Rising Wind

Navy SEALs, we learn from this leathery new thriller by a former such operative, know an enemy when they see one-like some suspected ""rump wranglers,"" aka ""fags,"" aiding a SEAL team as it tries to defeat a group of radical terrorists who have taken 1000 Americans and a U.S. chemical weapons facility in the Pacific hostage. We also learn that the maybe-gays aren't Yanks but ""Japanoozers,"" aka ""Jappos,"" just like the terrorists who are threatening to release deadly toxins toward the West Coast of the U.S. While much of Couch's prose is equally retro, little of it is equally offensive, thankfully, and armchair commandos looking for brutal action, cinematically quick cuts and a large cast of die-or-die military pros will find them here. There's also a nuclear thrill, for as the SEALs do their thing the U.S. president is preparing for a possible nuclear response just in case the SEALs' mission impossible turns out to be just that. Couch tosses in lots of the latest high-tech methodology and ordnance too, as well as plenty of scenes of valor in tight spots, spinning them onto the page with the flair of one who has been there and done that (he's the former platoon commander of SEAL Team One). But the jingoistic posturing, some long speeches and a bevy of seriously atavistic characters make this, even for SEAL fans, a tolerable bet only until the next Richard Marcinko Rogue Warrior yarn rolls around. (May)