Agent 6 - Tom Rob Smith

I hate to say this was my least favorite of the Leo Demidov books but it was although I may be more sad that the series has ended here. I really liked Leo and Raisa and their struggles to do what was right governed by a regime that cared little for the morality of the system within which its citizens operate. This book starts with their meeting and slingshots way into the future as Leo struggles to find out the real facts behind a family tragedy.

It's hard to see in Agent 6 that Leo has become powerless to move on and become a shell of himself. While certainly lacking autonomy and power in the second book, here Leo lacks the social capital to even find out simple facts behind a murder. And so he spirals down and into the back streets and opium haze of pre-war Afghanistan.

The breadth of time and space the novel takes up may have shot too wide. Leo is jolted out of complacency in Afghanistan by a threat to a police trainee and a civilian child. He is uncomfortable with the lessons he has inadvertently passed on to his trainee and by a thin margin, is able to broker a deal with Mujahideen to get them all out of the country. Once in America, Leo is unable to give up the thread of his long ago abandoned investigation. But this is really just the denouement of a character we first met callously telling a colleague to "get over" the murder of his child and then ruthlessly hunting down a man whose guilt was less than apparent.

Whereas Leo first loved nothing and was strictly obedient to doctrine, he comes to lose almost everything to be the man the people he loved wanted him to be. Was his life richer for it? He certainly suffered more but he also became an extremely principled person and at least I'd like to think, that has a value above measure.

3.5/5 Stars.

Warriors of the Storm - Bernard Cornwell

I remain constantly entertained by Uhtred and his references to goats droppings, turds and all things Danish insults. By now I've figured out Cornwell's formula for these books:
1) Uhtred is involved in a minor skirmish
2) Based on the skirmish he perceives a greater threat to Wessex/Mercia than the West Saxons/Mercians
3) He argues his point to the West Saxon/Mercian leaders who are too influenced by priests insisting they "Pray the Danes Away" that Uhtred goes a little rogue
4) Talk talk talk, strategy strategy strategy
5) Big battle, lots of insults, references to shield walls etc
6) Victory and begrudging respect from those in #3
7) Hint of big bad guy for next book

And listen, I'm reading the ninth (ninth!!!) book in this series because the formula works. It's comforting, and, even at 50, Uhtred is a babe (in my mind - he likely has no teeth and is scarred from acquiring syphilis). But I digress.

In Warriors of the Storm, Mercia has a new threat from the Norse, who, finding the Celts inhospitable in Ireland, have decided to try their hand at Mercia. Why should they succeed where others have failed? Well, they can't because we know who was king after Edward and that would seriously mess with history. So in the meantime, Uhtred has to save everyone, and he's the best at it.

I always like when people underestimate Uhtred. That Aethelflaed does it here was a nice change as she's always been mostly on his side (when she's not in his bed - get it girl!). Anyway, Uhtred wins and the bad guy in vanquished, and there is some smart state craft done by the guy everyone assumes is only as good as his sword arm. 

4/5 Stars. 

For Love of Country: What Our Veterans Can Teach us About Citizenship, Heroism and Sacrifice - Howard Schultz and Rajiv Chandrasekaran

A good read that will not reach much of its intended audience. I was lent this book from a co-worker who also served in the Air Force. This is one of the great things about physical books over Kindle books. You can rave about them. You can cajole people into reading them, but unless you can physically hand them the books, your recommendation may not go anywhere.

That's probably what would have happened with this one. If my co-worker had only recommended it and not handed it to me, then I likely never would have read it. It's not that I don't like reading about American heroes, I do. But I already have a to-read book shelf that is slightly bowed in the middle, and a Kindle to-read shelf that is currently taking up quite a few swipes to get to the next book. Sometimes reading becomes an exercise in getting to the next book rather than actually enjoying the book I'm reading.

In the first line, I mention that the book will likely not reach much of its intended audience. So let me explain. My co-worker, the Air Force vet, and me, another Air Force vet are not the intended audience of this book. Howard Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks. He's got a lot of money and therefore a bit of influence and he had almost no exposure to veterans and their issues/causes. He talks in the introduction about how he finally woke up to the reality that men and women in uniform make every day sacrifices and he, as an "average" American citizen has no exposure to that.

The figures he quotes are sobering. Only 1% of Americans have served or are serving in the military. And only 5% of American have an immediate family member who has served or is serving. To say our modern day citizen is disconnected from the military and its volunteer members is an understatement. What this book sets out to do is provide a series of vignettes that tell the tales of unparalleled bravery in wartime and then of unparalleled commitment to those veterans after they return home.

But here's the reality. I'm an Air Force vet, I get it. I know what went on overseas during my deployment, and I've been lucky to serve with some truly great and selfless heroes. And I was given the book to read by a retired Air Force Master Sergeant who also served his share of deployments. So the two of us - we're not the target audience of the book. Schultz isn't speaking to us. Yet, the stories told in the book, the still meant something to me.

The stories told by Schultz are recent. They recount bravery and heroism during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are startlingly recent. I served in Baghdad in 2006-2007 and for some reason, my brain has shut off after that time. I've moved on to law school and a law career. And here we are, eight years later, and it still feels, in many respects, like I just got home. And then I read these stories, of veterans coming home in 2012, 2013 and its like I never left, but I'm so far removed from them too.

The part of the book I found really enlightening were in the second half. The stories of veterans working on Team Rubicon and TAPS who are helping veterans, their families and disaster victims here in the United States. And it sort of woke me up to all the good people do every day. Veterans do have so much to give, and so much training and experience to share. It reminded me of the very first job I got during law school, fresh out of the Air Force, where the hiring manager at the law firm told me that if I was scheduled to work from 10-2 on a certain day, I should be there from 10-2. This didn't make sense to me. Of course if I was scheduled to work 10-2 I would show up. Of course I would work those hours. But this was not the Air Force, and people don't always treat their job like a service.

There are so many great lessons and stories in these vignettes. But I just don't know beyond the war buffs and the deeply patriotic, who might be picking this book up besides me and my fellow veterans. No need to tell us how great some of the people who served were. We already know.

Perhaps if you haven't served, make it your goal to read this for Veterans Day, Memorial Day or Fourth of July. Make it the one patriotic thing you do this year.

3.5/5 Stars.

Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson

Hmmm... Okay. I read this book knowing that I would read Jon Krakauer's "Three Cups of Deceit" afterwards, so knowing that the allegations were out there that much of this book is fabricated or untrue most likely has changed how I viewed this book while reading it.

Without knowing the specifics on the allegations regarding this book, there were a few things that bothered me about it, that I think I would have picked up on anyway.

First, the author here is listed as Greg Mortenson, but Greg is not the author of this book, it's written by David Relin based on interviews and visits Relin made with Mortenson. Right away that makes me wary. If the book was properly researched and written, Relin wouldn't need Mortenson as an additional author. So I'm not sure what is going on there. If anything it seemed like an excuse to write about Mortenson without Mortenson singing his own praises.

Second, there are far too many "quotes" of things people said and they are presented as direct quotations, even where the events occurred four or five years before Relin even met Mortenson. So there is no way that anyone remembered the exact words used by anyone else that far back, and to present them as quotations rings false.

Third, some of the quotes seem to canned. Even the broken English of translated quotes was too canned and saccharin to be believed.

I didn't have any problems with the events that occurred in the book, aside from the fact that I know they may not have happened the way they are presented, but the above issues with the storytelling really bothered me throughout the book and cast a shadow of doubt around the events described.

That being said, the actual premise of the book, that building schools and investing in education is a better way to fight fundamentalism than bombs and war is totally believable and laudable. It's unfortunate that the message is presented in this format, and now that it's been discredited that the premise may be forgotten or discarded because the messenger was flawed.

2/5 Stars.