I don't expect too much from new thiller authors. It just seems like these novels are so often churned out by formula and tend to concentrate on page-turning action at the expense of proper plotting, characterization, setting, etc. Even some of the old "pros" succomb to this. But Ben Coes has written an absolutely terrific action-thriller novel.

Does it have action? Definitely! Is it a page-turner? You bet. But it also has near flawless plotting that builds the suspense and lets the reader know More...

Overall I really enjoyed it. Great fast-paced thriller.

Few points-

-having so many viewpoint characters across many locations and the constant jumping between them made it feel disjointed at times
- Dewey Andreas is a great character - I wish he was in more chapters than he was
- I was a little disappointed with the ending - seemed a little unrealistic

I will read the next book though at some point

Loved it! I'll post my review later today!

Just won this book on a first-reads giveaway! Really excited to give it a shot, especially when the discription mentions that the book is similar to a Vince Flynn novel, and Vince Flynn is one of my all time favorites!

A major hydroelectric dam is blown up and the largest off shore oil rig is
destroyed in a brutal terrorist attack. But there was one thing the terrorists
did'nt take into consideration and that was Dewey Andreas former Army Ranger
and Delta. Dewey was the crew chief on the rig and he saved as many of the crew
as possible but the fight has just begun. While intelligence and law enforcement
scramble to untangle this mess and find the people responsible the mysterious
figure of Alexander Fortuna an age More...

Ben Coes Power Down

Plot:

A major North American hydroelectric dam is blown up and the largest off-shore oil field in this hemisphere is destroyed in a brutal, coordinated terrorist attack. But there was one factor that the terrorists didn’t take into account when they struck the Capitana platform off the coast of Colombia—slaughtering much of the crew and blowing up the platform—and that was the Capitana crew chief Dewey Andreas. Dewey, former Army Ranger and Delta, survives the attack, rescuing More...

This was a Reader's Choice at the library, so I gave it a try. Be aware that there are quite a few "F-bombs" which I really feel is unnecessary. Anyway, the premise of this book is a terrorist attack on American energy sites, oil, electricity, etc. The terrorists were sleepers in America for quite a while, and the guy in charge was pretty brilliant. It was somewhat predictable, but the characters were engaging. I found a couple of things interesting. One was that the author wrote this years befo More...

You will find this a very good real world read. Indluded is a review that although not written by me pretty much sums it up

Introducing a major new thriller writer in the vein of Vince Flynn and Brad Thor and an electrifying character, Dewey Andreas. A major North American hydroelectric dam is blown up and the largest off-shore oil field in this hemisphere is destroyed in a brutal, coordinated terrorist attack. But there was one factor that the terrorists didn’t take into account when they struck More...

It is not too often that I will give a book a 5 Star rating, however in this case I believe it is well deserved. Ben Coes has an excellent first book here in Power Down. The story is well developed and believably written, the characters are not super heroes, nor do they have wild gadgets to do their work - they seem to be real people acting in a believable manner. Coes develops three story lines, weaves them together into a story that will keep you up late turning pages.

The story opens on an oi More...

In a timely novel, terrorists set a coordinated attack against America's energy system. A hydroelectric dam is blown up in Canada. However, when the terrorists attack the Captiana oil platform near Columbia, they are pitted against former Delat member, Dewey Andreas, who runs the platform like a "...battalion during wartime."

As the terrorists overcome Andreas and bring him to the pumping station to complete their sabotage, he realizes what they are up to. He vows that if he lives he'd find out w More...

This debut thriller parallels Vince Flynn and Brad Thor's finest works, using great military antics, espionage, and a believable storyline that keeps the reader turning pages well into the night. Coes constructs an excellent plot and adds characters that enhance it, proving that he should stand amongst some of the best the genre has to offer.

I was not sure where the story would go in the opening chapters and could not see the thread to tie it all together. That said, Coes injected countless twis More...

Ben Coes really nailed it when he wrote his first thriller, POWER DOWN. This book has everything you're looking for in a thriller – great characters, great action and a great plot.

The protagonist of POWER DOWN is Dewey Andreas, a former member of Delta Force who is now tackling the tough task of running an oil rig off the coast of Columbia. When terrorists attack his rig, Andreas is forced to fight back with a vengeance, and he is quickly drawn into the unfolding plot to cripple America’s energy More...

Power Down is a debut novel by Ben Coes. He is anything but a rookie as far as writing goes, here are the highlights of his career from the back cover: “Ben Coes worked at the White House under President Ronald Reagan and was a White House appointed speech writer at the height of the Gulf War. He was the campaign manager of Mitt Romney’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign and was a fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “
Do I want to make any comparisons to other writers More...

It was pretty ironic, the Boston Marathon Bombing happened while I was in the middle of reading this book. Such a tragedy, my condolences to all Bostonians and those affected by the bombing.

Nevertheless, I'd say it was an enjoyable read. One of the smartest book I've ever read. Though this is one of the Dewey Andreas series, the supporting characters did contributed their parts. Dewey Andreas was portrayed as the hero, but he's not a stand-alone hero. But he doesn't work for a team, and he's no More...

Where to start with Ben Coes Power Down? Well it’s a flawed but genuinely thrilling novel. A wealthy Lebanese terrorist with a sympathetic backstory initiates a highly original operation against “the great Satan”. Instead of trying to cause loss of civilian life, the terrorist uses a network of sleeper agents to conduct a demolition derby of critical infrastructure. These include a dam which powers most of the Eastern United States and a US controlled oil rig outside the Middle East to name a fe More...

"FRIGHTENINGLY PLAUSIBLE THRILLER." ---Publishers Weekly
U.S. economic infrastructure hit by terrorists in a long planned assault.

I am asking myself why I overlooked this author Ben Coes. This story was his debut novel 2010, a Political Thriller with the name in the tittle 'Dewey Andreas' being the hero in this read and in the books to follow. This story has restored my faith in why I love to read these kind of books, which were my first preference when I took a keen interest in reading 5 to 6 y More...

This was a really great Vince Flynn-esque terrorism thriller, to which I considered giving five stars. The action was non-stop, and the storyline all-too-believable. My only complaint came at the end...

*SPOILER ALERT - STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO READ THE BOOK, BECAUSE IT WILL RUIN IT!


Just because Andreas took out Fortuna before he could use the remote detonator, does that mean the crisis was averted? Couldn't all the other terrorist cells just go in and manually detonate the explosives, ju More...

Wow. This isn't normally my genre of choice, but I'm so glad I took a friend's recommendation!

His background working in the White House and as speechwriter to the president gave him an excellent behind the scenes insight. The scope of the villains plans was impressive. The collaboration between the government agencies was very insightful. You could tell this wasn't your regular terrorist/government story. The details really made this book. Even some of the inner-workings of major corporations wa More...

If you like Mitch Rapp and Scot Harvath, you’ll like Ben Coes’, Dewey Andreas. An expatriate, Andreas is a Gang Chief on offshore oil rig when all hell breaks loose! The former Army Ranger and Delta Operator hasn’t lost his skills or his patriotism!

The book has an intricate, exciting plot with interesting characters and is very well written. Coes weaves together America’s energy dependence, Wall Street finance and terrorism with plenty of action! Most importantly for me, there is a sense of aut More...

This book was one that I won on a Goodreads giveaway but was an excellent book. It was much in the same vein as Tom Clancy's and Brad Thor's books, both of which I enjoy.
Dewey Andreas is a former Delta soldier who fled the United States after the death of his son and wife. Currently he is working as the chief of the Capitania oil rig, an enormous oil field off the coast of Columbia that provides America with a great amount of domestic oil. As the merger of Anson, who owns Capitania, and KKB Ener More...

I like this book a lot. But what drove me crazy about Ben Coes’s style is the stream of what I felt was useless information. I just want the story to get to the point. All the talk about the people’s history and life is not necessary. It would be differently if all of them were main characters but we don’t need a history of the secondary character. It is nice facts but it doesn't move the story along. Sometime I just felt like this stuff was filler. What else drove me crazy was how long it took More...

Ben Coes is a great addition to the ranks of political thriller authors. Fortunately, his political ax is not as dull as some other writers, like Vince Flynn. Flynn, et al, spend too much time praising conservative ideals and excoriating liberal ones - much to my chagrin. I don't want to hear the author's political harangue - I just want action and thrills.

Anyway, Dewey Andreas is an ex-Army Delta commando with a brutal past. He simply wants to make a living running an oil platform off the coast More...

I won this book through the First Reads Giveaway!

Power Down was one of the most amazing books I have read in a long time. I absolutely LOVE how Ben Coes tells a story. He tells it from one person's point of view, rewinds a few sentences and then goes to another character in the book and talks about how they view it or what they are going through during the same time period. This is Ben Coes first book and I hope that there are many more to come, I am a dedicated fan now. In the synopsis for Powe More...

This is an ok thriller, but it seems like an attempt to create another Jack Reacher, the hero of Lee Childs' highly popular book series.

In "Power Down", everything military is great -- almost a fawning respect for it. Most of the successful protagonists in the book have military background. Only the non-former-Seals/Rangers/Deltas die in attacks.

Ben Coes does create an interesting plot and a formidable villain. It is an entertaining read, but lacks real surprises in the plot. Although Dewey An More...

It is obvious that Ben Coes was a speech writer. He’s a political hack that does not pay attention to details and has obviously never worked in the real world. Only a politician would describe a dam as being built on the edge of the SEA. Dams are built on rivers. And who puts a building on the bottom of the ocean – hundreds of feet underwater – and has an iris scanner on the door? Those are the big points that are not believable. He misses a lot of small details as well – too many to go into. He More...

Ben Coes is an unbelievably talented and knowledgeable writer. I learned so much about terrorism, how our government fights it (or not) and formed firm opinions on whether torture should be permitted and how stupid it is to forbid seeking out radical Muslims when looking for terrorists, since that IS who wants to destroy America. Ben Coes' writing voice resonates with urgency, intelligence and common sense. I enjoyed the fact that he assumes his readers will understand advanced ideas and be able More...

Based upon the Goodread reviewers recommendation - I read this book. The reviews were dead on - excellent book. It took about 100 pages to set the scene. Then the definition of page turner came into play - excellent escapist entertainment. The "bad guy" was a tremendous foe without being ridiculous. The "good guys" were numerous. The book jackets pushes the next hero of many books yet come but there were "heroes" that actually had more page time. The scene of where the term "power down" came fro More...

If you love excellent thrillers, this series is the one for you. Straight from the headlines, America's been attacked by terrorists from a dam to other ports, all over the country. And it's up to one man, Dewey Andreas, to make it happen. He eyewitnessed it from an oil rig and now he's the one to stop it. But there's an evil man who's behind the plot, who's not what he seems. You want to root for Dewey all the way to the end for this rugged character and tough exterior. But he'll do anything for More...

What a thrill ride! All that I read review wise of this book is true. It moves hard and fast. It also reflects much of what we are afraid of these days involving terrorists. The foundation of that is very real. Otherwise realism does have a hard time here, especially involving the financial issues dealt with. Author Coes knows a lot of details but misses some critical fundamentals that would occur due to actions in the plot of the book. Because of that and some logical issues, I'll trim the rati More...

I'm such a sucker for these kinds of books. I really and truly enjoy them. I almost gave this one five stars, but it only would have been because I love the genre. There are a few obvious plot holes...and I mean really obvious ones. However, the pacing was great, and it ties me over until the next Vince Flynn book comes out.

Oh, one other thing. He likes the ol' effenheimer. A LOT. By the end, it was overkill and I was wondering if there was a purpose for it, or it was laziness.

Four stars, mostly More...