OPERATION DESERT VENGEANCE

A fervent but overwritten novel about a set of combat operations that serves as a fascinating commentary on the Iraq War.

After 29 years as a soldier, Colonel Sam Sampson is ready to retire. A lifetime military man–and by all accounts, one of the great strategic minds of his generation–Sam is leaving the Army tired and unsatisfied, feeling as if his decades-long dedication has gone unappreciated. On the brink of retirement, though, he’s recalled to active duty for one last mission, an ultra-dangerous, top-secret sortie into Iraq to take care of some unfinished business. As the story unfolds, the perspective shifts back and forth between American and Iraqi forces. To his credit, the author gives an even-handed treatment to both sides. In each army, there are heroes and villains, foes and friends, and Chamberlain’s willingness to bring the reader into both camps extends his story’s reach and makes it both equable and comprehensive. As a career infantryman and a retired army colonel himself, his knowledge of modern warfare is comprehensive. Furthermore, his own experience on the ground makes the combat sequences taut and believable. Clearly, this is a story that the author is excited and well equipped to tell, but this same enthusiasm leads to passages that are decidedly overwrought. Though the novel is erudite and sincere, very little is left to the reader’s imagination; every single thought–from the important to the mundane to the downright pointless–is conspicuously telegraphed.

Though Chamberlain occasionally gives too much, he has clearly given his heart.