The Officers' Club

by Ralph Peters

Spring, 1981.  Vietnam is over, but the repercussions linger.  The military strives to recover as society reels from the excesses of the 1970s…

A sinister beauty and a dutiful soldier… a Hollywood lawyer running from a dirty past and a cast-off vet who seems to have no future…  dueling drug gangs along the Mexican border… and the mutilated remains of a female lieutenant. 

Stunning, promiscuous, and brilliant at spotting the weaknesses in others, Jessie Lamoureaux may have been killed by a jealous lover, a drug smuggler—or a ghost from a life she hoped she had left behind. 

Was her murderer the Green Beret she betrayed?  The captain whose marriage she shattered?  The senior officer hoping to save her from herself?  A female sergeant fighting for dignity in a man’s world?  Or a fellow lieutenant with a secret of his own?

In this gritty tale of young men and women torn between the laws of the land and the laws of the heart, a dark journey leads from a moonlit beach in Mexico to mayhem in Iran—then back to a country looking for its soul.

The Officers’ Club captures the passions and confusion of the times, the reckoning due after a decade of indulgence—and the commitment of those who stayed in uniform through the bad years.

As the military and society struggle to right themselves, their conflicts are embodied in the question:  

Who killed Lieutenant Jessie Lamoureux? 

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Military Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 18, 2011

About the author

Ralph Peters is a novelist, an essayist, a former career soldier, and an adventurer in the 19th-century sense. He is the author of a dozen critically acclaimed novels, two influential works on strategy, "Beyond Terror" and "Fighting for the Future".

Mr. Peters' works can also be found under the pen name "Owen Parry." He also appears frequently as a commentator on television and radio networks.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/ralphp...

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tale focuses on the frustrating and demoralizing time for the U.S. Army as it tries to rebuild itself after the Vietnam War. Our main character is a lieutenant with a secret background who is having an affair with another man's wife. In fact, a lot of people are cheating on their spouses and I suspect this was to reinforce the feeling of moral bankruptcy running through certain circles of the Army during the early 80s.

The main appeal of this tale is on the vibrant dialogue, colorful characters and the setting of a distant base in Arizona interwoven with powerful themes about loss of hope and healing wounds of your past. The Bible Thumping character, a moral foil to the main character, was the most interesting sub character for me.

I found the epilogue crucial to the end tale even if it was bittersweet. Anyone interested in colorful characters for the setting or who have an interest in U.S. Army life at this time should check it out.

STORY/PLOTTING: B plus; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: A minus; SETTING/THEMES: B plus; OVERALL GRADE: B plus; WHEN READ: April to June 15th, 2011 (revised review early January 2013.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lt. Roy Banks is questioned about the murder of Lt. Jessica Lamoureaux. He tells the investigator that he doesn't know anything about the murder. Then, the reader learns of events leading up to that moment.

Roy has been having an affair with a Captain's wife. He is part of a group of officers who like to party, called The Officers' Club.

Vietnam is over and military life is comparatively relaxed. Banks plays around with his buddy, Lt. Jeffrey Massetto.

Jessica arrives at a party with another officer. Later in the evening she approaches Roy and attempts to seduce him. Roy tells her that he's involved with someone and declines her offer. This seems to motivate Jessica to make Roy change his mind. It is as if she has an obsession with him.

Roy doesn't want anything to do with Jessica. He sees her as manipulative and calculating. She uses others for her own purposes and proceeds to sleep with most of the people in Roy's circle of friends.

One night, Roy gets a call from Jerry that Jerry is in terrible trouble in Mexico and he needs help. After Roy rescues him, Jerry discloses that Jessie set him up.

Was the novel interesting? Yes, in a dark way. It held my attention and described life in a manner similiar to James Ellroy, bleak but true to life.

The characters seem caught up in their own situations and are unable to rise above it. This reminded me of the realism movement in literature with Frank Norris and Upton Sinclair. These character's lives weren't heroic, they didn't evoke sympathy but they did depict a slice of life.

I also applaud the author for the sympathetic treatment of one character who becomes one of the early AIDS victims of the 1970s.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a remarkably well written murder story that isn't as much a mystery as a novel of manners and of a time gone by. Ralph Peters is obviously an insider to the world of a post-Vietnam era army, a pre-computerized world in which so much of what we take for granted today was just around the corner. We only realize how different 1980 was when we realize what isn't present in this book. To be any more specific would spoil the surprises for an interested reader.

The plot revolves around two very different characters -- the narrator, a career army man with a high moral code who is willing to bend it but rarely, the other being a murder victim totally amoral and completely without redeeming value. Auxiallry characters are sharply defined, not a cliche among them. The time, the location, the sensuousness of the Arizona landscape ("God made Arizona after a lot of practice") imbues this book with high literary style. The dialogue cracks with authenticity and humor. A reader expecting a genre novel will be disappointed. A reader expecting more will be gratified.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Payton Place West pops up at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, a U.S. Army post that dates back to the Indian Wars. The war in this book is between the men and women of the Army during the "peace" between Vietnam and the first Gulf War. Seeks to answer the question "Do we need an Army", not whether or not women or homosexuals should be part of it.

Sleazy mystery story. interesting construction with a very long flashback from the middle of page 16 to the end.

[Tess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Won this on a Goodreads' giveaway.

[Anne (Booklady) Molinarolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE OFFICERS CLUB is a fast read, but the officers are not gentlemen or ladies. The Club consists of young officers who party hard either in Bixby or Mexico. A striking beauty, Lt. Jessie Lamoureax, goes through ALL of the male members, except our narrator 2nd Lt. Roy Banks who is in a relationship with another officer. That relationship can get him out of Fort Huachuca or out of the Army if the right superior knew. And Jessie knows it.

Peters opens the story with the murder of Jessie and Banks recalls the events leading up to her murder and the murderer’s identity. Banks is designing a war game exercise that a hardened colonel wants for the Military Intelligence Class and Officers. It’s 1981 and the Colonel believes the men have gotten soft to tackle the current problems. Everyone must pass this course to get certified. But Lamoureax isn’t worried; she is waiting for her assignment, and is playing fast with many of Roy’s friends. Drug running; Jazz listening, Mexico trips fills the fast paced novel, even his personal mayhem in Iran leaves Banks play-pen Zen unsettling when his lawyer friend gets the goods on the Jessie.

I gave the book a star less than the book deserved because I really disliked all of the characters except the “dirty” lawyer and Jazz aficionado. Peters is surprisingly sympathetic to the early AIDS patient.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

From most of the reviews I've read, I guess I'm a minority opinion on this book. I didn't think it was very good at all. I thought the lead character didn't have much depth and was hard to understand his rationalizations for his actions. The secondary characters in this book aren't developed enough. They were basically your run of the mill cardboard cutouts of a lot of other books. The book starts off fast with a murder and then it starts dragging very slowly in the middle. It was almost if the author didn't really know where he wanted to go and was wandering around or just filling up pages. I enjoyed learning about the Army lifestyle in the 80's however I hope it wasn't all like that with the drugs, wild sex and the cheating going on. I found that you had to take a lot of leaps of faith with the plot including that the main character as a lieutenant is an instructor in Intelligence. Just didn't enjoy the book as much as I wanted. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not your father's idea of noble Army Officers. This group of young officers stationed at Ft. Huachuca are all sadly depraved individuals. Even the narrator is not the kind of person you would want to trust. Especially with your wife, all have no respect for marriage or relationships and have sordid pasts.

However, one character, Lieutenant Jessica Lamoureaux makes the rest look like choirboys and nuns. She is a truly despicable and personifies the word “slut”. This contrast between shades of evil rather than good and evil makes for an interesting set of characters. The story is fairly shallow, but moves along quickly and is more like a soap opera than an Army drama. Nevertheless, I found the story entertaining and caught myself wondering who would be with whom next.

[Jeffrey Nabozny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could not put this book down and read it straight through from cover to cover. I found every personality in the book completely enthralling and was constantly kept guessing on what the next angle could be. Additionally, I know quite a few military intel officers although I am not one and I found Ralph Peters take on the breed right on target. This book is constantly in motion dealing with people's darkest desires. His writing paints a very vivid picture of the 70s drugs, sex, and military scene. A great mystery book.

I won this book through the Goodreads First Reads program and my review is based on an advance uncorrected proof

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

An army lieutenant is found dead - who killed her and why is the mystery.

I had a very hard time getting into this book. The characters were not that interesting or likeable to me. I kept hoping that if I read just a little bit further that I would find something that would hold my interest. The story itself seemed to jump around a bit as well. I think I was hoping for a bit more of a thriller type mystery. This one seemed more psychologically driven. Unfortunately, while the premise sounded very interesting it was just not my style.

Recieved as part of the Goodreads First Read program.

[BeyondTheWall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Went into this book with no expectations and came away satisfied.

Peters does a good job making you feel for the charaters. In way do i mean that he makes you love, or even really like them. More so as i felt that, Roy, the main charater was able to redeme himself. Maybe thats not quite the right word. Or say, Eli, he came to a level of peace. Jessie, the one murdered, was in no way a like-able person.

I'd recieved a copy through goodreads giveaways.

[Meg Ulmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book--a mystery with substance, heart, and true revelations. It is set in the late 1970s--a world that I well remember--but one that is so alien to what we now know. I won't give any spoilers except to say that there's a murder--and then the rest of the book is a flashback that explains the mechanics of the murder. It also ties into the beginning of the aids epidemic, jazz, and Iran. A great read.

[Jenness]

This was an enjoyable and fast read. The Officers Club is a group of soldiers at an army base in AZ who evidently don't have enough to do. Proximity to the Mexican border, sexy women, and drugs add up to weekends of "fun" with no thought for tomorrow. A murder leads Lt. Roy Banks to begin questioning his life style and what he really stands for. His journey finding the answers to these questions and the murder investigation make for interesting reading. Enough said!

[Mike Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engrossing book about life on an Arizona army base in the 1980s...Ralph Peters has written a number of war novels that I've enjoyed, but this was a change of pace. The book concentrates on the relationships between personnel, with a surprise ending. None of the characters turn out as expected in the beginning. Good read!

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peters describes the fairly sordid lives of several officers at Fort Huachuca in the early 70s Although i wouldn't want to live through five minutes of it, the book is interesting in a car-crash sort of way, and Peters writes very well. The central character, with all of of his faults, is self-critical, though intermittently, and his views on the post-Vietnam army are interesting.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good yarn, set in the 1980s, by an author with whom I was not familiar. It's a fast read, with a healthy dollop of sex that makes a remote U. S. Army base seem like Peyton Place. Characters are believable and dialog consistent with the era.

Take this one along for a short plane ride or a beach afternoon.

[Mary]

I won The Officers' Club from First Reads. I'm looking forward to reading it now that it's arrived. The little bit I've read so far is interesting and well written. If it continues like this it'll be a good read.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I didn't really connect with the characters until halfway through though. It was hard to get a strong sense of who they were but by the end I felt that I knew them and I liked them. I loved the "Where are they now" epilogue at the end also to wrap it all up.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because of blurb by Nelson Demille and because it is set at Ft. Huachucca in AZ where I once spent the best summer of my army stint.This was much better written than I expected. Plot was okay but I enjoyed the familiar background of southern arizona and army intelligence.

[Silly]

Thanks First Reads for this free book to read. Looks like a good book.

[Rena]

Thank you. I just won this book through First Reads. Looking forward to reading it.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It wasn't what I was expecting. A great story, some fun characters and always one that you love to hate. Very entertaining read.

[Jerrle Gericke · Rating 1 out of 5]

the description fooled me into thinking this was an interesting book. I found it poorly written and dull.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Book! An interesting story with well developed, believable characters. This book held my interest all the way through. Fun to read - strongly recommended!

[Gene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad... slow start..but as I read on ..it turned out to be a very good read....

Really good ending..Good characterizing....

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, character-based, murder mystery/novel set on and near an Arizona Army base in the 80s. Liked it.

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit disjointed and at times hard to follow.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sex, drugs and murder at an Army base on the Mexican border. The story is well-constructed but the characters are not very appealing.

[John Hanscom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely excellent. It captures perfectly the military spirit of the time (I know; I was there). The author is wonderfully descriptive, and the issue is good vs. evil.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best book about soldiers fornicating in the desert that I've read this year.