons and I read our way through the Joe Buff series, and I know that they will dive into these books. And when they are finished, those books will end up in our local public library, where I will be a strong advocate for the acquisition of the other novels. And if my sons become fans of this series, I will purchase another five paperbacks. And enrich the shelves of the public library even more, when those novels are read and enjoyed.

[Jr · Rating 2 out of 5]

The storyline had great promise. However, there are a lot of places where the whole thing completely bogs down in unnecessary descriptions of technical stuff. Also, there are a couple of very nice descriptive passages that seem to be included to make the reader feel like they're "really there" on the submarine, but that aren't accurate. The last thing a submarine smells like is "musty seawater". Not that important and probably not an issue for the vast majority of readers, but since that description didn't really add to the development of plot or characters, it stuck out as a thorn. Also none of the characters were well-developed enough to be sympathetic. A thriller needs a "good guy" - someone the reader can cheer for. This one didn't have it. Finally, the ending was unsatisfying, no matter who you were rooting for. Overall, not so bad that I stopped reading in the middle, but one I wish I hadn't spent so much time on.

[Marc Pressley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well...it's a quick read.

On the positive side, the author is writing what he knows, i.e., the world of submarine warfare. And there are some aspects of the premise that are quite interesting and might have made for a good story.

Having said that, this novel's decks are awash with a lot of telling versus showing and, at times, abominable dialogue choices. The back-and-forth narrative doesn't much help, and the characters are thin at best. The protagonist's big motivational reveal comes as kind of a head scratcher; it's really just another plot device (and a curious choice at that), and one that may be medically suspect at that.

All in all, I can't say the experience of the first book leaves me pining for any of the other ten novels in this series.

[Mick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it.

Finding a good independent author is like finding a pearl in a natural oyster bed. There are a lot of them but unfortunately you have to open a lot of bad oysters to find one.

The world is awash with meritocracy and just plain bad "writers" who are not authors. I enjoyed this book. Found the characters deep enough to be realistic and enjoyed the plot. Great read from an author.

[Chris Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book as it sounded like an interesting plot. It wasn't disappointing by any means. There are a number of surprises in the story, such as the whole reason for the main characters rational for deciding to steal a submarine. I don't wish to give to many things away, but if you like stories of this type - military, suspense, thriller... You'll enjoy this novel.
The author has the background to make the story line not only plausible, but I hope it never happens.

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

JRM has an active imagination woven in with his technical expertise, which had asked him to present a submarine force like no other we have seen attempting to expand the political climate of today with current events that may or may not proceed as written Political intrigue, military standards, and a look into the future completed this excellent read for the genre.....DEHS

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe Good for 4-Stars (Maybe not)

The ‘back stories’ that fill in the histories of several people in the novel, are not well done — or, perhaps worse, are pretty boring and consist of petty crap.
The action parts of the book keep The Reader interested, even if some sections (especially the internal fighting, and the external comradeship) are hard to believe.

[Michael Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the second book is as good as the first, i am going to have lots of fun reading it. I liked the way

Lots of fun reading the second book. I also liked the way the author tied the beginning of the book with the events leading up to the start. Very good character development.

[Susan Robinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't keep my interest. Bounced around too much and hard to figure out what was going on. Didn't finish.

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glory for traitors

Sorry but I cannot take the feel good ending for action against the country I served and many have died to protect.

[Nellie Zion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be reading more

As I browse the libraries and bookstores I will be keeping an eye out for this series and this author

[Bill Barnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea.

Not believable. Now to add 10 + 8 words to comply with a stupid rule. Still have 5 mor to go.

[Desmond Southwell]

Dragged me right into the story from the start and didn't let me out. Didn't want it to finish.
Will read more.

[John Brosnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern Day Naval Warfare

Stealing A US Sub. Naval Politics. Russians, Chinese!! Taiwan! Nukes. All wrapped into a modern day thriller. Fast read. Onto book 2!!

[Shane Amazon · Rating 3 out of 5]

John R. Monteith has a very good imagination. His ability to break the mold of the common stories found in most thriller publications makes for a refreshing read. Of course the big fish in the pond will always be Red October, so how does Monteith's Rogue Avenger stay clear of the shadow cast by Clancy? Well, for the most part Monteith takes ideas that seem to be the exact opposite of what a reader of a submarine thriller would expect to find. Instead of a patriotic American attached to some government agency hell bent on saving the world from an evil foreigner with a nuclear arsenal, Monteith tells the tale of an American sailor thrown into unfolding events and having no choice but to save the day or lose his life.

This type of storytelling can connect a reader to the author very well, but given this is Monteith first outing there are some problems that need to be addressed(later Monteith books have solved these issues and make for better reading). First you will note that the events unfold very fast, too fast. Scenes are described well, however big chunks are left out which cause the story to feel a little like Swiss cheese, full of holes. There are parts of the book, especially in the beginning, that describe characters being shot in the leg in order for the bad guy to show dominance and suppress any kind of uprising by the good guys. Sure, this is found in most books and the reader can get the image of that in their head pretty easily, but the way the scene is described leaves key information out. Montieth tells the reader that the character has been shot in the leg, but past that event there is no reaction by the character to the event. No description of how the character feels or reacts to the shooting. If I were shot in the leg I would scream out and drop to the floor grabbing at my wound. The book just describes the shooting and none of the reaction. Things like this pop up throughout the book, as if the writer was eager to get to the next scene or the editor got too willy-nilly with the editing pen.

With that aside the book is pretty good for a first time author. Montieth's next book is a night and day comparison as it is by far better written. In the end I would say this book is just okay. The story is well thought out and entertaining, the writing is good but not great and the book is a fun read. Maybe it shouldn't be on the top of your to-be-read list but it should be on it nonetheless.

[William Bentrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rogue Avenger by John R. Monteith

When I first read Rogue Crusader I’m stated that I wonderef if the Navy was offering creative writing to it’s officers. I am almost sure of it now.
This is the first book in a continuing series. Jake Slade, an U.S. naval officer is introduced. He finds himself questioning his loyalty to his nation and to his ship. He finds himself lying down with strange bedfellows in this naval thriller.

John Monteith does a nice job building characters. I enjoyed this book for many reasons but mostly because it explains Jake Slade’s motivation and roots. You can read the books out of order but I derive greater pleasure in reading them in order. (anal compulsive anybody?) Jake’s character is angrier and more brittle in this book.

The action is non-stop even as the characters grow. Political expediency is explored in it’s treacherous and self serving mode. The realities of the world seem to preclude loyalty and trust except in Monteith’s characters. I was satisfied with the ending.

This book doesn’t have the same polish as the third book. It is nice to see an author honing their skills. This book was good, the third one was better. In some ways though, this seemed grittier and perhaps more realistic in portraying some of the more negative human emotions.

This is the second John R. Monteith novel I have read and it was exciting and I recommend it. BTW I can’t wait to read the next one.

[Alain Burrese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Rogue Avenger" by John R. Monteith (originally published as "Rogue Trident") This was a fast, action packed, thrill ride that engaged throughout and kept me on the edge of my seat as I rapidly turned pages to see what would happen next. It's a quick summer time read that's a lot of fun.

It's a bit shorter than many novels I read, but nonetheless exciting, and complete. It was tightly written, and contained all the elements that make a good thriller. Monteith served aboard a Trident Missile submarine, so he knows what he's writing about. His background allowed him to weave a tale both realistic and action packed. It was both technically and tactically sound. (Well, as much as this old Army guy knows about naval tactics.)

When a naval officer is betrayed, how should he exact his revenge? "Rogue Avenger" tells the tale of Lieutenant Jake Slate, and how his plans of revenge pan out. It's a story of revenge, betrayal, broken trusts, international intrigue, and most of all suspense.

The book is both engaging and satisfying, and one I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys thrillers, and especially naval thrillers. Monteith has written one fine book!

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

High seas action in the best nautical yarn I've read in a long time.

John has written a novel in the vein of Tom Clancy. Accurate naval combat without being to technical gives life to this wonderful tale. Great characters bring it to life. I highly recommend if you are into military fiction.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not believable and hard to connect with

I was disappointed with the book. It's narrative is not easy. To connect with in terms of the storyline. Although the author clearly mastered the technical aspects, the narrative is hard to overlook.

[Hornjt]

great story, looking forward to the next one

[Robin Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Relatively short, fast-paced submarine novel that stretches the limits of credulity. It's OK for those who like or know submarines, but not otherwise.