Customer Reviews

The Pepperdogs: A Novel

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I found this book to be factual and as a former Marine I could relate very easily to what the characters in this book were going through. After reading this book, I would rank Bing West among the great war writers as W.E.B. Griffin and Tom Clancy. As an Old Corps Marine, one can appreciate the sentence that Bing West writes...."no crusty Marine colonel limping along behind them, telling them what to do." Any Marine would see the allusion to Colonel Chesty Puller. I would recommend anyone to buy this book, as I surely enjoyed it.

I just read this thrilling adventure and I must say women will find it as enjoyable and interesting as men. Of course it has hot marines, but it also pulls at your heart strings and brain cells, too. The tale is smart, sophisticated, fast paced, with more that one woman in a strong role. Not just the weapons are high tech; clever uses of cell phones, websites, and hand held computers keep The Pepperdogs an appealing page turner of a read. Realistic, tender relationships engaged in true suspense make it difficult for the reader to put down the book until the outcome is known. Read it during the day, because if you start it at night, as I did, you won't want to turn off the light till you know if each relationship is resolved--and you won't know that till the last page.

Captain Tyler Cosgrove, US Marine Corps Reserve, is doing his last patrol in Kosovo because he has been granted leave to fly back to the states to see his dying mother. One hour before his patrol is over, his path crosses that of Soca, a psychopathic Serb who just killed a woman in cold blood and stole her valuables. When the captain tries to stop him, his foe knocks him unconscious and takes him across the border into Serbia.

Captain Mark Lang is very close to Cosgrove and is determined to find him and bring him home. Accompanying him are the men in his unit, THE PEPPER DOGS. They all come from New York and their families are all close friends. When an official rescue attempt fails, the men go it alone. Deliberately ignoring orders and prepared to take the consequences, their exploits are being broadcasted on to the net with pictures and text turning them into real American heroes. Politically and diplomatically their country doesn't know what to do with them but even the hard-liners hope they will make it back to safety.

BING WEST has written an exciting techno-thriller that is in the same class as the works of Dale Brown and Tom Clancy. The men that comprise THE PEPPERDOGS are true heroes because they do the right thing in searching of their friend even though they have to go outside legal channels to do it. There is so much action in this novel that the reader will want to finish in one sitting to find out if everyone makes it back alive.

Harriet Klausner

Bing West has used his insider's knowledge of weapons and tactics skillfully, not overloading the reader with techno-babble, to write a brisk, knowledgeable, swiftly paced thriller that will keep you turning pages until the very end.
This elitist reservist group, in top physical and mental shape, is referred to en masse as the Pepperdogs because they can run like dogs with pepper on their butts. The rescuers defy the chain of command that obliges U.S. officers to consult with NATO members first before acting, since the war in Kosovo was technically a NATO, not an American operation.
What makes for a good novel may not be the most effective way to work things out on the world stage, where West once had a supporting role.All in all, this book puts West among the great war novel writers with W.E.B. Griffin and Tom Clancy.

As a Marine, take my word for it..This book really shows what the Marine spirt is all about. Great reading, as good as a Clancy book.

Who knew that a story about five highly trained Marines who disobey orders to rescue a teammate from an enemy country with the aid of the Internet would so fully engage this reader? This is a well-written, intriguing story. Bing West's life experiences and writing skills bring to this book a real and clear narrative that compels the reader to continue until the last action-packed page. Even then you want to know what happens next! Story is fast-paced, suspenseful and modern. Upon finishing this terrific book, this reader found herself wondering how communicating via the Internet is changing the military and the lives of those asked to serve away from home. This reader looks forward to Mr. West's next books. He is a great writer. Gentlemen: the ladies in your lives will also enjoy this terrific read.

In THE PEPPERDOGS, Bing West demonstrates not just that he can tell a ripping story, but that he understands the Corps and what motivates Marines deeper--and can communicate it better--than any writer. Just as he did in THE VILLAGE and THE MARCH UP, West entertains wonderfully. He also provides insights into what it's like to be a Marine from the bottom to the top of the chain of command, and what drives the long-standing love/hate relationship between the Corps the the elected officials to whom it answers.

My husband couldn't put the book down--read it in 3 days. A friend he lent it to says it's excellent.

This one fits the mode of military operations with political intrigue on the presidential level, a la Clancy, but the focus is really on the military operation and the team of Marines. It is a good book, a very good book. I take it from the author's Vietnam and Pentagon background that the way the Marines talk, fight, and deal with orders is realistic, and I found it very intersting. None of that secret, hush-hush stuff that fills Clancy and his wannabes pages. The characters are fun, not too deep, but you don't want them deep. The action is what moves this book along, but the undercurrent of heart and emotion that ran throughout my reading is what caught me by surprise. You start to really care for this group even though they're a modern military dynamo. A real keeper. Any ex-miltary personnel (note- I am not one of them) will flip for this book.

A fast paced intelligent and well researched military suspense novel, which made me wish I din't have to put it down to go to work. Fascinating in its modern era technology, as well as in portraying the dillema's faced by the United States, its diplomats, politicos and the troops who defend our ideologies in the 21st century version of war and peace keeping. Having worked with the USMC in a civilian capacity I was not at all surprised with the John Wayne like proficiency, pugnaciousness and loyalty protrayed by West's Pepperdogs.What especially grabbed my attention were the depictions of a modern Fuures Exchange and its denizens which he captures in describing the Electric like frenzy of the Trading Floor. Aditionally he does a great job of conveying the contradictory but all too true comraderie of the Futures trader. As he put it "Warriors of the economic Battlefield", of which I am proud to have been for almost thirty years. A great read that raises many disturbing questions. Would love to be a bit more explicit about how it left me, but then I'd spoil the story.