A Failed State: An International War On Terror Novel

by Andrew E. Coussens

ISIS Khorasan has seized control of several key provinces in Afghanistan and crowned a new emir. The new regime is poised to wrestle control of the region from the NATO-established government and is more brutal and deadly than the Taliban or Al Qaeda had ever been. A covert intelligence gathering unit has infiltrated the landscape and cultivated a network of spies from within Khorasan's network. Damien Collins, who struggles with severe anxiety, a troubled marriage and a custody dispute over his five year old daughter, is a member of an elite intelligence gathering team trying to stop the spread of ISIS and its emergence into the hotbed of Afghanistan. Damien's team has confidants within ISIS Khorasan which could turn the tide of the struggle. While Damien's team rushes to solidify their victories, he has to juggle his own chaos at home. Meanwhile ISIS looks to enact massive brutality over the Afghan government and its American overlords as it tried to prove itself as the most dominant tribe in the region. A Failed State takes readers from the domesticity of the United States and the chaos of Afghanistan to the glamor of Dubai and the terrorist networks of Turkey and Germany. Readers will bond with Damien and his colleagues and feel the full impact of America's war on terror, both at home and abroad, with every page.

Genres: Fiction

172 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 14, 2018

About the author

Andrew E. Coussens spent nearly eight years deployed as a contractor for the CIA in a classified program that is still active in numerous areas of the world in the War on Terror. He spent four years simultaneously training partner nations in counter-terrorism tactics for the US State Department's Global Anti-Terrorism Assistance program. Since leaving these programs, including his time with an elite federal search and rescue program, Andrew has been employed as a consultant for a field trauma medical company as well as representative for a K9 centered executive protection and hostage negotiation retrieval firm

Reviews

[Bill Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

From page one of “A Failed State,” author, and former classified mission contractor, Andrew E. Coussens drops the reader into the life of Damien Collins and the emotional stakes of his returning home, from a clandestine deployment in Afghanistan, only to find everything he tried to protect taken away.

I spent years in combat and nation-building missions across the Middle East and Coussens’ paints a candid, realistic picture of operators in a book that’s hard to put down. It left me wanting to know Damien’s next move. Fortunately, the sequel comes out soon.

A Failed State” is a well written, honestly raw, and engrossing story. Readers of military thriller, war fiction, or anyone looking for a good story will enjoy this book.

[Mark Polino · Rating 2 out of 5]

When you tease a scene at the beginning then flash back, the scene needs to be resolved in that book, not continued in the next book.

[Scott R Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spot on.

The life on a PMC to a t. In theater, travel to and from stateside, the emotions and time away.