KCR: Kill Zone (sniper, war, novel)

Sgt. Jack Coughlin is the best shooter in Iraq, and now, he has turned to novel writing. The problem is this conspiracy stuff doesn't quite work, and the plot later makes even less sense. It's too contrived.

Premise: the top general in Iraq was kidnapped. He was scheduled to testify against a congressional act to privatize a lot of the military (i.e. mercenaries). A rescue mission sent in met with severe mishap... the chopper crashed. One sniper survive the crash: gunnery sergeant Kyle Swanson. He had received a secret order from the Whitehouse... Terminate the general if he cannot be rescued. Swanson, however, rescues the general, with help of a highly advanced sniper scope called Excaliber. However, there are a few secrets in that scope as well. There is also a conspiracy up to silence Swanson, and anybody related to him by the backer of mercenary bill. Can Swanson accomplish his mission, and expose the conspiracy?

Frankly, the conspiracy is so ****ing large it boggles the mind. We're talking about conspiracy that has mercenary units that is perfectly willing to shoot down military planes, all around the US AND the world, kidnap and assassinate VIPs in and out of the US, connections in various other Middle East countries, and more. It's **** crazy. Why would a company with this much power bother with a simple bill through US congress?

Sort of worth reading, but not worth buying.

Related articles

• KCR: Shooter (autobiography, sniper, non-fiction, war) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)
• KCR: A Deeper Blue, Paladin of Shadows #5 (novel, terrorism, hero) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)

KCR: The Much Too Promised Land (non-fiction, memoir, Middle East)

Image via Wikipedia

Aaron David Miller

Aaron David Miller is a career diplomat who had worked over 20 YEARS on the Palestine issue. He was along side every president that worked on the issue until his retirement. He was with Nixon, Carter, Kissinger, and all the other major players. He had met with Arafat, Sharon, and major players from all sides. He was right there in the middle of it all.

His insights in the chaotic situation, where different factions of Palestinians and Israelis vie to international attention, and how the extremists (on both sides) disrupt negotiations with violence, is very sobering.

The characters are real, the situation all too true, full of egos that must be soothed. And the best part... he took NO SIDES. He was tough on both sides, and pointed out the fallacies of having a conflict that lasted decades.

People with their mind made up will find this book infuriating, because the book was "one-sided" when it's not. For people who are willing to keep an open mind, this book is a fascinating peek into the world of diplomacy, and ultimately, Middle East peace.

Rating: Read it (at least once)

Related articles

• What Are The 1967 Borders? (npr.org)

KCR: The Last Centurion (novel, military, near-future, war)

Cover of The Last CenturionThe Last Centurion is one of those "future dystopia" novels where the world had gone pretty much into the toilet and a few good men try to hold on against idiots and morons.

The setup: the world was hit by a mini-ice age AND a pandemic that seriously depopulated enough of Earth. One of the few intact units left was Bandit Six, left to guard one of the arm depots in the Middle East. It fought its way to a port and finally got itself back to the US, defeating warlords and helping fledgling democracies along the way. Back at home, Bandit Six fought idiots and bureaucracy of a government gone mad with... organic farming.

The entire book was written first-person, blog-style. It takes aim at liberalism, anti-military, spin control, organic farming (how idiotic it is), big government, and so on and so forth. The author pulls no punches, zeroing in on the idiocy of various issues. The language itself can be quite offending, but always written like blog-style "F*** this."

If your sensibilities are easily offended, you should not read this book. If you want to see bad science eviscerated in a hilarious manner, much like Penn & Teller's Bull****! cable show (which does have an episode on organic farming), then please try this book.