Review: Senator’s Son
Luke’s written a book that takes the nitty gritty 120-degrees-in-the-shade battle rattle and ties it into the strategic picture. It should be mandatory for every ROTC cadidiot everywhere. It’s the first COIN novel (in the way you can’t take a step into a Barnes and Nobles without running into some kind of SOF novel).
While at times it can be preachy – the monologues can be grating in their efforts to communicate ideas – this is forgivable. The focus of the book is complicated, and I’d rather have a clear writeup than not. But you see the thinking process of a LT trying to win the big war, while keeping his Marines safe. And that’s a big win.
My officer friends who bought it at my insistence thought it spoke to their own experience. And, even more importantly, a LT about to deploy said it really helped shape his thinking: on what it takes to be a man, a husband, a father, a warrior, a statesman, and a leader of men.
Not much else you can look for from fiction. I, for one, am looking forward to his next book.
Thanks to Luke for a copy of this book for my much belated review.
-Shlok
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