Customer Reviews

Heart of War

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book was a real dissappointment. It really had no character development and the ending was predictable. I rate it with one star only because there is nothing lower available.

I love this book! It took four days to read this book. I could not put it down and when I did my mind would wander back to the book and so therefore I never got any of my other work done, until I read some more of the book. It's worth it! It also keeps you guessing.

"Heart of War" is a suspenseful, rapidly moving story of contemporary life in the U.S. army. It's a post-cold-war tale of a military that is struggling to adjust to new realities. There is no communist menace to fight any longer, so the fights within the armed services revolve around politics and gender and sexual identity. The plot centers on army major Kara Guidry, who battles the prejudice against women that still exists in the army, while she investigates an on-base murder. It's a murder mystery-thriller-romance that succeeds remarkably well on all three levels. And Truscott should be given credit for developing a gay character (Randy Taylor) who is a real flesh and blood human being, instead of the unrealistic negative stereotype that so many authors seem to rely on. Truscott has created a well written, intelligent thriller. Like all well written thrillers, it will grab your attention and hold it. But this one will also make you think.

This book provides us with a pretty good cast of army personnel caught up in a homicide at Fort Benning, Georgia. The author does a good job with the protagonist, but most of the other characters seemed mediocre. Its interesting how many male authors now have a female as their strong main character e.g. Thomas Perry's Jane Whitefield series. I downgraded the book a bit because of a couple of strange time discontinuities. As an example in one scene military attorney Guidry and an assistant DA are at a District of Columbia arraignment trying to get a prisoner transferred to Army jurisdiction at Fort Benning. The prisoner's attorney objects to this, and the judge orders all attorneys to submit briefs on the issue. A couple of pages and two days later Guidry is visiting the prisoner in the Fort Benning stockade with no mention of the judge's ruling and how he got there so fast. I don't like it when the author evidently assumes that his readers are a bunch of dummies who won't notice these things. All in all, though, its a pretty good read, and takes place in an interesting sitting.

Packs a powerful punch but is somewhat less intriguing than Dres Gray. Still a great ending. Characters seem to be real.

This is a wierd and ghastly book, and its main objective seems to be an effort to trash the military for its "don't ask-don't tell" policy. The plot is nearly nonexistent, the dialog is trite, and the book is a bore. The protagonist is one-dimensional, as are all of the characters. I only bothered to finish it because it was the only book available at the time (I was on a boat).

No, it's not Dress Gray, nor is it Full Dress Gray (which I'm reading, now), but it's a heckuva lot better than some of the Summer reading I've seen on the beach, the bus and the stairmaster. Though Truscott surpasses many men writing from a woman's point of view, he is more believable writing from a man's. Heart of War's protagonist lacks the depth of Slaight or Hand. As in Dress Gray and Full Dress Gray, Truscott does hit on familiar themes: women at West Point, military and academy tradition and gay characters. Fun to read.

I just discovered Lucien K. Truscott, and look forward to reading all of his books. Good plot, believable characters...female protagonist... male author...and done well! Left me wondering, and worrying, how Kara and Mace will resolve their unacceptable relationship. KEEP WRITING, LUCIEN!

Why is this book featured when it is unavailable to readers? A waste of space.