Publisher's Weekly Review
Despite the intention declared in an author's note to broaden Americans' understanding of the current war in Iraq, bestseller Haig (Private Sector) delivers a routine mystery thriller that awkwardly blends fact and fiction. Lt. Col. Sean Drummond, Haig's wisecracking series hero, finds himself partnered with an exotic female military police officer, Bian Tran, when Clifford Daniels, a high-ranking Defense Department official, is found dead in his Virginia apartment, an apparent suicide. The pair soon learn that Daniels was the U.S.'s main liaison with Mahmoud Charabi, an Iraqi exile who, like the real-life Ahmed Chalabi, was a leading advocate of military action to topple Saddam Hussein. The discovery that Charabi may have been in the employ of Iranian intelligence raises the stakes for the inquiry, which takes place just weeks before the 2004 presidential election. The action detours to the Iraqi war zone before the predictable windup. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
It's just as long-suffering and insufferable U.S. Army lawyer Sean Drummond is finally promoted that his real troubles begin. Drummond, the protagonist of Haig's previous novels (e.g., Private Sector), is called on to investigate the kinky death of an influential defense official. Was it suicide or murder? If it was murder, is there a cover-up? And does the case involve events leading up to the Iraq war? Aided by an attractive female army officer of Vietnamese descent, Drummond starts to unravel a complex plot that leads to Baghdad and concerns people very high up in the government who desperately want Drummond stopped. Haig's novels always feature excellent writing, smart dialog, interesting characters, intriguing and often Byzantine plots, and lots of action, and this book is no exception. Everyone is out to get or discredit Drummond, who's always underestimated. A marvelously twisted plot and marvelously twisted characters help along a tale in which Drummond actually gets to act a little human. Great entertainment; highly recommended. [Prepub Alert LJ, 9/15/06.]-Robert Conroy, Warren, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
