|
|
1 |
Patrick Sheane Duncan A Private War
Berkley 2003 0425192172 / 9780425192177 Paperback Very Good
0425192172 0425192172 From Publishers Weekly Director and screenwriter Duncan (Courage Under Fire) returns with an effective tale about murder on a military base in a time of downsizing. Lt. Col. Meredith Cleon, a career army officer with her eye on a general's star, is handed a crummy posting as the new provost marshal of Fort Hazelton, a decrepit Indiana base. Her first day on the job is an unusually full one: someone has brutally murdered the aide of the base's general; a smuggling operation has been uncovered; and hate-crime graffiti is turning up around the base. The latter is of particular annoyance to Colonel Levy, with whom Meredith has a sordid history. Marshaling her troops (which include a plucky female sergeant, a quasi-civilian investigator and the world's most efficient secretary), Meredith attempts to solve all the crimes at once. This is made particularly difficult by a second murder and the discovery that weapons are being stolen, possibly by a local militia. Duncan doles out Meredith's background, her reasons for staying in the military after reaching the 20-year mark and the difficulties of being a female officer. But his most pointed observations are those of a military run like a corporation, with cost-cutting measures hamstringing officers while giving tyrannical power to the managers who control the purse strings. The state of Meredith's base (and the army as a whole) is nicely summed up by one of her overworked subordinates: We're understaffed, overextended, and shortchanged, but we manage. Practically begging to be made into a film, this succeeds as a novel of intrigue on its own merits. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Booklist The noted screenwriter's second novel--following Courage under Fire (1996), based on his screenplay for the film--has a solid story, some good characters, and some sterling dialogue. Lieutenant Colonel Meredith Cleon, Fort Hazelton's new provost marshal, is faced with three tough cases: the theft of army materiel, the dissemination of hate literature, and the vicious murder of a general's aide. Cleon must also find a way to work productively with an assortment of colleagues who, for one reason or another, seem to have taken a passionate disliking to her. All the raw material for a fine thriller is here; unfortunately, as with many early novels by established screenwriters, the book feels thin. Duncan's narrative passages often seem truncated, and his descriptions of people and places frequently read like stage directions, functioning only to get the author from one patch of dialogue to the next. Even with these flaws, though, the book is still a perfectly entertaining military thriller with an appealingly strong female protagonist. David Pitt Copyright ?
Price:
1.69 USD
|
