Mercy Mission

Rating:
Summary: NOT a nice place to visit, and wouldn't want to live there -
Review: This book is a definite buy for Special-Ops fans. Rich Welsh is a former Marine who is sent to Guatemala to investigate the deaths of several Marine embassy guards. In the course of his investigation, he becomes the target of powerful forces who wish to silence him. Welsh uses the Special-Ops skills he learned in the Marines, and the political savvy from his job as a Senatorial aid, to evade his pursuers.

The reason I liked this book is that it gives a realistic and detailed look at a skilled jungle expert in action. For fans of the "Political Intrigue" genre, there is a subplot involving the C.I.A. and their operatives in Latin America.

If you're looking for a "No-Dames" man's adventure, you may be disappointed, because this book has a romantic interest. Publishers, I'm told, usually demand that one be tacked on to improve sales demographics. This one, however, is integral to the story, because the way Welsh teaches his female companion to survive in the jungle is one of the book's most interesting aspects.

Another eye-opener is the author's cynical - and probably accurate - attitude toward the way third-world nations manipulate environmental and human rights concerns in their dealings with the U.S., and his observations on the way their society works compared to ours. If you don't appreciate living in the U.S. at the start of the book, you will at the end.

Rating:
Summary: NOT a nice place to visit, and wouldn't want to live there -
Review: This book is a definite buy for Special-Ops fans. Rich Welsh is a former Marine who is sent to Guatemala to investigate the deaths of several Marine embassy guards. In the course of his investigation, he becomes the target of powerful forces who wish to silence him. Welsh uses the Special-Ops skills he learned in the Marines, and the political savvy from his job as a Senatorial aid, to evade his pursuers.

The reason I liked this book is that it gives a realistic and detailed look at a skilled jungle expert in action. For fans of the "Political Intrigue" genre, there is a subplot involving the C.I.A. and their operatives in Latin America.

If you're looking for a "No-Dames" man's adventure, you may be disappointed, because this book has a romantic interest. Publishers, I'm told, usually demand that one be tacked on to improve sales demographics. This one, however, is integral to the story, because the way Welsh teaches his female companion to survive in the jungle is one of the book's most interesting aspects.

Another eye-opener is the author's cynical - and probably accurate - attitude toward the way third-world nations manipulate environmental and human rights concerns in their dealings with the U.S., and his observations on the way their society works compared to ours. If you don't appreciate living in the U.S. at the start of the book, you will at the end.