Primary Target: The Forging of Luke Stone—Book #1 (an Action Thriller)

Playing a pickup game during a day off in Ranger School? An E-4 as an assaulter in Delta? An active duty Delta operator getting mental health treatment at the VA instead of the MEDCEN at Bragg. Discussing JSOC operations classified TS/SCI Ops in group therapy? I could go on, but what is the point. If you are going to write Army action thrillers, do your homework.

This book started out well- being in the military, I have learned all too well how people get blamed in coverups of when someone way up the chain of command screws up. But after that, it turned into a very transparent attack on President Bush and his VP Cheney. With different names, the president is portrayed as a draft dodging, incompetent idiot who's daddy bought him the presidency and his VP is just pure evil, wanting to start WW3. Everyone from the Northeast is portrayed as smart and capable, while anyone from the rest of the country are ignorant traitors. I say it's miscategorized because it should be listed under Liberal Propaganda

I think the author is lazy and needs an editor who will correct obvious mistakes such as Bureau of Housing and Urban Development (it's a department). An author who writes thrillers featuring special operators needs to learn about firearms. A professional soldier such as Luke Stone never runs out of bullets, He runs out of ammo, rounds or cartridges. Firearms use magazines, not clips.I can go on and on, but you get the point. Rest assured, Jack Mars' other novels are full of such lazy and sloppy errors. He he has an editor, he should demand his money back because there is no fact checking.

I thought this was a great book. Luke with nowhere else to turn goes to work for his old commanding officer and father figure Don Morris. It's a new position run by the FBI called the Special Response Team.Once Luke gets his first mission with his new partner Ed, who he does not like or trust, it all action. One mission turns into two, turns into three, and more. Luke is in his element. He is in the zone. Except when his mind wanders to his very pregnant wife at home in the states. Wil he make it home in time for the birth of his son?On the flip side, the current president is having a breakdown over the kidnapping of his daughter. Underhanded things happen to unseat him. And, it turns out to be a big mistake.While this suspenseful story is taking place, Luke is getting to know his team better, and we are getting a great flashback on how his team was formed. Seems only the best will do for the SRT.With Luke and his team facing action all the time and the suspense of a couple side stories that eventually all mix together into the SRT's missions, it all make for a great read.If you've read the Luke Stone Thrillers you'll enjoy this prequel. If you haven't you will enjoy thiis as a stand alone book or as a nice introduction into the Luke Stone Thrillers. I highly recommend it.

Really, really bad. After about a hundred pages I couldn't take it anymore and threw the book in the garbage.

Gripping, the bad men always get their due. I read the whole series of Luke Stone out-of/order. I immediealy started to re-read them again, in order. Would’ve given five stars except for the flaws in Situaion Roon. The subject was amateurs sticking Ebola throughIV lines. The author obviously didn’t research this procedure as well as he did details of weapons and flying body partsI do hope that paragraph is rewritten correctly for future ebooks Especially for we RNs who are detailed oriented

What an excellent view of Luke Stone at the very beginning, a little confused,already at a point in the service where he has seen and done so much...His wife Becca is very pregnant, giving him something else to think of, a life taking care of his family, not running off at a phone call.... Things change quickly when his mentor, Don, taps him for a secret special response team,out of the FBI and run by Don. This is a very special group, and Don knows the kind of person and soldier Luke is. He brings Luke in, introducing him to the new parts of the team. Immediately Luke and new partner, Ed, are sent to take care of a problem in Iraq , which expands as a grateful leader gives him a map showing the site of foes. Suddenly, as Luke is excited to go home to Becca, there is astounding news-The President's Daughter is Kidnapped!! The best Team in the world has a new target, locate and save the young woman!! An exciting, action-filled story with incredible characters and plots that flow together with ease. I read this book in one day, staying up late and breathing deeply as I see and feel what happens, unable to close my eyes until I finished this incredible adventure. Explosive, interesting and fulfilling, a 5 STAR book, starting a new series into the early days with Luke, and there could NOT be a better start than this!!!

I read the Luke Stone series. This one goes back to the beginning. After getting to know the characters, i enjoy going back i time to when the group started. I highly recommend this book. You may want to read the whole series after reading this book if you are new to Luke Stone.

Primary Target is the story of why action hero Luke Stone left the military and how the government Special Response Team was forged, set against the backdrop of conflict in the Middle East and the kidnapping of the President's daughter.Yes, the plot's probably quite similar to dozens of others. Presidents' daughters being kidnapped seems to happen a lot in fiction. But THIS is how you write an action thriller. Believable, pedal to the metal action. Good guys worth rooting for. Bad guys who you can almost sympathise with, and who don't twirl their collective moustaches. Twists and turns. Primary Target starts as it means to go on and hardly stops for breath (although it does breathe occasionally so you don't feel too exhausted reading it).So why only four stars, not five? Well I do have a couple of small quibbles. Firstly the language; there is hardly any swearing. It may sound like an odd gripe, but it's actually very conspicuous by its absence in the midst of all the fighting, the pain and the loss - battled hardened soldiers calmly saying "dammit" when their friend dies, for example. Not that I'd want every other word to be F this and F that, but a little sprinkling would've helped to sell the realism.Also I found it slightly disappointing that early on the book sways very close to exploring deep mental trauma in a meaningful way, only to chicken out, opting instead for Luke's constant internal monologue about longing to get home. We all know he's not going anywhere any time soon, and we all know he loves his job almost as much as his wife, so it does start to get annoying after a while.But these really are minor problems. Don't let them put you off buying this book. Primary Target is a very good read for fans of the genre.

This book gets better as you continue to read it. The opening chapters deal with the forging of the team which the author gets away with but is not his strong point. As the story unfolds it gets better and better until as a reader you are disappointed that it’s come to the end. Can’t wait for the next book!

With really believable characters you get sucked in, and I gotta say, while reading I didn't think of corona virus once,only took a break to walk the dog. Really enjoyed it book 2 here I come.

A cracker of a book, rising from the outset to a full gallop finale with pathos added as a finale. Difficult to consider how this can be bettered but looking forward to finding out.

Wish I'd read this one first and would have ordered others as they were published .cant put them down till finished keep them coming