Customer Reviews

Vulcan's Fire: Harold Coyle's Strategic Solutions, Inc.

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Harold Coyle has authored or co-authored more than 15 military fiction novels. He has been all over the place in terms of quality, from page turners to complete bores.

"Vulcan's Fire" is a satisfying bit of military fiction, but not extraordinary in any way.

The story revolves around "Strategic Solutions, Inc", a private military contractor. The company is run by wise, old, experienced military types who provide the fighters for missions the United States can't, won't or is unable to undertake.

In this instance, the Israelis want SSI to dispatch teams to train Druze militias in Lebanon. Of course, the fact that Iranian backed Hezbollah is seeking to expand its authority over Druze controlled territories while launching s nefarious scheme to harm Israel guarantees that the SSI teams will do more than merely train.

All the characters are one-dimensional. The crusty old retired Admiral wears his Navy issued glasses. The retired Marine is distinguished by his "jarhead" haircut. The retired female Army Colonel who killed two men in the last novel has a fantastic body and shapely legs terminating in high heels. The SSI team assembled for the mission to Lebanon is filled with stereotypes from the super-capable black sergeant with the broad smile to the shaved head bodybuilder with 20 inch biceps to the former Special Ops surfer dude and, finally, to the never-been-in-combat top-notch championship shooter who converted to Islam and has something to prove.

Yes, sir, quite a crew. We also have an Israeli wisecracking special ops colonel who has a buddy-buddy, wink-wink relationship with the Israeli army general.

For the bad guys, we have the Iranian "resistance fighter" who started off on a firing squad as a teenager and has been killing for the last three decades. The Lebanese teenager who is recruited by Hezbollah and yearns to be a sniper. A clutch of unpentant, murderous Islamist clerics and their jihadist supporters.

Of course, there is a big surprise as well . . .

It is all standard adventure. Cookie-cutter predictable characers. Predictable situations. And predictable outcomes.

But it is reasonably well written and reasonably entertaining. The few combat scenes are engrossing. Coyle has always built much of his books through the incorporation of what may be military jargon into his dialog. (Do people really say "phib gru"? It took me a moment to parse amphibious group out of that.) For example, Coyle drops a factoid into the midst of a conversation: the Marines adopted a new sniper rifle that the sniper characters here didn't like. That sent me off on a web search for the "M40A3" and the discovery that Coyle had some of his facts wrong.

Finally, Coyle has a co-author here, one Barrett Tillman. Tillman goes way back asa the author or co-author of a number of those warplane profiles that every military afficianado has looked at least once. There's no way of telling who contributed what.

Overall, "Vulcan's Fire" is an enjoyable bit of military fiction, perfect for an afternoon's flight or just plain relaxation. The characters are indeed flat, you'll be able to predict almost everything, but it's written well enough that it is still enjoyable.

Jerry

Vulcan's Fire concerns a private militia hired by Israel to train Druze fighters in Lebanon. The "evil doers" consist of a combination of Hezbollah and Iranian agents intent on mass mayhem. The peripheral characters (both in the US and Israel) are suitably concerned and empathic, although the peccadilloes of each are not so much endearing as annoying. The bad guys are incredibly formulaic and textbook examples of the seven deadly sins. The main characters (of which there are far too many) comprise the necessary swatch of diversity in terms of style and background to satisfy any state university enrollment.

The only redeeming quality for the story (if the reader is so inclined) is a by-the-book exhaustive attention to military weapons and tactical details that for most will merely drag. There are no heroes in the end, just survivors.

First, I do not understand why reviews on Prometheus's Child are listed under this book.

As for Vulcan's Fire, it is the third in the series of Coyle and Tillman's Strategic Solutions Inc series. The company is having a financial crisis and decides to take a contract from a Israel.

Taking the training contract to train Lebonese Druze provides the backdrop for this good adventure as the mission morphs into something else.

Vulcan's Fire is filled with action and has all the Byzantine relationships endemic to the area.

Overall the book is a good adventure but is not a page turner.

I am not sure where this series is going but if it continues to just be a series of contract stories my dollars will go elsewhere.

I purchased the first book in this series based on Coyle's past work. I didnt make past page 40. Shame on you Coyle for publishing this dreck.