POYER: Whether or not you’ve heard of “Quarterdeck” magazine, a quarterly review dedicated to maritime literature and art, we’re sure you’ve heard of Bradford native, author and retired naval officer David Poyer.
He has written more than 40 books, mostly novels, including a series of thrillers featuring Capt. Daniel V. Lenson. His most recent, “The Academy,” is number 22 in the series, and is the final Lenson novel.
In the Summer 2024 issue of “Quarterdeck,” retired Capt. C. Herbert Gilliland, U.S. Navy, penned a featured piece called “Dan Lenson Comes Home: An Appreciation of David Poyer’s ‘The Academy.’”
Gilliland’s glowing review of the book mentions that for author and protagonist, this is a story of homecoming, back to the Naval Academy.
“From his own career as a naval officer and technical consultant, Poyer brings abundant technical and cultural understanding to these books,” Gilliland said of the series.
The reviewer spoke, too, about Poyer’s ability to keep the content current.
“Over the course of decades simultaneously real and fictional, Poyer involves his protagonist in the events of the approximate time of writing — the Soviet confrontation, the Gulf War, the 9/11 attacks, the hunt for bin Laden, and the development of the Tomahawk missile.”
And perhaps one of the best compliments for Poyer came toward the end of the featured piece.
“No writer I know of is more skilled at describing the sea itself in all its many guises,” Gilliland wrote. “With such a volume of sea-going material, repetition might be expected, but that is not the case. As for describing what it is like to be at sea, especially in the Navy, some readers, including this reviewer, have remarked that ‘I felt I was back on my old ship.’”
