Review: THE DEGÜELLO by Scott Zastrow
Reading Scott Zastrow's The Degüello taught me something. Not about Special Forces, per se--ninety percent of what I read, I already knew via former operators and my own research--but rather, about how to read a book. This sounds silly, but bear with me here for a moment.
Zastrow's book is listed as military fiction, and in the purest sense, it is. However, fiction, as I was taught, has certain conventions that were not present in the book. The biggest flaw, speaking from a writer's perspective, were the characters. It wasn't until the closing acts that I found characters that seemed like unique people I could meet in real life. On this basis, I was prepared to give the book a lower rating.
It wasn't until I was about thirty-five percent through the book that I realized the problem. It's listed as military fiction, but in reality, it is fictional military non-fiction. True to its tag line, it is based off of actual events in the opening stages of the War on Terror, and it is the epitome of a story told by somebody who has walked the walk. Zastrow, himself a veteran of Special Forces, told the story of an Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) that was sent to spearhead the invasion of Afghanistan. It is told in a very documentary style format, but since it is not a documentary or a pure historical account, it is branded as fiction.
Furthermore, an organic ODA has twelve operators (in the book, I counted nine, ten once a certain character joined the team). It is very hard to personalize twelve people, or ten people. In fact, I have found through personal experience that six is pushing it. Zastrow tries his best, but at the end of the day, it's a fictional historical book, not so much traditonal fiction.
With these facts in mind, I began to thoroughly enjoy The Degüello. It is indeed very accurate, and bears the mark of a writer who has conducted such operations. As an infantryman trained in many of the tactics detailed within, I can say with certainty that it is an authentic war novel, and as a military geek, it was an absolute pleasure to read.
There were a couple of things that could be improved. Despite knowing its true designation as far as books go, I still feel a little more could have been done to flesh out the characters, though Scott and Calvin stood out to me by far and large. Also, I do wish there was more fleshing out of the Taliban commander, as well as Triple Nickel's plan to respond to his attacks. Nonetheless, these points do not detract from the overall enjoyability of the novel.
Would I recommend this book to a layman only looking for an action thriller? No. Would I recommend it to a layman wanting to know more about Army Special Forces and the War on Terror? A thousand times, yes. And I would also recommend it to any service member looking to see how it's done on the SOF side of the fence.
Well done, Mr. Zastrow!
You can purchase The Degüello on Amazon in print here or for the Amazon Kindle here.
Zastrow's book is listed as military fiction, and in the purest sense, it is. However, fiction, as I was taught, has certain conventions that were not present in the book. The biggest flaw, speaking from a writer's perspective, were the characters. It wasn't until the closing acts that I found characters that seemed like unique people I could meet in real life. On this basis, I was prepared to give the book a lower rating.
It wasn't until I was about thirty-five percent through the book that I realized the problem. It's listed as military fiction, but in reality, it is fictional military non-fiction. True to its tag line, it is based off of actual events in the opening stages of the War on Terror, and it is the epitome of a story told by somebody who has walked the walk. Zastrow, himself a veteran of Special Forces, told the story of an Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) that was sent to spearhead the invasion of Afghanistan. It is told in a very documentary style format, but since it is not a documentary or a pure historical account, it is branded as fiction.
Furthermore, an organic ODA has twelve operators (in the book, I counted nine, ten once a certain character joined the team). It is very hard to personalize twelve people, or ten people. In fact, I have found through personal experience that six is pushing it. Zastrow tries his best, but at the end of the day, it's a fictional historical book, not so much traditonal fiction.
With these facts in mind, I began to thoroughly enjoy The Degüello. It is indeed very accurate, and bears the mark of a writer who has conducted such operations. As an infantryman trained in many of the tactics detailed within, I can say with certainty that it is an authentic war novel, and as a military geek, it was an absolute pleasure to read.
There were a couple of things that could be improved. Despite knowing its true designation as far as books go, I still feel a little more could have been done to flesh out the characters, though Scott and Calvin stood out to me by far and large. Also, I do wish there was more fleshing out of the Taliban commander, as well as Triple Nickel's plan to respond to his attacks. Nonetheless, these points do not detract from the overall enjoyability of the novel.
Would I recommend this book to a layman only looking for an action thriller? No. Would I recommend it to a layman wanting to know more about Army Special Forces and the War on Terror? A thousand times, yes. And I would also recommend it to any service member looking to see how it's done on the SOF side of the fence.
Well done, Mr. Zastrow!
You can purchase The Degüello on Amazon in print here or for the Amazon Kindle here.
No comments have been added yet.
