| Date: 26 May 2011, 00:13
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I'm a long time fan of Leon Uris and was excited to begin another of his novels. I have been greatly influenced by his previous works- to the extent that after reading "Battlecry" at the age of 18 I enlisted in the Marine Corps and served for 20 years.
I am distressed to report that this novel is poorly researched, poorly edited and profoundly ideological.
The book is replete with anahronism. One of the secondary characters, a Marine Major General, is supposedly a WWII vet still on active duty in the 21st century. Can't happen, wouldn't happen, didn't happen. Uris describes a former Marine Major who served on active duty from 1978-1986 as a Viet Nam vet. Umm, I was on active duty from 1976 to 1996, the US was out of the war three years before I enlisted. Quinn O'Connell rose to the non-existent rank of Master Technical Sergeant in a five year career? Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.
Uris' attempt at the techno thriller genre would embarass even the least talented Tom Clancy wannabe's. His description of the equipment, tactics and weapons used on the fictional raid into Iran strain the loosest credibility. Nor does he provide believable justification for this goofy mission. How exactly does freeing an Iranian criminal/dissident exact revenge for a terrorist bombing? It's obvious that the only reason for this little plot line is to provide an opportunity to ascribe heroic actions to O'Connell.
Uris' description of the thinly disguised surrogate for the NRA, AMERIGUN, is directlty drawn from the rantings of the farthest left opponents to the Second Amendment. His efforts result in laughable caricatures of any prominent opponents to his point of view.
Most distressing is the shift in the quality of writing about half way through the book. The story starts as vintage Uris with the epic sweep and characterization that made his previous work so enjoyable. When the story moves into present times the writing become less clear, less concise and .....just less good, in fact, not good at all.
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