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Dan Lenson #7
Black Storm
With blistering action sequences and incredibly detailed military insight, Black Storm takes the reader along with the most covert Special Ops group straight to Saddam Hussein's stronghold, through harrowing instances of close-quarters combat, and into the heart of danger.A Maniacal LeaderWith coalition forces amassing at the Iraqi border, Saddam Hussein issues a terrifying In response to any Allied offense, he will use his most secret weapon to destroy Israel. Counting down the hours before their forces invade, American commanders must decide whether this threat is the last-minute posturing of a madman-or a calculated promise from one of the world's most feared commanders.An Impossible MissionWith thousands of innocent lives hanging in the balance, a long-range force reconnaissance team has been assembled and given the most daunting locate a weapon that no one can find or identify. Lieutenant Commander Dan Lenson, attached to the team to help program the airstrike that will cripple Saddam, finds himself humping through enemy territory with a group of hardened marines. They're headed straight for central Baghdad in what will be the most dangerous operation of the war. Now Lenson must decide whether the secret he carries is worth the life of his teammates-and his own...
380 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 3, 2002
72 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
David Poyer
82 books240 followersAka D.C. Poyer.
DAVID C. POYER was born in DuBois, PA in 1949. He grew up in Brockway, Emlenton, and Bradford, in western Pennsylvania, and graduated from Bradford Area High School in 1967. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1971, and later received a master's degree from George Washington University.
Poyer's active and reserve naval service included sea duty in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, Caribbean, and Pacific, and shore duty at the Pentagon, Surface Warfare Development Group, Joint Forces Command, and in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. He retired in July 2001.
Poyer began writing in 1976, and is the author of nearly fifty books, including THE MED, THE GULF, THE CIRCLE, THE PASSAGE, TOMAHAWK, CHINA SEA, BLACK STORM, THE COMMAND, THE THREAT, KOREA STRAIT, THE WEAPON, THE CRISIS, THE CRUISER, TIPPING POINT, HUNTER KILLER, DEEP WAR, OVERTHROW, VIOLENT PEACE, ARCTIC SEA, and THE ACADEMY, best-selling Navy novels; THE DEAD OF WINTER, WINTER IN THE HEART, AS THE WOLF LOVES WINTER, THUNDER ON THE MOUNTAIN, and THE HILL, set in Western Pennsylvania; and HATTERAS BLUE, BAHAMAS BLUE, LOUISIANA BLUE, and DOWN TO A SUNLESS SEA, underwater diving adventure.
Other noteworthy books are THE ONLY THING TO FEAR, a historical thriller, THE RETURN OF PHILO T. McGIFFIN, a comic novel of Annapolis, and the three volumes of The Civil War at Sea, FIRE ON THE WATERS, A COUNTRY OF OUR OWN, and THAT ANVIL OF OUR SOULS. He's also written two sailing thrillers, GHOSTING and THE WHITENESS OF THE WHALE. His work has been published in Britain, translated into Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Hugarian, and Serbo-Croatian; recorded for audiobooks, iPod downloads, and Kindle, and selected by the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club and other book clubs. Rights to several properties have been sold or optioned for films, and two novellas appeared in the Night Bazaar series of fantasy anthologies.
Poyer has taught or lectured at Annapolis, Flagler College, University of Pittsburgh, Old Dominion University, the Armed Forces Staff College, the University of North Florida, Christopher Newport University, and other institutions. He has been a guest on PBS's "Writer to Writer" series and on Voice of America, and has appeared at the Southern Festival of Books and many other literary events. He taught in the MA/MFA in Creative Writing program at Wilkes University for sixteen years. He is currently core faculty at the Ossabaw Writers Retreat, a fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and a board member of the Northern Appalachia Review.
He lives on Virginia's Eastern Shore with novelist Lenore Hart.
DAVID C. POYER was born in DuBois, PA in 1949. He grew up in Brockway, Emlenton, and Bradford, in western Pennsylvania, and graduated from Bradford Area High School in 1967. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1971, and later received a master's degree from George Washington University.
Poyer's active and reserve naval service included sea duty in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, Caribbean, and Pacific, and shore duty at the Pentagon, Surface Warfare Development Group, Joint Forces Command, and in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. He retired in July 2001.
Poyer began writing in 1976, and is the author of nearly fifty books, including THE MED, THE GULF, THE CIRCLE, THE PASSAGE, TOMAHAWK, CHINA SEA, BLACK STORM, THE COMMAND, THE THREAT, KOREA STRAIT, THE WEAPON, THE CRISIS, THE CRUISER, TIPPING POINT, HUNTER KILLER, DEEP WAR, OVERTHROW, VIOLENT PEACE, ARCTIC SEA, and THE ACADEMY, best-selling Navy novels; THE DEAD OF WINTER, WINTER IN THE HEART, AS THE WOLF LOVES WINTER, THUNDER ON THE MOUNTAIN, and THE HILL, set in Western Pennsylvania; and HATTERAS BLUE, BAHAMAS BLUE, LOUISIANA BLUE, and DOWN TO A SUNLESS SEA, underwater diving adventure.
Other noteworthy books are THE ONLY THING TO FEAR, a historical thriller, THE RETURN OF PHILO T. McGIFFIN, a comic novel of Annapolis, and the three volumes of The Civil War at Sea, FIRE ON THE WATERS, A COUNTRY OF OUR OWN, and THAT ANVIL OF OUR SOULS. He's also written two sailing thrillers, GHOSTING and THE WHITENESS OF THE WHALE. His work has been published in Britain, translated into Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Hugarian, and Serbo-Croatian; recorded for audiobooks, iPod downloads, and Kindle, and selected by the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club and other book clubs. Rights to several properties have been sold or optioned for films, and two novellas appeared in the Night Bazaar series of fantasy anthologies.
Poyer has taught or lectured at Annapolis, Flagler College, University of Pittsburgh, Old Dominion University, the Armed Forces Staff College, the University of North Florida, Christopher Newport University, and other institutions. He has been a guest on PBS's "Writer to Writer" series and on Voice of America, and has appeared at the Southern Festival of Books and many other literary events. He taught in the MA/MFA in Creative Writing program at Wilkes University for sixteen years. He is currently core faculty at the Ossabaw Writers Retreat, a fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and a board member of the Northern Appalachia Review.
He lives on Virginia's Eastern Shore with novelist Lenore Hart.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 18, 2013
quite a bit different than Poyer's usual Naval thriller. Though Dan Lenson is a character, the lead man in this harrowing mission is a Marine Gunny Sgt by the name of Gault... A strong leader, without anything left to return home to, after a terrible mistake cost him his son, and subsequently his wife. This read is focused on the mission at hand, seen through the different perspectives of those on the trek.
On thing I love about this story is that Poyer sticks with the mission.. no "hey, we'll leave you hanging here awhile, while we prattle on back in D.C. with a bunch of B.S. politics..." All that boring filler that must typically be slogged through... The team departs, and we are with them every step of the way, and what a trip it is, especially for CDR Lenson and a female doctor, Major Maddox, who will both be getting a lot more Recon Marine experience than they ever imagined.. Strongly recommended!
On thing I love about this story is that Poyer sticks with the mission.. no "hey, we'll leave you hanging here awhile, while we prattle on back in D.C. with a bunch of B.S. politics..." All that boring filler that must typically be slogged through... The team departs, and we are with them every step of the way, and what a trip it is, especially for CDR Lenson and a female doctor, Major Maddox, who will both be getting a lot more Recon Marine experience than they ever imagined.. Strongly recommended!
July 4, 2019
"Black Storm," the seventh novel in David Poyer's "Tales of the Modern Navy" series, finds Lieutenant Commander Daniel V. Lenson, USN (the series' protagonist) in the Middle East. The time is early 1991 and the U.S.-led coalition is gearing up for Operation Desert Storm. Saddam Hussein is threatening to turn Israel into a "crematorium" if attacked. U.S. intelligence gets wind of Hussein possibly making good on his threat with a terror weapon. A joint Marine Corps/Navy/Army team is hastily assembled for insertion into Iraq to find out if a) there is indeed a terror weapon and b) determine what the weapon actually is. Dan Lenson is assigned to the team because of his experience with Tomahawk missiles. The team makes it into Iraq, has a harrowing journey to Baghdad, locates the terror weapon, and makes a horrifying discovery... I found this Dan Lenson novel to be a real change of pace. Instead of being in a command situation aboard a warship, Dan finds himself working as a specialist under the operational command of the team leader, a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant. I also found the book to be a top-notch thriller, one definitely worth checking out.
October 8, 2015
#7 in the Dan Lenson series.
Dan Lenson series - Set in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, a team of five U.S. Marines plus Lt. Comdr. Dan Lenson (a navy missile expert) and army Maj. Maureen Maddox (a biological warfare savant) moves across 500 miles of desert, from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad, trying to avert Saddam Hussein's threat to unleash an unspecified weapon of mass destruction on Tel Aviv. Led by a veteran marine gunnery sergeant and his combat-tested assistant team leader, the group is rounded out with a radio operator, a veteran sniper and an untested rookie. The mission is to chopper in to a safe zone two days from Baghdad and rendezvous with an indigenous friendly asset to guide them to the final jumping-off point just outside Baghdad. Their goal: to reach Saddam's stronghold through the maze of sewers and drains beneath the ancient city. A last-minute change orders a link-up with a British sergeant who has been operating behind the lines; he turns out to be a loose cannon, and the mission starts to go sour almost from the start.
Dan Lenson series - Set in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, a team of five U.S. Marines plus Lt. Comdr. Dan Lenson (a navy missile expert) and army Maj. Maureen Maddox (a biological warfare savant) moves across 500 miles of desert, from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad, trying to avert Saddam Hussein's threat to unleash an unspecified weapon of mass destruction on Tel Aviv. Led by a veteran marine gunnery sergeant and his combat-tested assistant team leader, the group is rounded out with a radio operator, a veteran sniper and an untested rookie. The mission is to chopper in to a safe zone two days from Baghdad and rendezvous with an indigenous friendly asset to guide them to the final jumping-off point just outside Baghdad. Their goal: to reach Saddam's stronghold through the maze of sewers and drains beneath the ancient city. A last-minute change orders a link-up with a British sergeant who has been operating behind the lines; he turns out to be a loose cannon, and the mission starts to go sour almost from the start.
September 2, 2011
A good military techno thriller. Most of Poyer's "Dan Larsen" books are seafaring - this takes a totally different setting: a marine covert patrol. Poyer provides a vivid description of the "joys" of a foot soldier on a night patrol. The vividness is enhanced by the author's switching viewpoint during the patrol, describing from the perspectives of veteran marines, a rookie marine, a naval officer, and an army doctor. This ties in with an exciting plot (though one which stretches credulity a bit - but then it is fiction). Altogether a fun and worthwhile read for those who enjoy this genre.
May 17, 2019
Prefer the naval Lenson books, but this was a pretty good story. A constant theme in Poyer's books is the impact of unanticipated factors (no plan survives first contact with the enemy), and the ways in which military forces react to and surmount the challenges created in the field. Poyer's true heroes are those who continually try to do the right thing despite the mission becoming FUBAR. This story is a perfect example, and a fun and fast-moving, run-and-gun escapade in the Dan Lenson series.
October 26, 2010
Amazing book Poyer just keeps getting better
September 19, 2013
I think that it is very intense portrayal of what the war in Irag was really about
September 4, 2023
Recommended.
This was the first time I read David Poyer. After watching "Greyhound" on Hulu I decided I wanted to read a few military novels about sea warfare during World War II or after. After some searching, I came across a few authors who wrote military fiction and although these stories didn't focus on sea warfare they grabbed my attention - I'm always up for a good action/adventure/thriller.
This book is the 7th in a series of 21 but it can be read as a stand-alone. It is excellent. The reader really gets a sense of not just the tension, but the weariness and exhaustion Marine Force Reconnaissance soldiers go through on missions. And anyone who thinks soldiers are of low intelligence; well the training these guys go through really comes through in the writing and disabuses one of that stereotype. The tactics, strategy, and equipment they need to learn to the point of reflex without thought is truly impressive.
And although not as well-known as Seal Team 6 or Delta Force, Marine Force Recon soldiers really are among the most elite units in the armed forces.
I have ordered the first book in the series, the one preceding this one, and the one that follows it. I am now interested in reading the whole Dan Lenson series by Poyer.
If they are like this one, they will be illuminating, edifying, intense, grueling, realistic, almost cold in the sense of not pulling punches, and well written.
This was the first time I read David Poyer. After watching "Greyhound" on Hulu I decided I wanted to read a few military novels about sea warfare during World War II or after. After some searching, I came across a few authors who wrote military fiction and although these stories didn't focus on sea warfare they grabbed my attention - I'm always up for a good action/adventure/thriller.
This book is the 7th in a series of 21 but it can be read as a stand-alone. It is excellent. The reader really gets a sense of not just the tension, but the weariness and exhaustion Marine Force Reconnaissance soldiers go through on missions. And anyone who thinks soldiers are of low intelligence; well the training these guys go through really comes through in the writing and disabuses one of that stereotype. The tactics, strategy, and equipment they need to learn to the point of reflex without thought is truly impressive.
And although not as well-known as Seal Team 6 or Delta Force, Marine Force Recon soldiers really are among the most elite units in the armed forces.
I have ordered the first book in the series, the one preceding this one, and the one that follows it. I am now interested in reading the whole Dan Lenson series by Poyer.
If they are like this one, they will be illuminating, edifying, intense, grueling, realistic, almost cold in the sense of not pulling punches, and well written.
October 26, 2018
Well written military thriller. I really enjoy Dan Lenson and company. Looking forward to reading more from this series
June 18, 2023
It was okay.
January 27, 2025
Another very solid Dan Lenson story. A bit far fetched but lots of action and suspense. Recommended.
October 24, 2016
Book was so good I didn't want to put it down.
October 29, 2013
In the days before the first Gulf War, reliable intelligence is received that, if the US military invades Iraq, Saddam Hussein will fire a long-range SCUD missile into Israel carrying a deadly biologic agent. With only five days until the planned invasion, a covert UAT (Urban Assault Team) is put together in Saudi Arabia. Composed of five battle-hardened Marines, a female Army biological-warfare scientist, and a Navy Tomahawk targeting officer, the team is given limited details and then flown 150 miles into the Iraqi desert. Dodging enemy patrols, and with scant days before the invasion, they make their way at night into the sewers and drainage canals beneath Baghdad and inch their way toward their deadly objective. Reaching their goal mere hours ahead of the invasion, they realize just how desperate their position really is. I couldn't put this one down!
April 7, 2012
First book of the series I have read. A good read. I look forward to reading more of them.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews