Tuesday, June 22, 2010

In the Name of Honor by Richard North Patterson

Library Journal:

Paul Terry, on the verge of leaving the army to become a highly paid attorney, is tasked with defending the youngest member of a legendary army family. Lt. Brian McCarran is accused of committing the worst crimes in the military's code of honor but offers minimal help with his case.
With his defense hinging on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Terry brings in witnesses who provide graphic details about urban warfare in Iraq. VERDICTPatterson's (The Spire) insights into PTSD are fascinating but never interrupt the story's flow to its explosive ending, and his courtroom drama is as intensely engaging as the most action-filled thrillers.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Erak's Ransom by John Flanagan

Synopsis:


What does it mean to earn the Silver Oakleaf? So few men have done so. For Will, a mere boy, that symbol of honor has long felt out of reach. Now, in the wake of Araluen's uneasy truce with the raiding Skandians comes word that the Skandian leader has been captured by a dangerous desert tribe. The Rangers are sent to free him. But the desert is like nothing these warriors have seen before. Strangers in a strange land, they are brutalized by sandstorms, beaten by the unrelenting heat, tricked by one tribe that plays by its own rules, and surprisingly befriended by another. Like a desert mirage, nothing is as it seems. Yet one thing is constant: the bravery of the Rangers.