This was an EXTREMELY entertaining and very well-written novel. It just misses my ALL-TIME FAVORTIES List by a hair. Patrick Robinson, a very gifted storyteller, sets up a highly plausible scenario in which Argentina invades the British Falkland Islands and South Georgia for the second time in 30 years, following the discovery of huge oil and gas fields there. Enormous investments have been in these discoveries by Exxon-Mobil and British Petroleum. Argentina appears to be so confident they will prevail in this act of piracy, it is almost like they have a “silent partner” on their side. The American military intelligence community monitoring world events leading up to this invasion thinks that “silent partner” may be none other than Russia.

In the 1982 invasion a confident Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher backed by the then very strong British Navy, kicked out the Argentinian invaders in short order. In the novel, written in 2005 and set in 2011, the Labour Party Prime Minister and his liberal government have gutted the once invincible British military, particularly the navy, by continued construction delays, cancellation of much-needed undated weapon systems, and other devastating actions and inactions. The British fleet that sails to meet the Argentinians (also referred to as the Args and “gauchos of the pampas”) is a shadow of its former self. The results are predictable.

When it appears that all is lost for British, a surprising series of clandestine actions from an unexpected source, i.e., The Ghost Force, begins to indicate that all is not lost. Any further elaboration would be too much of a spoiler for this EXCELLENT book. I REALLY liked it very much and do recommend it in the very highest terms.

[Book 48 of revised 2012 target 70 (Jan-10; Feb-11; Mar-9; Apr-8; May-7; Jun-3)]