When the members of his special forces unit are captured and scheduled for execution deep in enemy territory, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Shaddock is charged with rescuing his men and completing their mission.
Harold Coyle is an American author of historical, speculative fiction and war novels including Team Yankee, a New York Times best-seller.He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1974 and spent seventeen years on active duty with the U.S. Army.He lives in Leavenworth, Kansas.
First, there is no Nathan Dixon in "Nathan Dixon, #3". I expected to follow Nathan Dixon. Second, the book was disjointed and characters never really developed.
Nobody does small unit dynamics & the field , desk officer & grunt experience like Coyle...in this one a SF recon unit is captured in Syria & the fallout, POW experience, as well as contingency planning is realistically portrayed...though labeled as a Nathan Dixon, there is little to nothing of his continuing tale here...in spite of that its a good read!!!
One of the reasons I love H. Coyle is his talent of giving the reader no more information than they need to appreciate the events they are about to read. Any more information than necessary just clutters the landscape and bogs down the reader.
This is not an action packed book. It is detailed story of the thoughts and the works of a mid level officer in the pentagon. It works through the emotions, feelings and a few actions of the men in the recon team as well as a ranger battalion.
It does give a horrific insight into the captivity of POWs.
There is a lot of detailed explanation that slows down the pace of the book, even in the combat section of the book it is bogged down by functional details of equipment.
It's a well written book. It tells a good realistic story, but it was not a page turner for me. " Not an action packed book": After the initial combat in the book, there is no boots on the ground action till page 318.
I really like the way that Coyle describes the action in his books. It's like being there. I also enjoy reading about new tools in warfare which help to keep our soldiers safer in battle. I do not like the political innuedos and swipes that Coyle interjects into his stories. If he wants to write about politics then he needs to change genres.
Nathan Dixon series - In the aftermath of the Iraqi War, Recon Team Kilo is searching for relocated WMD in the Syrian desert. They are accidentally discovered by the Syrian army and after a pitched battle some are captured. A study of the team members and their reaction to events as well as a tale of rescue efforts.
Prisoners in the hand of an enemy are in danger of being slaughtered. A Special Forces A-Team led by Lieutenant Colonel Harry Shaddock is tasked with their rescue. The ante goes up as the hostiles start executing the captives.