Bleh. Don't think the premise that seems to imply that Duke is a member of the team basically against his will and would seem to imply that for all the other team members. That's crap.

....and new Hawk looks like he should be portrayed by Claire's father from Heroes.

I don't think so. I think it implies they "volunteered" by their own "choice". Even though he knew he couldn't say no, he did say he was in. I personaly felt that was a great back and forth conversation. Hawk laying out the subtle context and Duke getting frustrated at what he was reading between the lines.

As I say, crap. I don't want my Joes forced into this, forcibly separated from their families ("Hey, we told them you were dead and you'll never get to talk to that sister of yours you seem to care about ever again! Isn't this great!?!?!" ), not given a *real* choice and instead railroaded onto the team.

If you guys like it, more power to you, but if this is the tone of the book, I'm not interested at all.

It feels very heavy-handed and borderline cliched to me.

I don't mind the idea of GI Joe being a bit harder-edged when it comes to getting the job done but this...I feel like it's a male version of "La Femme Nikita".