Anyone miss JAG?
September 17th, 2009 Jane J. - Central Library
I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for a man in a uniform. That said I don’t go for most military shows, but something about the combination of the legal puzzles and David James Elliot in that uniform sucked me into watching JAG. At least for the first few seasons - when Harm started to go undercover on secret missions to save the world, I considered it jump the shark time. Though the show became too improbable, the combination of law and the military still trip my trigger, so to speak. In fact, it’s what made me pick up Brian Haig’s first legal/military thriller featuring former infantryman turned JAG lawyer Major Sean Drummond.
In Secret Sanction Drummond is assigned a career killer of a case. The Bosnian war is in full swing and a Green Beret A-Team has been accused of a massacre of 35 Serbian soldiers in Bosnia. Nominally the army is supposed to be providing training and support for the Kosovo Liberation Army. They are not meant to be part of the action. So Sean is faced with a complex puzzle. Did the team kill the Serbs and if they did what were they doing there in the first place? No answer will make everyone happy. If he finds the Green Berets did commit the atrocity then the whole international effort to aid the Kosovars will be in jeopardy. And if he finds that they did not commit any crime but were merely acting in self-defense then Slobodan Milosevic will have a field day claiming that there has been a cover-up. It’s a no-win situation made worse by the animosity and lack of cooperation Sean faces when he begins his investigation.
Though a few readers have found fault with some of the military details, I think Brian Haig’s (and yes he’s the son of that famous other Haig) own experience in the military shines through. The story is compelling and the puzzle about what happened before Sean arrived has plenty of twists. Adding to my enjoyment was the fact that the military mindset was offset by Sean’s often sardonic (sometimes wiseass) narration. Combine that with the tension of not knowing who’s plotting against whom and you have a great read. So great, I’ve already requested book two in the series from my friendly neighborhood library.
Entry Filed under: Thriller
3 Comments Add your own
1. Dennis | September 17th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I never saw JAG but I picked this up after my brother-in-law recommended it to me and it absolutely is a first-rate legal thriller/war story/mystery. And you’re right about the wiseass narration. The character Sean Drummond doesn’t appear in Haig’s latest volume, The hunted, which is kind of a shame, and the legal maneuvering doesn’t involve the military, but instead corruption in newly capitalist Russia and American bureaucrats willing to circumvent the law in order to further their own careers. Quite a page-turner in it’s own way, but not quite as good as Secret Sanction.
2. Jane | September 18th, 2009 at 6:48 am
I had just read The Hunted and that’s what brought Haig to my attention. The Hunted was good but in a different way and reading the author’s note at the end made it both better and worse. Better because I think Haig was clever in his fictionalization of their story and worse to know that they went through fifteen years of this. With Secret Sanction I could just settle in and enjoy the ride.
3. Dennis | September 18th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Agree with what you say about The Hunted. I know it was just fiction, but parts of it had me just shaking with anger at some of the people in our government, while others had me terrified of the Russian Mafia and the ruthlessness of the (ex-)KGB. There were some pretty disturbing scenes in Secret Sanction too, especially the Kosovo investigation at the refugee camp.
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