Book Review: Code 13, Don Brown

Lieutenant Commander Caroline McCormick, Judge Advocate General's Corp (JAG), US Navy, is a highly competent Navy lawyer. On the basis of a stellar stint of handling the personal legal affairs (wills, powers of attorney, etc.) of sailors on a ship about to head to sea for an extended time, she is reassigned to the secretive Code 13 section of JAG at the Pentagon. Her former, almost fiance is also assigned there. Complicating that move and relationship, Commander McCormick is strongly attracted to Captain Paul Kriete, who is also being reassigned to Washington. And, just to make things interesting, her almost fiance, Lt. Commander PJ MacDonald, is strongly attracted to the beautiful red-headed Senior Lieutenant Victoria Fladager, also in JAG in the Pentagon. But, that's not the main story.

Code 13 and Lt. Commander MacDonald (PJ) in particular have been tasked with issuing an opinion on the legality of a proposed coastline drone surveillance program to be run by the Navy but to be done in partnership with Homeland Security. At issue are the Fourth Amendment protections against searches without a warrant and the doctrine of "posse comitatas" that prevents the use of the military in domestic law enforcement. There are powerful stake holders, some of whom will stop at nothing to either get the drone program approved or to prevent its approval. And, to get their way, one of those interested parties is apparently assassinating JAG officers.

I must say that the author, Don Brown, keeps the story moving and kept my interest. And, there is a "nice" little twist at the end that I didn't see coming. The conflict between securing the borders of the US, combatting terrorism, and ensuring constitutionally guaranteed privacy and freedom is handled well. Lt. Commander MacDonald is torn on how to write his legal opinion and I, as the reader, felt his conflicts. Also, there is no graphic sex or foul language — adultery is alluded to, but not described.

But — and you were waiting for the "But" — this book is so full of clichés.

First, every possible conspiracy is introduced: big government, intrusive government, mob-controlled drug trafficking, greedy corporations who will do anything to get profits, terrorist threats, blackmail. It's all there.

Second, it seems that every possible stereotype is given page time: military men who are hunks, affairs between bosses and secretaries, politicians who can't keep themselves from getting involved in sexual scandals, the dumb cousin in the mob, sexist attitudes of both men ("… hot little firecraker of a redhead JAG officer.") and women ("One man alone, trim and well fitted in the choker whites of a naval officer's uniform, could stop most women dead in their tracks … even the least of them proving to be handsomer than the studliest actor Hollywood had to offer."). For me, it really got old.

If you want a clean, quick, no-thinking-necessary read, then Code 13 is a good book for that. The book does have Christian elements in it. I enjoyed it, but it's not going to make my "Best of 2016" list.

DISCLAIMER: In exchange for an honest review, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher as a part of its BookLook Bloggers' program. My only compensation, besides the free book, is continued participation in the program.

Book Review: The Germans in Normandy

5–Stars, Highly Recommended

The story of the struggle for Normandy is an appalling one; the battle was, in Erwin Rommel's words, 'one terrible blood-letting'. (from the Introduction)

Both the Allied and German forces put most, if not all of their hopes for ending World War II on the battles over occupied France. Hargreaves does a masterful job of writing the history of D-Day to the final liberation of France from the German perspective. He talks about the logical hopelessness of the German defense, yet portrays the sheer will-power of the German military that, at times, threatened to thwart to Allied invasion. Germany missed its opportunity in so many ways — megalomaniacal leadership of Hitler and Goebbels who refused to face the reality of the Allied superiority and the complete exhaustion of their own troops, uncoordinated strategies, woefully insufficient front line and reserve forces, inadequate hardware (or, as Hargreaves terms it, "material"). Though Hargreaves doesn't explicitly make the connection, the attempted coup by top military leadership in the midst of the defense of France had to have been, at the very least, a distraction.

Hargreaves succeeds in portraying the tenacity of the German military as time after time they were defeated but continued to fight on in spite of overwhelming odds. It's terrifying to think what might have happened if the German military had been anywhere close to being as prepared as were the Allies. Whether Hargreaves intended it or not, one result of reading this book is a fresh realization of how horrible war is -- 240,000 or more people killed in a 2 1/2 month period and many of the bodies so damaged that they could not be identified!!

I do have some criticisms of the book. First was the overuse of the phrase "material supremacy". Often, this was quoted from German sources, but there could (perhaps) have been some variety in how the German phrase was translated and Hargreaves, himself, could have used a different phrase when he wasn't quoting. I found maps difficult to decipher — the quality of the graphics in the Kindle version was really good, but they lacked legends that would have made them more understandable to someone who, like me, has neither a military background or more than a cursory knowledge of French geography. There were some minor quirky (to me) errors -- for example, "The 6 June cost the Panzer Lehr thirty vehicles." Phrases that introduced quotes often ended with a period rather than a comma. Several times, a phrase like "It was gone midnight…" was used. Or, a phrase like, "Thus at the age of thirty died Michael Wittmann…" Or, "Paris not only lacked the men to defend it to the last man…" -- how many more than 1 does it take to defend to the last man? Hargreaves is, apparently, British and perhaps some of these are simply differences in how Amis and Tommies (the terms the Germans used in Hargreaves book) express themselves. None of them take away from the book.

I think Hargreaves sums up the essence of The Germans in Normandy with this section at location 5628 (Kindle):

For the Landser, there was the bitter taste of defeat, and yet the German soldier refused to accept he had been beaten. Events had conspired against him, but the Landser held his head high. Like Untersturmführer Riegamer, he struggled to accept his sacrifices had been in vain. This could not be the end. 'German soldiers have once again acquitted themselves superhumanly in battle,' Hitlerjugend commander Kurt Meyer wrote bitterly in his diary. 'They do not deserve the terrible defeat. The defeat cannot be blamed on the frontline soldiers as this bitter cup was served to them by a gambler at the map table.'

Book Review: No Greater Valor, by Jerome Corsi

No Greater Valor: The Siege of Bastogne, and the Miracle That Sealed Allied Victory (I read the Kindle edition), by Jerome Corsi, is a (mostly) readable account of the American defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. American forces tenaciously held this important crossroads against numerically superior forces and in spite of harsh weather and shortage of both food and ammunition. Because of the weather and the fact that the Bastogne defenders were surrounded by German forces, fresh supplies could not be brought in until the weather broke on 23 December. I'm not competent to declare whether or not this battle is the most courageous ever fought by American troops, but this certainly is a story of courage and determination. The defenders on the ground, the airmen who flew supply drop runs, medics who volunteered to fly into Bastogne in gliders, and Patton and his 3rd Army all demonstrated courage.

I have no military background — missed the Vietnam draft by one graduating class, my draft number was either #162 or #169 (Hey, give me a break — that was 43 years ago). I also don't generally like books about specific battles. Consequently, I struggled a bit with the military organizational vocabulary. Mostly, I just ignored those kinds of details and read for the bigger picture and that was what I found appealing. For me, the book got much better once the preparations to defend Bastogne were done. I did find it appealing to be reading this book on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge and the Siege of Bastogne — that was not by design, it's just when I happened to read the book.

Corsi says that his primary purpose in writing this book was "to reexamine the importance of God in our Judeo-Christian historical tradition in a world certain again to be…'nasty, cruel, brutish, and short' once again in the future." I don't believe he accomplished his purpose. Note — that's not the same thing as saying that I don't believe the premise. I just don't think Corsi presented the kind of compelling evidence that he intended. There are certainly examples of faith in action — Patton's distribution of leaflet encouraging the troops to pray, the attendance of both troops and leaders in Mass and Protestant services during lulls in the action, the statements of belief that God had favoured the American. Did God give the generals and other officers extraordinary wisdom in making decisions that seem to be merely fortuitous? I think so. Were the personnel involved motivated and emboldened by a belief that they were fighting to defeat an evil in the Nazis that was built on a Satanic foundation? I think so.

Someone who believes that God does not intervene in human affairs or, certainly, a non-Christian may well find the references to God's help obnoxious. But, if that focus doesn't bother you, this is a really good story of courage and great strategy.

[DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from the publisher as a part of their blogger book review programme, BookLook Bloggers. The expectation by the publisher is that I will write the review that I believe the book deserves. Other than the free copy of the book and continued participation in the reveiw programme, I receive no other compensation from the publisher.]