What do you think?
Rate this book
Drop Zone #1
Drop Zone
Packed with action, intrigue - and skydiving! - DropZone is an extreme thriller for teens
288 pages, Hardcover
First published December 23, 2009
14 people are currently reading
428 people want to read
About the author
Andy McNab
205 books1,160 followersAndy McNab joined the infantry in 1976 as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was badged as a member of 22 SAS Regiment. He served in B Squadron 22 SAS for ten years and worked on both covert and overt special operations worldwide, including anti-terrorist and anti-drug operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland.
Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection, McNab worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.
McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign special forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.
Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000.
Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. To date, Immediate Action has now sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.
McNab is the author of seven fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light , Liberation Day , Dark Winter , Deep Black and Aggressor have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS operative working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British Intelligence.
McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the last year.
Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection, McNab worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.
McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign special forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.
Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000.
Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. To date, Immediate Action has now sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.
McNab is the author of seven fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light , Liberation Day , Dark Winter , Deep Black and Aggressor have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS operative working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British Intelligence.
McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the last year.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 19, 2013
That was definitely different from what I expected.
Because of the cover, I totally expected it to be some boring book about the military, but it was so...fun, and somehow childish (in a good way).
I just picked it out from my school library. Well, not me. My friend picked it out for me and she was like: "Hey, you should read this. It's a MAN book." And here I thought reading it would be boring, but damn, it was really fun.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it was amazing or anything, just that it was enjoyable.
I really liked Ethan, the main character, as well as everyone else. I could relate to Ethan so much, especially when he was skydiving. I honestly felt like I was up there in the sky, with him. I don't know how Andy McNab did it, but he did.
He made me feel like I was flying. And it felt...good. SO good. Definitely an experience you don't want to miss.
Anyway, the reason I gave this four stars is cuz' it was so damn fun. The plot was good, too, but I care more about enjoyment-level.
I can't wait to read the second book.
If you're wondering whether you should read this or not, Go Read It Right Now.
After all: Life's too short not to.
Because of the cover, I totally expected it to be some boring book about the military, but it was so...fun, and somehow childish (in a good way).
I just picked it out from my school library. Well, not me. My friend picked it out for me and she was like: "Hey, you should read this. It's a MAN book." And here I thought reading it would be boring, but damn, it was really fun.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it was amazing or anything, just that it was enjoyable.
I really liked Ethan, the main character, as well as everyone else. I could relate to Ethan so much, especially when he was skydiving. I honestly felt like I was up there in the sky, with him. I don't know how Andy McNab did it, but he did.
He made me feel like I was flying. And it felt...good. SO good. Definitely an experience you don't want to miss.
Anyway, the reason I gave this four stars is cuz' it was so damn fun. The plot was good, too, but I care more about enjoyment-level.
I can't wait to read the second book.
If you're wondering whether you should read this or not, Go Read It Right Now.
After all: Life's too short not to.
March 7, 2016
Picked this up in a used book bin, didn't realize it was YA until I started reding it. Good action and decent story. I was expecting something more along the lines of Clancy or Dale Brown. Enjoyed it anyway. Looking forward to reading one of his books for the adult market for comparison.
June 13, 2011
Good fun and almost makes me want to skydive despite being terrified of heights and flying!
January 22, 2018
An amazing series! great action
February 1, 2019
Dropzone is a very exciting book, as you follow the life of Ethan as it turns from boring to something he never expected. Andy McNab really makes you connect with Ethan as he goes on journey to become a brilliant skydiver, only to find out he is part of something bigger. I definitely recommend this book and I am sure it won't dissappint.
May 18, 2017
Good at getting start but dies get very boring.
August 24, 2017
I decided to read this book because I'd read Cherub and Henderson's boys so I needed a fresh series to start reading so I decided to read Andy McNab because it was another Action or spy genre. It has 2 male main characters. My favorite quote from this book was 'Do yourself a favor',said Ethan' and shut up right,you trying to get us killed'? Something I learnt from this book is that jumping from a Helicopter for skydiving makes you much more accurate rather than jumping from a moving C-130 Gunship because a Helo(Helicopter) can stay completely still and just hover above the target whilst you all drop out. A character I was interested in was Natalya because at the start she was quiet and they didn't give much information about her unlike the other characters,we didn't even know where she came from so it was quite interesting to find out more information like how she performs Krav Maga(An Israeli defensive maneuver to get a gun off someone) really well and ho she knows lots about countries that aren't around England and Western Europe. Cheers Luke
March 31, 2021
Ethan is a teenage skydiver
Skydiving is kind of awesome. Dropping from thousand feet and open canopy in three thousand feet to a drop zone is also pretty good.
The whole book is mostly about a 17 year old escaping from a dysfunctional home. He is working a part time job at a sky diving shop. One advantage is that he got free sky diving lesson for free.
He loves it.
So his boss Sam gifted him with a free course in skydiving.
He did really well.
He then found out his fellow coworker Johnny, Luke, Kat are all part of a teen sky diving team for the MI5.
The story told with the perspective of a teenager who need an escape from his home situation, and accidentally pumped into an opportunity to be working for the good guy, the government to do dangerous task.
The sky diving part exercise bit is pretty good. The no weapon part of the mission is pretty good too. It is not plot driven enough as most of the focus is on how to do sky diving.
Going to read the second one after this.
4 stars read as it hit the right spot for teenagers.
Skydiving is kind of awesome. Dropping from thousand feet and open canopy in three thousand feet to a drop zone is also pretty good.
The whole book is mostly about a 17 year old escaping from a dysfunctional home. He is working a part time job at a sky diving shop. One advantage is that he got free sky diving lesson for free.
He loves it.
So his boss Sam gifted him with a free course in skydiving.
He did really well.
He then found out his fellow coworker Johnny, Luke, Kat are all part of a teen sky diving team for the MI5.
The story told with the perspective of a teenager who need an escape from his home situation, and accidentally pumped into an opportunity to be working for the good guy, the government to do dangerous task.
The sky diving part exercise bit is pretty good. The no weapon part of the mission is pretty good too. It is not plot driven enough as most of the focus is on how to do sky diving.
Going to read the second one after this.
4 stars read as it hit the right spot for teenagers.
June 21, 2018
4.5 of 5 stars because I was a little bumbed about the fact that the covert mission was right at the end of the book.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
September 9, 2023
Great story of finding self & meaning of life with some mix of adrenaline.......
October 1, 2013
This book is fulled to the top with action it is such a good book. When I started reading it I wouldn't stop it was so descriptive but it had some bad language but not that much. It is a bout this guy that needs a summer job and he saw a website with a box that said looking for someone to work for us. He ran out side to get his bike going to the address from the website. He comes to a huge building where there are helicopters around it. He then goes inside to see man sitting at a desk. He sits down and signs the forums and then the man says you start out back. After a week the man tells him to meat him at a helicopter outside in 20 minuets. He hadn't read the sheet of paper well enough and it said at the bottom has to participate in the skydiving every weekend. Then after that he gets so good at it that he joins a team.
August 30, 2011
Dropzone is a book that has been wonderfully crafted by author Andy Mcnab ex SAS soilder.
THe book is based around the life of the teenage boy Ethan Blake, after signing up for a new job at a skydiving center he is invited to start training courses so he can jump out of the planes and also conduct tangents. After weeks of prep Ethan is a experinanced skydiver, he and his teamof other sky divers are sent toParis to compete in a competion,when his flight to Paris is changed to another flight he soon learns that he hasent just joined a skydiving team but a milatary sky diving team.
Overall this is a good book and i think anyone that is into skydiving, milatary books or Andy Mcnab books they will enjoy this.
THe book is based around the life of the teenage boy Ethan Blake, after signing up for a new job at a skydiving center he is invited to start training courses so he can jump out of the planes and also conduct tangents. After weeks of prep Ethan is a experinanced skydiver, he and his teamof other sky divers are sent toParis to compete in a competion,when his flight to Paris is changed to another flight he soon learns that he hasent just joined a skydiving team but a milatary sky diving team.
Overall this is a good book and i think anyone that is into skydiving, milatary books or Andy Mcnab books they will enjoy this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2016
3, maybe 4 stars a decent action book. It has a good plot and the writing style is good and easy to follow. I would definitely recommend this book to action/adventure/spy fans, my only issue is that the ending is far fetched and the actual plot of the book doesn't start until over halfway through. However even though the book doesn't reach the main plot straight away it is still filled with action and some character development. Also after reading the later books in the series I can say that the series as a whole is well worth the read.
March 3, 2013
I didn't fancy this at first, but after the first chapter, I was hooked. Mcnab really does the subject of skydiving justice with an interesting storyline that runs parallel with it.
I don't always try to guess the ending, but it wasn't what I thought it would be. So go for it if you like fast pacey reads.
I don't always try to guess the ending, but it wasn't what I thought it would be. So go for it if you like fast pacey reads.
May 5, 2013
This is a new type of writing for Andy, he probably pulled from his boyhood memories what a teenager faced with a problem family would like in life - to escape it all in a worthy cause. I would skydiving is as extreme as one can get - but to mix it up with participating in covert operations for one's country tops it all.
February 13, 2015
A happy accident - got given this as a gift not realising that McNab wrote teen fiction. Covers a lot of teen life mixed together with the high octane sport of skydiving. The ending is a bit far-fetched.
February 28, 2011
not a grt book but if ur seriously intrested into skydiving and base jumping this book could get ur adrenaline pumping..! :)
July 8, 2011
tense and very exciting
December 9, 2012
exciting
March 22, 2014
fun book and could make a good series of books or even tv or film
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews