Military Bookshelf: Fiction & Fact

Tom Miller

Military Bookshelf: Fiction & Fact

The Ghost War, by Alex Berenson.  Putnam, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-399-15453-9

The last time we saw indestructible CIA hero John Wells, the only American agent to ever penetrate al-Qaeda, he and his girlfriend and minder Jennifer Exley had foiled an apocalyptic terrorist attack in New York.  Now, rested and recovered--at least physically--Wells is back.  And, just in time.

Lots of seemingly disparate but threatening things are happening.  Reports from Afghanistan suggest that the Taliban is getting professional training from foreign fighters.  The CIA's only asset in North Korea is exposed and eliminated.  And, China--suddenly and inexplicably--begins to challenge the U.S. 

It's all part of a diabolical plot hatched by General Li Ping, head of the People's Liberation Army, to gin up a confrontation with the U.S. that will provide cover for him to seize power.  If the U.S. is going to avoid a conflict, they need to know what's going on, but without sources, they're flying blind. 

The Agency had one source within the Chinese bureaucracy--codenamed Ghost--but he went silent ten years earlier.  When Ghost re-surfaces and asks for a meeting, the President turns to Wells for what might be a suicide mission. 

Author Berenson's initial John Wells thriller, "The Faithful Spy," was a critical and commercial success.  This sequel, fast-paced and compelling, should build on that success. 

Some readers, however, will be put off by the comic book portrayal of Wells as invincible super-hero and the author's gratuitous political attacks.   
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L.A. Outlaws: A Novel, by T. Jefferson Parker.  Dutton, $25.95 (372p) ISBN 978-0-525-95055-4

Suzanne Jones is a pretty thirty-two-year-old award-winning eighth-grade history teacher in Los Angeles.  She's also the unwed mother of three young boys. 

Allison Murrieta is a descendant of 19th-century outlaw legend Joaquin Murrieta.  Allison is believed to have committed thirty-eight armed robberies and stolen at least twenty-two cars.  And, counting.

Allison Murrieta also is Suzanne Jones' alter ego.

When Allison helps herself to $450,000 worth of diamonds after a shootout between rival street gangs ends in a massacre, she sets in motion a sequence of events that threatens not only to blow her cover but also to hasten her demise.

A mysterious crime boss called the Bull wants the diamonds back and sends a Salvadoran assassin named Lupercio Maygar to find Murrieta/Jones and retrieve the diamonds.  Maygar is reputed to be practically invisible and dispatches his victims with a well-honed machete. 

Meanwhile, the young L.A. County deputy sheriff and Iraq War vet, Charlie Hood--the   first cop on the scene of the massacre--begins to suspect the link between Murrieta/Jones even as he falls in love with her. 

It's an interesting, if improbable concept, but Parker doesn't breathe much life into it.  Worse, he dishonors America's warriors by portraying Marines as murderers with substandard IQs.  Showing Marines as the villains in an Iraqi massacre is one thing.  Failing to provide any balance--i.e., any hint that most Marines neither murder innocent civilians nor countenance such acts--is another. 

Parker is a crime writer.  And a good one.  Perhaps he should stick with what he knows.

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Paperback Tip: For a more balanced view of warriors, check out the Naval Institute Press' revised paperback edition of Charles A. Krohn's first-person account of the heroic stand of the 2/12 Cavalry battalion during the Vietnam War.  Originally published in 1993 as The Lost Battalion: Controversy and Casualties in the Battle of Hue, the new, revised edition is entitled The Lost Battalion of Tet: Breakout of the 2/12th Cavalry at Hue ($23.95, 208p, ISBN 978-1-59114-434-2). 

A retired Army lieutenant colonel, Krohn was a young captain and the S2 (intelligence officer) for the 2/12 Cav (a battalion of the 1st Air Cavalry Division) in 1968.  When the NVA (regular North Vietnamese troops) captured the ancient city of Hue during the Tet Offensive that began on January 31, the 2/12 Cav was ordered to move to the besieged city. 

Short on ammunition and food and with scant intelligence and no artillery support available, the battalion hadn't moved far when it encountered a superior enemy force in a reinforced position.  Ordered to keep moving, the battalion was soon surrounded and cut off.  After two days of fierce fighting--and suffering 50% casualties--the battalion miraculously succeeded in breaking out of its encirclement.  

Krohn is meticulous in assessing credit and fault for what happened to the 2/12.  He acknowledges that mistakes were made--some defensible, some not--and identifies villains as well as heroes.  No one who has served with American troops will be surprised that the heroes far outnumber the negligent and self-serving. 

For every commander who put his career before the troops, there were ten others (officers and enlisted) selflessly risking their lives for others.  At one point, for example, three Medevac helicopter crews volunteered to fly into the maelstrom to recover the wounded.  All three were so badly shot up that they crash-landed on their return.  

For their actions, the Battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, and twelve troopers earned the Distinguished Service Cross -- the Army's highest award for heroism after the Medal of Honor. 

Once again, the historian finds the truth that eludes the novelist.

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Copyright 2012 by Tom Miller