Code of Honor [Hardcover]

Harold Coyle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 1994

At the centre of this novel is the court-martial of a courageous young woman combat officer forced to choose - on the battlefield - between an action that will save her troops and the senseless order of an arrogant and frightened general.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the near future of Coyle's latest techno-thriller, the U.S. has dispatched its (fictional) 11th Air Assault Division to aid Colombia's unstable government in suppressing a Marxist insurgency and, while it's there, to try and damage the region's booming drug trade as well. By the time Brigadier-General Scott Dixon, familiar to readers of The Ten Thousand and Bright Star , arrives to evaluate the mission one year later, he finds the insurgency growing ever more formidable and the 11th Air crippled by the incompetence of its commander, Major General Charles Lane. The crisis peaks when infantry Captain Nancy Kozak overrides Lane's micromanagement of a firefight and insults him over the radio. Lane demands that she face a court-martial; Dixon is caught between allegiance to the truth and the need to support the chain of command. Coyle's cold-eyed portrayal of an American battalion demoralized by repeated ambushes offers a welcome corrective to post-Desert Storm triumphalism, but his storyline essentially recycles Vietnam War issues and avoids such end-of-the-century concerns as the use of U.S. forces in peacekeeping and nation-building.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In best-selling author Coyle's latest military thriller, U.S. troops are sent to quell civil war in Colombia, where Capt. Nancy Kozak gets court-martialed.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (March 10, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671778013
• ISBN-13: 978-0671778019
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,288,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect, August 15, 2001

By 

Chris - See all my reviews

This review is from: Code of Honor (Mass Market Paperback)

Just two minor quibbles, the first being the slightly cartoonish Lane character who was predictable and stereotyped every step of the way despite some attempt to flesh him out, second being a hurried ending that closed the court martial with a footnote rather than the big bang that it was building up towards.

However, these are small issues. Coyle's take on the Colombian drug war is arguably superior to its equivalents in Tom Clancy's overplotted Clear and Present Danger and Ralph Peters' Twilight of Heroes. Other than Lane, all other characters are well-realised and the gripping narrative is tinged with an affecting touch of sadness. Emotions practically exploded off the pages after the tragic fiasco in the jungle.

I regard this novel as one of the best post-Cold War technothrillers, if it can be called that. Although the genre effectively lay down and died due to the paucity of credible sparring opponents for the might of the US, Code Of Honour shines like a rare gem in the overall decline. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good drama, bad facts., June 4, 2007

By 

Matthew Diaz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Code of Honor (Mass Market Paperback)

Harold Coyle was a military officer and thus knows how to protray military action and the reactions of the men and women caught up in the organized chaos that is war. He also shows how in a peacetime military a talented rank climber with decent admin skills and good performance in war games can get command of a frontline divivsion. No imcompetance here folks, just the Peter-principal in action. Cpt. Kozack's actions are not unusual givin the circumstances nor would be Gen. Lane's but to be fair to the Dog-faces (I'm a Jarhead) I believe that once Lane's incompetance was shown, the good captain would get off easily. Sure, she wouldn't get a medal but her career would survive and Lane would become a glorified gofer in the puzzle palace. The interplay between a hero-general, his protage, and a well connented politician in uniform is very well played out if ending in a bit of a anti-climax. But it must be said that these things often end this way.

Were Coyle again goes wrong in on his political background (he did the same in TEN THOUSAND: seven barely adequately trained divisions vs. even one crack US division and the USN, USMC and ASAF air wings (who would have been brought in)? Come on!). First of all FARC (as pretty much everyone, even THEM, admits) is the worlds largest single suppliers of cocaine in the world (70%). They also engage routinely in massacres, kidnapping, and extortion. Sure the right-wing paramilitaries also do these three things, but even Amnesty International admits that FARC has them beat. Thus to my mind making FARC so bloody pure is a stretch to astound Mr. Fantastic and bit insulting really, not to mention odd for such a Army veteran. I chalk it up to literary stretching for sake of story (as I did for the TEN THOUSAND) but I hope that in the future that Major Coyle will change the names of his background organizations enabling readers to suspend belief easier.

3.0 out of 5 stars There seems more to the story, August 12, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (Philippines) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Code of Honor (Mass Market Paperback)

Code of Honor is a cautionary book on sending American troops to other countries without a clear objective. Not too different from Vietnam. I think Coyle romanticizes rebel life a little too much. This romanticism is shown from the eyes of a former teacher-now-turned FARC rebel. The book could have been more objective in that the rebels are nowhere morally better than the government. They'd actually be into kidnap, and extortion.

After the previous book, The Ten Thousand, the tension between mainstays Dixon and Jan Fields is much less. And not much is explored with Capt. Nancy Kozak and her beau. I shall miss one of the familiar characters in the series. The story feels lacking and it could be due to limiting the story to about 500+ pages.