Well,
this is a revolting development. I haven’t finished Kratman’s
excellent A Desert Called Peace series, but got turned on to
his Countdown series, of which this is book one. Though I have
both a very good military history and an excellent political book
started, this came when I needed a little escapism. And make no
mistake, this adventure fantasy is escapism. So I started it—and
finished it without taking up the others. I’ll now have to order
the next two. Sigh. If only books came with the extra time to enjoy
them. I know, and have recommended, Kratman as a writer of wonderful
military science fiction. This book is more of a thriller, set in the
too-near future to really be called SF. It is a future that is easily
discernable from the converging lines of our deteriorating
civilization today. More and more, Kratman reminds me of my favorite
escapist novel writer, W.E.B. Griffin, in his terrific
characterization of people you’d like to know well, and people
you’d stand in a long line in the hot sun to get a shot at. But his
plotting and presentation, especially about planning and executing
military operations are, if anything, more detailed and authentic
than Griffin’s. If Griffin can be called a historical novelist,
Kratman is a future=history novelist. He understands how warriors
talk, think and act. Kratman is a retired Army LtCol, but has a
terrific grasp of all aspects of war: air, land and sea. If you want
to see what an unpleasant future will look like, and what men and
women of courage will have to do to cope with the brave new world
that’s, alas, coming, you can hardly do better than to enjoy one of
Kratman’s novels.
I
know, I usually give you recommendations on great non-fiction in
history, politics and economics. I’ll get back to it, have just
needed a little escapism lately. I was happily about a quarter into
Victor Davis Hanson’s excellent history of the Peloponnesian war, A
War Like No Other, when this book, the second in the series, came
in the mail, along with the third one. No problem, I thought, I’ll
put them in the pile and think about what’s next after Hanson. But
I was going away for the weekend, and a paperback was easier to
Countdown:
H Hour By Tom Kratman
Since
I usually recommend non-fiction history, political and economic
books, I was going to skip reviewing this novel. First, I’m a
little annoyed with Kratman, in that he doesn’t seem to be able to
write these things as fast as I can read them. He was an officer,
after all, and I expect a little more attention to my edification.
Second, I reviewed the first two books in this series, so I’m
running out of superlatives. If you read both of those, chances are
you will read this one without my recommendation. And while it can
stand alone, I recommend you read the series in order. But Kratman
does such an entertaining job of describing realistic military
violence, and has such a frightening, reality-based world view of how
civilization is collapsing as we watch, that I had to put in another
plug. In his “Afterword” (which covers ground he talked about in
his science fiction novels, but should be read by every American) he
says he is asked if he expects things will really get as bad as
depicted in these action novels of the near future. His response is
that he expects things to get much worse—that the books only depict
the early stages of what is happening to our world. I wish I didn’t
think he was right. As with his other novels, there are some running
gags, one-liners and historical and literary quotes that make the
book an especially great value.
