Duty: A Novel [Hardcover]

Jim R. Lane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 20, 1999

Lieutenant Mark Palmer is the USS Modoc 's legal officer when ordered by his ship's captain to prosecute a petty officer accused by a young sailor of making homosexual advances.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This provocative morality play, Lane's second novel (after Static), is a scathing indictment of the military justice system and the cover-your-rear attitude of the U.S. Navy. Petty Officer Marion Lamm, a 12-year Navy veteran and respected sailor aboard the fleet tug Modoc, based in San Diego, is falsely accused of homosexuality by a druggie shipmate. The ship's captain, an irrational martinet and rabid homophobe, demands that Lamm be court-martialed, ordering the legal officer, Lt.Mark Palmer, to gather enough evidence to ensure a conviction. Palmer is a hapless but ambitious officer with 16 years in the service and, though he knows the case is a sham, he's too frightened to cross the captain. The mysterious disappearance at sea of Lamm's accuser complicates the case, but the captain bullies Palmer to carry on. While Palmer investigates, he begins to have private doubts about his own sexuality, realizing how difficult it is to categorize and certify desire. Other servicemen are disgusted with the blatant injustice they observe, but conflicted Palmer persists in selling out his conscience and honor, with predictable results. Palmer's last-minute change of heart and a confrontation with his captain saves neither Lamm nor himself, and the Navy's attitude that "the appearance of justice is as important as justice itself" prevails. Earnestly lacing his story with stinging critical commentary about the military's hypocrisy regarding homosexuality and sexual harassment, Lane candidly depicts rigid career officers and near-illiterate, bigoted and slovenly enlisted men, and Palmer's fainthearted complicity humanizes the book's central moral crisis. Through the character of the conflicted Palmer, Lane emphasizes both the corrupt methods and the demoralizing effects of coercive politics in military life, and his absorbing narrative is a call to action. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Lieutenant Mark Palmer is the administrative officer aboard the U.S.S. Modoc when an accusation arises concerning homosexual conduct by a veteran petty officer. It is Mark's duty to investigate the claim and possibly bring charges that could lead to a court martial. Mark quickly learns that the evidence in the case has less bearing on its outcome than the wishes of his dogmatic commanding officer, Morgan Bennett. Lane's first hardcover novel explores the many-faceted issue of homosexuality in the military along with the foibles of the military system itself. His own 20 years of naval service add the authenticity necessary to raise these circumstances above the level of academic debate. However, Lane could have fleshed out his characters and events a bit more to create a fuller, more satisfying read in the tradition of Nelson DeMille; with a little more experience, one hopes the promising Lane will gain the confidence to take his readers on a longer cruise next time.ANancy McNicol, Hagaman Memorial Lib., East Haven, CT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Bridgeworks; 1st edition (July 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882593294
• ISBN-13: 978-1882593293
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,397,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars All too plausible, April 12, 2004

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Duty: A Novel (Hardcover)

Lane has a talent for displaying the very worst of his characters with a single well-chosen phrase, and in DUTY he gives us a panoply of "subhuman" enlisted men and stiff martinets in the officer class, all trying to retire with more brass and retirement funds than anyone else. Indeed the whole system seems absurd in Lane's cosmos, a Navy without a purpose, a Navy emasculated by successive runs of job cuts and budget reductions and, although this isn't as clear, too much "peace." The way he pictures the Navy, it's almost as though only a nut would join. The plot runs smoothly enough, though I didn't enjoy the "red herring" factor of the two brothers who happened to be staying, in their underwear, in the apartment of the Petty Officer accused of being gay. What was that all about? Didn't Chekhov say, where there's smoke, there's got to be at least a little bit of fire?

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard duty..., July 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Duty: A Novel (Hardcover)

Lane writes about the really tough choices a JAG Navy officer is forced to make, and does it straight. DUTY is a serious novel, superbly written.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written and engaging., August 13, 1999

By 

Lesa A. McComas ([e-mail]) (Alameda, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Duty: A Novel (Hardcover)

Jim Lane has done an excellent job of capturing the daily struggles and nuances of shipboard life, and the pressures on junior officers, and portraying them in a way that will capture the attention of an audience that knows nothing of the Navy. A very worthwhile read.