THE COMMANDER Book Review DNF

The Commander (book 0.1 in The Last Enemy series) by Dan E. Hendrickson, eBook, 290 pages

Synopsis from GoodReads: Commander Jacob Edwards is Captain Tommy Williams of Naval Intelligence, best operative in the field. As part of a secret elite inter- military/law enforcement task force he has rose to be the #2 man in that organization. Jacob is also now the captain of the Coast Guard completely refurbished Hamilton Class Cutter, First Responder. On its shakedown cruise after being refurbished all hell breaks loose in the Gulf of Mexico and Tommy calls on Commander Edwards to take care of the problem. Industrial sabotage, mass murder, and terrorism are just a few of the things he’s got to stop as he and his men try to figure out what’s really going in the Gulf. Edwards has to juggle being in the command structure of the Coast Guard while secretly carrying out orders that come from the president himself. Best-case scenario; he gets the job done, and no one knows it was him that did it.

BOOK REVIEW: I created an account with a website called Online Book Club to get paid to write reviews and "The Commander" by Dan E. Hendrickson is the first book I received. It is a fictitious story following a United States Coast Guard Officer and initially that is what sold me. I'm game to read anything about the Coast Guard or features the Coast Guard because I am a Coast Guard veteran! In the beginning of the book, the author notes that his son who is in the Coast Guard was the inspiration behind the book. I only got to page 24 and I had to update my reading status from Yes I am reading this book to No I will not be reading this book. While the writing is done very well and the imagery was good and I was able to see the pictures in my head but I couldn't continue. The synopsis given on GoodReads is a little confusing to read at first but it's a much shorter version of what is on Amazon. I won't go into detail about what I read in the few short pages but I will say that I was constantly say things like:

That would never happen.

You can't do that. Dude would be in SO much trouble. Those were then followed by: Hold on, he got promoted? That wouldn't happen. That's not how things work. Do they follow a chain of command? Wait, dude is in the Navy and has a say over the Coastie's job? Unfortunately because I know policies and procedures I could not enjoy the book. If I had forced myself to complete it and write a review it would not have been a very good review solely for the fact that I was in the Coast Guard and I know how things work. I would be doing the author a disservice by leaving a poor review. Instead, I was able to express my feelings in a few sentences on the website I got the book from that was to be sent to the author as to WHY I didn't want to finish reading and reviewing his book. I do have my copy still and it isn't a very long read so now that I'm not reviewing it, maybe I'll be able to read it and finish it...and maybe keep a running tab of how many times I say "That wouldn't happen."

NOTE 11.14.25: While this is in the format of my book reviews now, there is something in this last paragraph that I want to highlight as to why I do not rate or review a book that I DNF. I state that if I had forced myself to read the book and write an honest review, it would have been rated very low and wouldn't have been a good review. Not that I would bash a book or an author in any public forum but I also state that I would be doing the author a disservice by leaving a poor review. I also should note that I have not, in fact, attempted to read it since I wrote this therefore it will live on my DNF shelf on GoodReads and not get a review or rating.