Trident's First Gleaming

[#1] A Special Operations Group Thriller

By: Stephen Templin

Narrated by: Brian Troxell

Former SEAL Chris Paladin leaves SEAL Team Six to become a pastor, but CIA spook Hannah Andrade pulls him back into Special Operations Group, the ultra-secret unit that SEAL Team Six operators and others served under to eliminate bin Laden. Chris and Hannah are joined by Delta Force’s Sonny Cohen to stop a new terrorist threat from launching a deadly cyber-terror against the United States.

©2014 Stephen Templin Recorded by arrangement with the author c/o Trident Media Group LLC (P)2014 ListenUp Production, LLC

Critic reviews

Another great novel reflecting our Spec Ops forces’ global capabilities. Written by a proven and insightful master storyteller.” (Howard E. Wasdin, SEAL Team Six Sniper and New York Times best-selling author of SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper

“Stephen Templin’s Trident’s First Gleaming is a muscular thrill ride that’s rich with detail and full of heart and energy." (Mark Greaney, number one New York Times best-selling coauthor of Command Authority)

Intense military thriller

Would you listen to Trident's First Gleaming again? Why?

Yes. It was exiting and fast paced.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mordet. He was a well written villain.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where Paladin is fighting Mordet and gouges out his eye.

very interesting

I enjoyed this book. It gets fast passed but kept my attention through out. I did like the struggle between seal and pastor it makes you think.

Refreshing New Perspective

I am a big fan of espionage, mystery, and detective thrillers. I appreciate and enjoy a good action story with well developed characters and lots of action - this book has it plus a new perspective. It was interesting to listen to the internal compos and struggle of apparently competing vocations that of a minister/preacher and a soldier, yet I am sure that our military men and women don't have to be 'of the cloth' to feel these same struggles. Don't let the vocational twist however distract from the fact that his predominately an espionage story with the usual bad guys, betrayal, money and action scenes. I am looking forward to the next installment in this story. I found the narrator did a good job.

good storyline

I really enjoyed this book. Good always overcoming evil makes for a good story every time. this was my first book by this author but plan to listen to more by him.

Good story badly read

I disliked the narrator. No range. Flatly read. Good guy and girl go after bad guys, in this case Arabs. He is a pastor called back into action as a SEAL. She is CIA. Not bad, but not Tom Clancy.

Terrible

This book was juvenile and unbelievable. I stopped listening less than half way through. I want my money back on this one. This author should read other thrillers by authors with better writing skills before attempting another book.

Action-packed Story with Naptivating narration!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I will absolutely recommend this audiobook to all my friends. Narrator, Brian Troxell, is a perfect choice - he has an amazingly smooth, yet gruff timbre to his voice. The storytelling is suspenseful and Brian quickly engaged me with an incredibly deep and conflicted main character. There is awesome attention to detail and the author, Stephen Templin, doesn't just write a story, he brings you into the experience.

What did you like best about this story?

The pace was a fast, action-packed, thrill-ride! The attention to detail and the narration of this book had me feeling as if I could touch, taste, smell, and experience the fear and conflict of the main characters. It's a story about warriors who are battling to remain true to a profession and a faith.

Which scene was your favorite?

I loved the ear-chewing scene wherein Mordet jumps Chris and gnaws his ear half-off, but I was also captivated by the mountain scene, as the trio climbed, crouched, and crawled through a gully towards Syria. It's hard to pick a favorite scene because the book is filled with so many complex adventures throughout.

Any additional comments?

This is a stimulating audiobook that engages your imagination and should definitely be on your "to listen to" list! Fantastic sound and pacing on this audiobook and a wonderful choice to have Brian Troxell narrate! I'd love to see this on the big screen one day!

A bit of a strange storyline

This book was like a religious story with a huge helping of graphic violence along with a cannibalistic villain. An odd combination indeed.

I love Special Forces and military books that are true, based true events, or well written & plausable but I didn't find that in this book.

The storylone is weak, main character, Chris is taken hostage as a child & rescued by a SEAL. He becomes a member of SEAL team six, and then quits & becomes a minister.

Former co-worker & CIA operative Hanna, who Chris was interested in shows up at his church asking him to return for a special o.o. He returns, they get double crossed putting vital secrets in enemy hands & fight to recover the secrets. Along the way, they are joined by an Army Ranger, who apparently is able to just leave his team & whatever mission he was on to accompany them.

Along the way, Chris kills many many people, but never curses & only drinks once, after kissing Hanna, but having to choose her or his church because he must save himself for marriage.

They return to the US to kill every enemy they encounter (no prisoners) and hunt down the cannibalistic villain who is planning to kill a stadium of people & the president. In the end, we have no idea what Chris does with his moral dilemma - making me wonder why it entered the story at all.

A wild ride, but not very entertaining or worth the credit!

...actually a pretty decent action thriller

Quick audiobook about a former U.S. Navy SEAL that leaves SEAL Team Six to become a pastor, but is pulled back into the fight against terrorism by a female CIA agent to join their Special Operations Group - the ultra-secret Special Forces unit that eliminated Osama bin Laden. They are joined by a lone Delta Force operator to stop a new deadly cyber-terrorist attack against the United States. Lots of action which kept me engaged and really good character development by author Stephen Templin. A former pastor as a Navy SEAL my seemed pretty far fetch, but Templin did a nice job in making it feel believable. Hats off for a good first book in the Special Operations Group thriller.

Fantastic debut of a new series!

Any additional comments?

I waited to start this book until it was released last week on Audible. I finished it last night while driving around my neighborhood because I simply couldn't stop listening.

There are so many things that are right with this book that it is difficult to find a place to start. Here are a few that really stood out for me.

- I've read very few authors of fiction that can so accurately involve the reader/listener into the experience of war. Not just describe the experience. But, truly bring you INTO the experience. The emotions, the thoughts, the smell, the taste of acid in your mouth, the resolve to push forward in spite of fear, understanding the real fear - letting your teammates down, and the war inside of a man of faith who is also a warrior

- In the same way the experience of battle is developed in such understandable detail, the character development of the primary character in this novel is DEEP. You really get to know this guy. He is surrounded by a series of characters that are believable and interesting, each in their own way. I can put a name on each one of these people from someone I know in the Teams, SOG/SAD, or CAG. It reminds me of the best of Vince Flynn and John Gilstrap in how he captures the interactions within the warrior brotherhood.

- I mentioned this previously, but it deserves its own point. The author's willingness to explore the internal conflict of someone who holds himself to the standard of being a man of God, yet has a past, and a talent, that leads him back to the very dark world of men that hold themselves to a different standard of evil. I kept trying to find a comparable author, book, or character to what I experienced while listening to this story and there simply isn't one. It is that good. It is kind of like The Last Jihad series by Joel Rosenberg in that it deals directly and fearlessly with the challenges a man faces if he is to lead a life in accordance with his faith. At the same time, it is not a book about biblical prophecy. It is, however, a story of good versus evil, and of men and women who are willing to step up to face down that evil, up close and personally.

I join others in hoping this starts a long series around this character, Chris Paladin, and his cohorts Hannah and the irascible Sonny.

Great job, Stephen! Thanks for the great ride and for using your talent and experience to spin a tale that was unpredictable and that moved me at the heart level as I read it.

I highly recommend this book!