Suffer in Silence: A Novel of Navy SEAL Training

This book should make every American proud of our US Navy SEALs. The courage, the endurance, the willingness to never give up is almost unhuman. If you are a terrorist, you will read this book and be very afraid. God Bless the US Navy SEALs, who, as we read this, sleep upon hard hard rock or sand in some untold remote location, without glory or compensation. True American Heroes.

This book is a very realistic account of 1st Phase SEAL training. I got this as a gift and was skeptical, but from the moment I started reading, I was drawn into the realism. I couldn't put it down--I read it in 4 days. As someone who has experienced BUD/S first hand, this book brought back nightmares--situations that I never wanted to think about again. The story sort of reads like Dick Couch's "SEAL Team One", only better and fully uncensored. If you want to know what 1st Phase is really like, what you might be getting yourself into by volunteering to go to BUD/S, check this book out.

Look no further for a lively account of the staggering process of becoming a Navy SEAL. Written like a first-person memoir, this book's description of BUD/S training is as unforgiving as the icy Pacific Ocean where the exhausted recruits spend much of their time. (The author participated in SEAL training himself, a personal history that provides necessary authenticity to descriptions of the pitiless physical and mental stress inflicted on these young men.) Suffer in Silence combines an enthusiastic writing style, fast-paced narrative, and the author's own ambivalence toward the honor and brutality of the SEAL training program to create a quick, authentic, and entertaining read.

This book satisfied my need to understand, as much as possible without undergoing the SEAL training myself, what it would be like to persevere through such agony and torment. I have tried reading other books, but they were either too objectively descriptive or repetitive. This book is personal and the author adds a subplot involving a possible murder that keeps the reader wanting to resolve this added mystery, and the primary ones of what the training consists of, who would successfully complete the training, and how. A great and honest read.

A gripping read packed with all the details, action, and emotion of the seal training experience. Provides a completely new understanding into a world completely outside the realm of our everyday lives.

Tale about the difficulties of SEAL Training. A guy says he is being picked on and says he is going to locate dirt on the guy he is being picked on by. Swearing, gals mixed into the story. Long torturous read.

Suffer in Silence is a captivating book that I didn't want to put down. The author does a great job with character development and dialogue, two very difficult things to do well. For example, he doesn't simply describe the building relationships and trust among the trainees, but rather lets the reader discover them through the dialogue. This is so much more than just another book about military training. I heartily recommend it, even for readers who are not normally drawn to military based books.
Jim Tamm, author of Radical Collaboration

A friend recommended "Suffer in Silence" to me. This was the first page turner I read in a long while. I cannot imagine what the journey through BUDS must be like, but after reading David Reid's novel, I feel like I have a pretty good idea. I have even more respect for SEALS and what they go through after reading this book. It is a great story and a great read. I was actually sad when I finished it because there was no more to read. I highly recommend it.

A great read, engaging and raw. The characters are excellent, the diversity of characters really help the story develop. The description of the physical and emotional torture is quite vivid and unforgetable. The author does a wonderful job in describing the experience of Hell Week and the pain and suffering that the recruits are forced to endure. A quick read and a book you won't soon forget.

Reid provides a descriptive narration of the internal struggle to keep `mind over matter' while enduring the constant beating dished out by the instructors. His writing style allowed me to wholly absorb myself into the plot. I found myself eager to get to the next page as the story continues to develop towards the climatic resolution. Every plot twist invokes a new emotion. Enjoy. I did!

The promise of an unabashed glimpse into the torture of becoming a SEAL draws you in; the riveting story line won't let you put it down. Reid successfully intertwines the fictional storyline with a behind the curtain look at BUDS so well that it leaves you guessing where reality ends and story begins. I couldn't put it down - a great read.

This book describes the ordeal of BUD/S in detail that makes it come alive. The plot of the book is a little weak though and in my opinion detracts from the picture he paints of the toughest training in the United States military.

Very real, a page turner that I found impossible to put down. You feel the abuse, the cold and the gradual physical beating down of the BUDS students as they face the elements and the dark side of their instructors.

Highly recommended1

I really enjoyed this book. However, it wasn't until I finished the book that I realized that it was fiction. It was still very good and makes one appreciate the mental and physical anguish that anyone attempting to reach the goal of becoming a Navy Seal has to endure. Just imagine being covered in sand and cold for days on end without having any sleep. 65 degree weather and 51 degree water would not be fun. Anyway, an entertaining read even though it is fiction.