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Rogue Warrior #14
Rogue Warrior: Seize the Day
When Marcinko’s “friend”, the head of the CIA, asks him to spend a little quality time in Cuba, the Rogue Warrior finds there’s no way to say no. Once there, Marcinko and company discover that Fidel Castro is on his deathbed. Which wouldn’t be so bad, except that he’s planned a catastrophic surprise for the U.S. as his going-away present. The Rogue Warrior must find out the nature of that little surprise and thwart it before Castro kicks the bucket.
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First published October 13, 2009
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About the author
Richard Marcinko
62 books247 followersRichard Marcinko is the author of the Rogue Warrior thrillers and is a living, breathing hero honored with the silver star and four bronze stars for valor, along with two Navy Commendation medals and other honors. After serving in Vietnam, he went on to start and command SEAL Team 6, the Navy's anti-terrorist group, and Red Cell, a high-level anti-terrorist unit. Marcinko keeps his hand in the field as the president of a private international security company and now lives in Warrington, Virginia.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 11, 2021
Cuba
Another in the long series of counter-terrorism ops penned (or typed) by SEAL Dick Marcinko.
This one takes us to Cuba and explores Cuban culture and still hostile Cuban-American relations.
A bit far-fetched but always an interesting read … most of the time.
What Marcinko doesn’t know about Canada could fill a Trident sub.
Clearly you didn’t fight alongside the brave Canadians in Afghanistan, Dick. President Bush awarded medals and unit citations to Canadian Forces, something rarely done with allies. Next time you talk about the northern Allies, do your homework, Dick.
And remember where US transatlantic flights landed on 9/11 and how many lives were saved.
Another in the long series of counter-terrorism ops penned (or typed) by SEAL Dick Marcinko.
This one takes us to Cuba and explores Cuban culture and still hostile Cuban-American relations.
A bit far-fetched but always an interesting read … most of the time.
What Marcinko doesn’t know about Canada could fill a Trident sub.
Clearly you didn’t fight alongside the brave Canadians in Afghanistan, Dick. President Bush awarded medals and unit citations to Canadian Forces, something rarely done with allies. Next time you talk about the northern Allies, do your homework, Dick.
And remember where US transatlantic flights landed on 9/11 and how many lives were saved.
February 3, 2011
More typical Demo Dick mind candy. Fun to read.
February 9, 2016
Another action packed, non-thinking, sitting around novel. It is another in a series of great books.
April 29, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “COMMANDER MARCINKO & FIDEL CASTRO… SEPARATED AT BIRTH??”
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This is the fourteenth installment in the “fictional” “Rogue Warrior” series by form Seal Richard Marcinko. This episode is built around the CIA making the astute observation that Demo Dick looks almost exactly like Cuban dictator Fidel Castro… minus a few years. The CIA comes up with the brainchild of having a video made of Dick after hair and makeup adjustments to film a speech of Marcinko/Castro making a last will and testament. Dick goes through the physical manifestations and then the CIA’s technical gurus will integrate the speech. Marcinko isn’t real cool on the idea… especially when the CIA also wants the author to go to Cuba to make the handoff of the bogus DVD to an agent who supposedly will swap the fake DVD for the real one(s) at fortified locations within Cuba. But… lo and behold the barber the CIA has at the filming is an elderly Cuban Roberto Traba who before fleeing Cuba cut Castro’s hair. Traba tells all of the personal trauma he and his family had gone through in Cuba before they exiled… and then sadly tells Marcinko and his team that his brother is still stuck in Cuba. Traba’s story steals the heart of Marcinko’s crew and that along with the CIA saying they’ll make sure Marcinko is paid for a prior mission that’s been held up in government red tape if he accepts the job... how could our cuddly trained killer… the one and only *ROGUE WARRIOR* say no to that?
Dick introduces-re-introduces his motley crew and we’re on the way to Cuba. The crew member who gets the most entertaining role is “Shotgun” who is six-feet-eight-inches-tall and at least three-hundred-pounds. The world can be coming to an end and Shotgun will be laughing and eating innumerable species of junk food… especially Twinkies. After a harrowing (what other kind does the Rogue Warrior ever encounter) flight to Cuba that is overflowing with FUBAR… MR. MURPHY… GOAT-SEX ANALOGIES… and unlimited words of descriptive military “terms of endearment”… we have double agents… exploding cars… killed double agents… and alligator attacks. All of this is in the normal Rogue Warrior tongue in cheek manner. But since the DVD handoff goes awry… and this is where the book loses its five star rating… the team on its own has to break into multiple Castro secure locations. Including but not limited to: his bunker… his homes… political headquarters… hospitals… etc. Even in a fun fiction book the ease of this and the portrayal of terrible “Keystone-Cop-Like” Cuban security at every twist and turn… takes the luster off after awhile.
While all this is going on… Dick gets forced by the same CIA to go to Panama and assist in putting a halt to a Venezuelan/Chinese criminal endeavor involving a submarine at the Panama Canal… OR… (believe me this is not a spoiler) they won’t assist the *ROGUE WARRIOR* in extricating a team member “left-behind”.
If you’re a *ROGUE WARRIOR* fan this is an enjoyable book… but even the truest longtime hardcore admirer will want to say “please give me credit for some common sense” re: the difficulties of going to a foreign country and being able to break in to any building regardless of the situation.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the fourteenth installment in the “fictional” “Rogue Warrior” series by form Seal Richard Marcinko. This episode is built around the CIA making the astute observation that Demo Dick looks almost exactly like Cuban dictator Fidel Castro… minus a few years. The CIA comes up with the brainchild of having a video made of Dick after hair and makeup adjustments to film a speech of Marcinko/Castro making a last will and testament. Dick goes through the physical manifestations and then the CIA’s technical gurus will integrate the speech. Marcinko isn’t real cool on the idea… especially when the CIA also wants the author to go to Cuba to make the handoff of the bogus DVD to an agent who supposedly will swap the fake DVD for the real one(s) at fortified locations within Cuba. But… lo and behold the barber the CIA has at the filming is an elderly Cuban Roberto Traba who before fleeing Cuba cut Castro’s hair. Traba tells all of the personal trauma he and his family had gone through in Cuba before they exiled… and then sadly tells Marcinko and his team that his brother is still stuck in Cuba. Traba’s story steals the heart of Marcinko’s crew and that along with the CIA saying they’ll make sure Marcinko is paid for a prior mission that’s been held up in government red tape if he accepts the job... how could our cuddly trained killer… the one and only *ROGUE WARRIOR* say no to that?
Dick introduces-re-introduces his motley crew and we’re on the way to Cuba. The crew member who gets the most entertaining role is “Shotgun” who is six-feet-eight-inches-tall and at least three-hundred-pounds. The world can be coming to an end and Shotgun will be laughing and eating innumerable species of junk food… especially Twinkies. After a harrowing (what other kind does the Rogue Warrior ever encounter) flight to Cuba that is overflowing with FUBAR… MR. MURPHY… GOAT-SEX ANALOGIES… and unlimited words of descriptive military “terms of endearment”… we have double agents… exploding cars… killed double agents… and alligator attacks. All of this is in the normal Rogue Warrior tongue in cheek manner. But since the DVD handoff goes awry… and this is where the book loses its five star rating… the team on its own has to break into multiple Castro secure locations. Including but not limited to: his bunker… his homes… political headquarters… hospitals… etc. Even in a fun fiction book the ease of this and the portrayal of terrible “Keystone-Cop-Like” Cuban security at every twist and turn… takes the luster off after awhile.
While all this is going on… Dick gets forced by the same CIA to go to Panama and assist in putting a halt to a Venezuelan/Chinese criminal endeavor involving a submarine at the Panama Canal… OR… (believe me this is not a spoiler) they won’t assist the *ROGUE WARRIOR* in extricating a team member “left-behind”.
If you’re a *ROGUE WARRIOR* fan this is an enjoyable book… but even the truest longtime hardcore admirer will want to say “please give me credit for some common sense” re: the difficulties of going to a foreign country and being able to break in to any building regardless of the situation.
May 31, 2018
I need sleep!
The Rogue Warrior and his shooters have my adrenaline rushing non-stop. The back stories are just as much fun and interesting as the action series. Marcinko-san is one check if a leader, teacher, and warrior. I highly recommend this book and the entire Rogue Warrior book series!
The Rogue Warrior and his shooters have my adrenaline rushing non-stop. The back stories are just as much fun and interesting as the action series. Marcinko-san is one check if a leader, teacher, and warrior. I highly recommend this book and the entire Rogue Warrior book series!
January 27, 2019
As always with the Rogue Warrior series. It was a fantastic and fun read!
July 21, 2025
This book is hilarious, another great entry in the tales of Daring Dick Marcinko. I am a huge fan of this unabashedly patriotic, bad guy's tail kicking sumBitch!
May 29, 2014
The book Rogue Warrior: Seize The Day was a very colorful and interesting journey. Throughout the entire book it is a roller coaster ride of intense action and slow suspense as it follows "Rogue Warrior" Richard "Demo Dick" Marcinko through his operations in Cuba. Richard Marcinko is one of the most colorful characters I personally have ever read about, anybody who enjoys well developed characters who can be erratic, unbridled, and reckless would love Demo Dick and his team. His team includes Red, Mongoose, Shotgun, Doc, Trace and Junior. Red is a small Cuban with fire in her veins and Trace acts as her big sister type figure. Both Red and Trace are very similar in their temper and focus on missions but differ heavily in experience irrational risk taking. Mongoose and Shotgun are long time best friends Mongoose speaking fluent Spanish is a helpful asset in Cuba and Shotgun being a quite ruthless soldier, but always has an almost unnatural smile no matter what and has snack food at all times. Doc is the oldest of all the team members he has lots of combat experience but runs short on patience. Junior is the least experienced of everyone in the team and is supposedly Marcinko's son and his mother supposedly has DNA tests to prove it. The story takes the “lovable crew all around Cuba and South America with never ending twists, turns, complications and complex dilemmas. Countless gunfights and small ground wars as well as ghost like stealth operations happen on and off throughout the entirety of the book.
This book was an action packed ride that had its moments of intense actions and other moments of slow suspense. I liked several aspects such as the action and story with that action, but I disliked several other thing as such as the exaggerated lengths of time between action that paused parts of the story. This book has its humor and it also has mountains of foul language, anybody that is faint of heart should not read this book. in short I really enjoyed this book because it appealed to my need for thrills and action combined with suspense and detail. I believe anybody could easily read this book and enjoy but if I had to choose a specific audience it would be anybody who enjoys books about war and undercover military operations mixed with humor and fun.
Rating Scale:
1: Meh
2: ooohh *slightly interested*
3: okay now this is getting good
4: oh my god
5: The book is amazing; best book ever
I rate this book around a 3.5 because its quite good but the swearing and dry humor gets to be a little much after about 450-500 pages. Also the constant ridicule of American agencies and forces gets quite annoying and excessive. I had times where I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for what would happen next and others where I was mind numbingly bored. It was definitely not a book i could just sit down and read for a long period of time the boredom and repetitiveness would be too overwhelming. This book is very similar to Act of Valor in the sense that both squads are Navy SEALs but then differ because the menin Act of Valor are not rogue renegades. Rogue warrior also connects in the stance that every man and woman on the team is a warrior with lethal precision.
This book was an action packed ride that had its moments of intense actions and other moments of slow suspense. I liked several aspects such as the action and story with that action, but I disliked several other thing as such as the exaggerated lengths of time between action that paused parts of the story. This book has its humor and it also has mountains of foul language, anybody that is faint of heart should not read this book. in short I really enjoyed this book because it appealed to my need for thrills and action combined with suspense and detail. I believe anybody could easily read this book and enjoy but if I had to choose a specific audience it would be anybody who enjoys books about war and undercover military operations mixed with humor and fun.
Rating Scale:
1: Meh
2: ooohh *slightly interested*
3: okay now this is getting good
4: oh my god
5: The book is amazing; best book ever
I rate this book around a 3.5 because its quite good but the swearing and dry humor gets to be a little much after about 450-500 pages. Also the constant ridicule of American agencies and forces gets quite annoying and excessive. I had times where I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for what would happen next and others where I was mind numbingly bored. It was definitely not a book i could just sit down and read for a long period of time the boredom and repetitiveness would be too overwhelming. This book is very similar to Act of Valor in the sense that both squads are Navy SEALs but then differ because the menin Act of Valor are not rogue renegades. Rogue warrior also connects in the stance that every man and woman on the team is a warrior with lethal precision.
November 24, 2014
I'd say this book is tied with "Dictator's Ransom" (Demo Dick's adventures with Kim Jong-Il in North Korea) as having the most outlandish and implausible plot of all the Rogue Warrior novels. In this one, Marcinko must impersonate none other than Fidel Castro, and even eventually go into Cuba and meet up with "The Beard" himself, with the infamous Mr. Murphy (or Murphy's Law infamy) dogging Dick and his intrepid teammates (Shotgun, Mongoose, Doc Tremblay, Trace Dahlgren, and Matthew "Junior" Loring) all the way. Implausible (like I already said), and furthermore, Demo Dik repeatedly violates his "Thou shalt never assume" Commandment (from his Rogue Warrior's Ten Commandments of SpecWar, which, along with the Glossary, have been conspicuously absent from the Rogue novels since Jim DeFelice replaced John Weisman as Marcinko's co-author), as he uses the "assuming" word over and over.
And as an Air Force veteran, I realize the author doesn't respect what he calls the "Air Farce" [sic], but I wish he'd at least have the courtesy to spell our base names correctly; our base in Panama City is spelled "Tyndall," not "Tyndale!"
That said, still well worth reading, for the rollicking action, humor, and biting geopolitical commentary present in all of the Rogue Warrior books, and also for its insights into Cuban history, culture, and geography. Hooyah.
And as an Air Force veteran, I realize the author doesn't respect what he calls the "Air Farce" [sic], but I wish he'd at least have the courtesy to spell our base names correctly; our base in Panama City is spelled "Tyndall," not "Tyndale!"
That said, still well worth reading, for the rollicking action, humor, and biting geopolitical commentary present in all of the Rogue Warrior books, and also for its insights into Cuban history, culture, and geography. Hooyah.
August 24, 2011
Chances are, if you're reading this review, you're not manly enough to handle the Rogue Warrior series. If you were, you wouldn't be wasting your time here, you'd be lighting a stogie with the smoldering remains of your enemies as you turned the last page in the book. Did you know the pages of these books are made of fiberglas and serrated steel? It's the only material strong enough to handle the words. If you didn't notice, if you thought that the pages were just regular smooth pulp paper, then congratulations, Jocko, you graduated from Man College and you have the Stones to read the words of a stone cold commie killing machine.
The plot of this book, in short: Richard Marcinko, the titular character of the series, kills people and saves America. Hey, guess what, now you know the plot to EVERY book in the series. But don't go around to bars trying to pretend that this knowledge has somehow gained you access to the secret fraternity of manly men who read manly things. No, they can smell their own, and you ain't one of 'em.
The plot of this book, in short: Richard Marcinko, the titular character of the series, kills people and saves America. Hey, guess what, now you know the plot to EVERY book in the series. But don't go around to bars trying to pretend that this knowledge has somehow gained you access to the secret fraternity of manly men who read manly things. No, they can smell their own, and you ain't one of 'em.
March 11, 2010
I've been reading the Rogue Warrior series since I heard him being interviewed by his friend Jesse Ventura back when Ventura had a radio talk show before being Governor. It's a guilty pleasure for me, sometimes a bit jingoistic and unrealistic, but hey, it's entertaining so who cares if it's sometimes a bit politically incorrect?
The stories usually follow a formula where Dick is hired to do a "sneak and peak" or some other security job and ends up stumbling across a plot to destroy the country or the world and only he and his team can save the day.
It's a good formula though and I enjoy each one as they come out. I bought this one from the new Barnes and Noble ebook store to read on my iPod Touch using B&N's ereader app. Pretty good reading app and the book is nicely formatted and priced. Only $10. I would have bought it on Amazon, but it was more expensive and I don't like the Iphone Kindle app as much as eReader or Stanza.
The stories usually follow a formula where Dick is hired to do a "sneak and peak" or some other security job and ends up stumbling across a plot to destroy the country or the world and only he and his team can save the day.
It's a good formula though and I enjoy each one as they come out. I bought this one from the new Barnes and Noble ebook store to read on my iPod Touch using B&N's ereader app. Pretty good reading app and the book is nicely formatted and priced. Only $10. I would have bought it on Amazon, but it was more expensive and I don't like the Iphone Kindle app as much as eReader or Stanza.
September 16, 2024
“Seize The Day” by Richard Marcinko and Jim DeFelice is the first of the Rogue Warrior books I've read in a long time. It is the first of Marcinko's that I've read with him teamed up with DeFelice, and I found it to be just what I expected. It's a fast paced “tough guy” read with tough guys and women taking out bad guys. It's a light fun read for some escapism enjoyment.
If you like Marcinko's other books in this series, you'll most likely enjoy this one too. The plot focuses on trouble in Cuba with Fidel Castro and the adventures the Rogue Warrior and his team face when a simple mission for the CIA turns into more.
I had fun with it and will throw more books by these two into my reading in the future.
If you like Marcinko's other books in this series, you'll most likely enjoy this one too. The plot focuses on trouble in Cuba with Fidel Castro and the adventures the Rogue Warrior and his team face when a simple mission for the CIA turns into more.
I had fun with it and will throw more books by these two into my reading in the future.
November 20, 2014
As others have said, another action packed adventure from the rogue warrior.
It has action, gruffness, intrigue, and is in some parts a lot of fun as he extols and curses Murphy and his meddling in his plans.
It has action, gruffness, intrigue, and is in some parts a lot of fun as he extols and curses Murphy and his meddling in his plans.
February 2, 2011
Fun, light, somewhat predictable, if you've read any of the others....
May 8, 2011
Too much creep and peep, not enough shoot and look for Marcinko.
July 31, 2011
Good, far-fetched. Love the rogue warrior
September 4, 2011
I thought this was better than Dictators Ransom.
tried-didn-t-like
August 2, 2012RW as Castro... Doesn't look very promising but I haven't started it.
March 10, 2014
Fun read.
Capers in Cuba and some in Panama.
Plot to infect people with ebola and send to US when Castro dies.
Capers in Cuba and some in Panama.
Plot to infect people with ebola and send to US when Castro dies.
January 26, 2021
Bought this thinking it was Marcinko's autobiography; it's not and the plot stems from him thinking he looks a lot like Castro. Insane and over the top. Entertainingly written.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews