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Captain Harding #2
Captain Harding and his Men
When a C-130 bound for Southeast Asia explodes on takeoff at remote Wheelus Air Base, Libya, handsome, hard-charging Captain Joe Harding instinctively realizes that the cargo list - "medical supplies and radio tubes" - was faked. When Joe's newly-married workout buddy does a swan dive off a fifth story balcony in downtown Tripoli, Joe refuses to accept the semi-official verdict: suicidal depression. And when Joe's tennis partner, the son of the American ambassador, decides to celebrate his eighteenth birthday by appearing unannounced at Joe's BOQ door, the potential difficulties of their love-match must be addressed--seriously and without delay. Continuing the adventures and misadventures begun in Elliott Mackle's award-winning "Captain Harding's Six-Day War," Joe and his fellow officers and airmen contend with a highly decorated but sexually abusive wing commander (who happens to be Joe's boss), a closeted Pentagon official fighting to save his career, a CIA agent who may be an imposter, and shipments of British weapons that fall into the hands of anti-royalist rebels. When a kidnapping goes terribly wrong, Joe must fight for everything he holds dear: duty, honor, country and love.
180 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2012
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April 25, 2021
Captain Harding and His Men
By Elliott Mackle
Mangrove Root Press, 2018
Five stars
If I wore a hat, I’d take it off for Elliott Mackle. I reviewed “Captain Harding’s Six-Day War” in 2012, but somehow missed the publication of the next two books in the Captain Harding series. Now, to my great pleasure, I’ve corrected that oversight, and I’m so very glad I did.
In what is really a murder mystery, Mackle puts us in Tripoli, Libya, in 1967 and 1968, when Captain Joe Harding is twenty-seven, and a series of puzzling events begin to suggest to him that something is seriously wrong in his carefully structured world.
Captain Harding is even more alert than most Air Force officers to anything off-tune in the military goings-on around him, because, as a gay man, he’s doubly aware of the danger in the smallest indiscretion. Thus, as he puts it plainly: “When questionable situations do arise, anyone plotting an orderly rise from junior officer to brigadier general must gather vital information as quickly and discreetly as possible.”
Joe, it is clear, is a good man, despite the fact that the U.S. Military would not think so if they knew his whole truth. That’s the tantalizing and sometimes painful razor’s edge he walks in this narrative: the gay guys are always in danger, but the straight guys are not always the good guys. Presented as a personal story of loyalty and friendship, this is also a poignant tale of political finagling, military skullduggery, and the dark underbelly of U.S. foreign policy.
For all that Joe Harding knows all about straight white men believing themselves to be God’s gift to the world (and the armed forces), he also understands the situational nature of longing and desire. In our twenty-first-century world of LGBTQ, bisexuality is a reality; but in 1968, all Joe Harding knows is that married men far from their wives will sometimes happily turn to amenable comrades for what they need. These men, Captain Harding understands, can be loyal friends, too.
Mackle has placed three strong female characters in this story—an airman second class acting as a secretary, a Marine major intelligence officer, and the American Ambassador to Libya (whose teenaged son happens to be Harding’s paramour). Each of these women is both critical to the story, but also offers a vivid insight into the way women fought to maintain key roles in America’s political and military world in the face of tremendous odds (i.e. men). Joe Harding’s interactions with these three women not only let the reader see what a good guy he truly is, but help us understand these women as more than archetypes. Harding appreciates these women for their strength and their integrity, making him (from our 2021 perspective) better than your average junior officer.
The writing throughout is elegant, appropriately old-school, and thoroughly convincing. It wraps up as it should, not without pain, and manages to leave us both satisfied and hungry for the next book (which is already on my Kindle).
By Elliott Mackle
Mangrove Root Press, 2018
Five stars
If I wore a hat, I’d take it off for Elliott Mackle. I reviewed “Captain Harding’s Six-Day War” in 2012, but somehow missed the publication of the next two books in the Captain Harding series. Now, to my great pleasure, I’ve corrected that oversight, and I’m so very glad I did.
In what is really a murder mystery, Mackle puts us in Tripoli, Libya, in 1967 and 1968, when Captain Joe Harding is twenty-seven, and a series of puzzling events begin to suggest to him that something is seriously wrong in his carefully structured world.
Captain Harding is even more alert than most Air Force officers to anything off-tune in the military goings-on around him, because, as a gay man, he’s doubly aware of the danger in the smallest indiscretion. Thus, as he puts it plainly: “When questionable situations do arise, anyone plotting an orderly rise from junior officer to brigadier general must gather vital information as quickly and discreetly as possible.”
Joe, it is clear, is a good man, despite the fact that the U.S. Military would not think so if they knew his whole truth. That’s the tantalizing and sometimes painful razor’s edge he walks in this narrative: the gay guys are always in danger, but the straight guys are not always the good guys. Presented as a personal story of loyalty and friendship, this is also a poignant tale of political finagling, military skullduggery, and the dark underbelly of U.S. foreign policy.
For all that Joe Harding knows all about straight white men believing themselves to be God’s gift to the world (and the armed forces), he also understands the situational nature of longing and desire. In our twenty-first-century world of LGBTQ, bisexuality is a reality; but in 1968, all Joe Harding knows is that married men far from their wives will sometimes happily turn to amenable comrades for what they need. These men, Captain Harding understands, can be loyal friends, too.
Mackle has placed three strong female characters in this story—an airman second class acting as a secretary, a Marine major intelligence officer, and the American Ambassador to Libya (whose teenaged son happens to be Harding’s paramour). Each of these women is both critical to the story, but also offers a vivid insight into the way women fought to maintain key roles in America’s political and military world in the face of tremendous odds (i.e. men). Joe Harding’s interactions with these three women not only let the reader see what a good guy he truly is, but help us understand these women as more than archetypes. Harding appreciates these women for their strength and their integrity, making him (from our 2021 perspective) better than your average junior officer.
The writing throughout is elegant, appropriately old-school, and thoroughly convincing. It wraps up as it should, not without pain, and manages to leave us both satisfied and hungry for the next book (which is already on my Kindle).
June 30, 2012
Some books take a while to get into--not so anything I've read from Elliott Mackle, and this is no exception. Right from the get-go we are thrust into Captain Harding's narrative (first person) and within a very few pages, even if you hadn't read the first in this series (Captain Harding's Six Day War) you are up to speed with the good captain and his sit-rep. (ho ho, using jargon because of the military theme.)
In this book he's up against some very powerful forces, the CIA, the American Ambassador to Libya, his cute boyfriend's parents (one of whom is the Ambassador) and a shadowy plot of stolen weapons, a suspected coup, and silenced (murdered) soldiers. Harding doesn't want to save the world, particularly, but he'd like his own to continue relatively unendangered. But seeing as his Lieutenant-Colonel knows he's gay, and there's also a straight buddy who knows his secrets, a beat-off buddy Major, a 17 year old boyfriend and more skeletons in his closet than Hercule Poirot, things can often get a bit hairy.
The main thing I've gleaned about Captain Harding and his book is that I NEVER want to get into the forces, and that goes double for being an officer. The level of intrigue, political shennanigans, hypocrisy and downright double dealing that goes on makes my head spin. I doubt that all units are quite as much as a hot-bed as Wheelus is in the late 1960's but I bet a fair lot of it goes on wherever you are. People have secrets, a lot of secrets and they'll keep them until they think by spilling them they can save their arses.
It's the way the Harding deals with it all that makes this fascinating reading. He's not an angel, and he certainly doesn't have any "Give Me Honor or Give Me Death" going on, but in the main he's a really great guy, and he wants to do the right thing and has to work damned hard at making it happen. He's human--he wants to protect his friends but he has a real human streak of self-preservation, he isn't likely to throw himself in too much harm to do it. Although he might, it just depends if he has to do so to protect those he loves.
And there's the "and his men" tag - and where it comes in. Harding is pushing 30 and as full of testosterone as any man of his age. Despite the fact that he thinks that Cotton Boardman is "the one" they are both pragmatic about their situation--Cotton is 17 at the beginning of the book and they both want to wait until he's "legal" (or as legal as he can be--that is, where it won't make Harding feel so guilty--e.g. 18) and after a couple of unsatisfactory sexual try-outs, and getting caught sharing a hotel room by Cotton's father, they cool it for most of the book while Cotton goes back to school and Harding waits on tenterhooks hoping his career won't cascade around his ears, not knowing when or even if he'll see Cotton again.
So Harding keeps himself busy and his sex-drive under control (mainly) by "rub-downs" with a Major, and buddy-buddy sessions with an enlisted airman on TDY (temporary duty) for six weeks at Wheelus. If he gets too desperate, there is a steam-room on base where there's usually someone amenable to a little relief, and a bar in town but both are far more risky. That doesn't mean that he doesn't take risks and it's one of these times that he meets a real Alpha male who gives him such a sound going over that he's dizzy from it, wondering if Cotton is the one after all. But it's this stranger that turns the tide of the investigation Harding is doing, and the man that will be instrumental in cracking the case, but not until everyone has gone through hell.
Just another year in Harding's life! I absolutely love these books, and I really hope that there's going to be a third in the series. The writing is crisp and realistic for men (and women) in the situations that you find them in. The mystery is worth of Raymond Chandler as it twists around, buries itself in official red tape and forged documents, and the characters are fully rounded and fully flawed.
I have no hesitation in awarding this our five star rating. More please, Mr Mackle.
In this book he's up against some very powerful forces, the CIA, the American Ambassador to Libya, his cute boyfriend's parents (one of whom is the Ambassador) and a shadowy plot of stolen weapons, a suspected coup, and silenced (murdered) soldiers. Harding doesn't want to save the world, particularly, but he'd like his own to continue relatively unendangered. But seeing as his Lieutenant-Colonel knows he's gay, and there's also a straight buddy who knows his secrets, a beat-off buddy Major, a 17 year old boyfriend and more skeletons in his closet than Hercule Poirot, things can often get a bit hairy.
The main thing I've gleaned about Captain Harding and his book is that I NEVER want to get into the forces, and that goes double for being an officer. The level of intrigue, political shennanigans, hypocrisy and downright double dealing that goes on makes my head spin. I doubt that all units are quite as much as a hot-bed as Wheelus is in the late 1960's but I bet a fair lot of it goes on wherever you are. People have secrets, a lot of secrets and they'll keep them until they think by spilling them they can save their arses.
It's the way the Harding deals with it all that makes this fascinating reading. He's not an angel, and he certainly doesn't have any "Give Me Honor or Give Me Death" going on, but in the main he's a really great guy, and he wants to do the right thing and has to work damned hard at making it happen. He's human--he wants to protect his friends but he has a real human streak of self-preservation, he isn't likely to throw himself in too much harm to do it. Although he might, it just depends if he has to do so to protect those he loves.
And there's the "and his men" tag - and where it comes in. Harding is pushing 30 and as full of testosterone as any man of his age. Despite the fact that he thinks that Cotton Boardman is "the one" they are both pragmatic about their situation--Cotton is 17 at the beginning of the book and they both want to wait until he's "legal" (or as legal as he can be--that is, where it won't make Harding feel so guilty--e.g. 18) and after a couple of unsatisfactory sexual try-outs, and getting caught sharing a hotel room by Cotton's father, they cool it for most of the book while Cotton goes back to school and Harding waits on tenterhooks hoping his career won't cascade around his ears, not knowing when or even if he'll see Cotton again.
So Harding keeps himself busy and his sex-drive under control (mainly) by "rub-downs" with a Major, and buddy-buddy sessions with an enlisted airman on TDY (temporary duty) for six weeks at Wheelus. If he gets too desperate, there is a steam-room on base where there's usually someone amenable to a little relief, and a bar in town but both are far more risky. That doesn't mean that he doesn't take risks and it's one of these times that he meets a real Alpha male who gives him such a sound going over that he's dizzy from it, wondering if Cotton is the one after all. But it's this stranger that turns the tide of the investigation Harding is doing, and the man that will be instrumental in cracking the case, but not until everyone has gone through hell.
Just another year in Harding's life! I absolutely love these books, and I really hope that there's going to be a third in the series. The writing is crisp and realistic for men (and women) in the situations that you find them in. The mystery is worth of Raymond Chandler as it twists around, buries itself in official red tape and forged documents, and the characters are fully rounded and fully flawed.
I have no hesitation in awarding this our five star rating. More please, Mr Mackle.
July 6, 2012
Last year I fell in love with Joe Harding's shenanigans in Captain Harding's Six Day War: A Novel, so of course I picked up the sequel Captain Harding and His Men by Elliott Mackle as soon as it released. I'm so glad because Captain Joe Harding is at it again at Wheelus and this time the story is even better!
It all takes place in 1969 at the Wheelus U.S. Military Air Base in Libya, and while the Vietnam War is going at full force our man Joe is stuck acting as administrator and right hand man to the current a-hole Colonel in charge. Joe barely survived his last adventures, but this time his problems become even more serious when an unscheduled C-130 airplane crashes on the runway and a VIP dies. Having learned that controlling information is the best way to cover his butt, Joe immediately makes sure he has the original flight plan and crew list in his possession, but when paperwork disappears, the CIA is mentioned, and one of his fellow officers is thrown from a casino tower instigating an investigation by the Pentagon that will end careers, Joe finds himself in trouble up to his adorable little ass! Of course Joe is devious, cunning, manipulative and when not led by his balls to risk life and career, brilliant. He can figure it all out, right?
Unfortunately for Joe fear of being outed as gay in the military is magnified along with the rest of his problems when his unquestionable lack of control and discretion takes over and he sleeps with almost eighteen year-old Cotton while on leave in Gstaad, placing more than his future on the line when they are discovered in a compromising situation. The thought of ending up in Leavenworth worries Joe enough to make him vomit on the flight home, but being young, virile and with a high libido these worries only slow him down, and soon he's back at Wheelus missing Cotton, but making due by going for his regularly scheduled 'rubdown' sessions with buddy Hal, and throughout the story making a couple of new male acquaintances including one that rocks his world!!
I loved this book. In Captain Harding and His Men Elliott Mackle again excels at immediately capturing the reader's attention as well as time and place to develop atmosphere. However, what I love about this series so far is that the military details are outstanding without making the reader yawn with boredom. On the contrary, both stories are fun and funny while still managing to deal with serious issues pertinent to military life during that specific time in history. Joe's voice as narrator is unmistakable, and in this book in particular I think that narration just gets better. Mackle gives readers an idea of what happened in the first book, however I do recommend that Captain Harding's Six Day War: A Novel be read first for a better understanding, and enjoyment, of this series.
Captain Harding and His Men is a military suspense full of action with an involved mystery and highly amusing moments provided by the narrator's voice. The mystery/suspense is full of twists and turns with both the main and secondary characters contributing fully to advance the plot, making this story a delightful read while providing some exciting and charged moments. Mr. Mackle interlaces Joe's sexual escapades with the suspense and makes them pertinent to the story so that there are no awkward pauses and no real separation between the two. Joe is a memorable character. I laughed with him and at him, and I worried for him too. I did. I ended the story worried about where he's going next, but confident that Joe being Joe will come out smelling like roses. Will there be more Joe? I hope so.
It all takes place in 1969 at the Wheelus U.S. Military Air Base in Libya, and while the Vietnam War is going at full force our man Joe is stuck acting as administrator and right hand man to the current a-hole Colonel in charge. Joe barely survived his last adventures, but this time his problems become even more serious when an unscheduled C-130 airplane crashes on the runway and a VIP dies. Having learned that controlling information is the best way to cover his butt, Joe immediately makes sure he has the original flight plan and crew list in his possession, but when paperwork disappears, the CIA is mentioned, and one of his fellow officers is thrown from a casino tower instigating an investigation by the Pentagon that will end careers, Joe finds himself in trouble up to his adorable little ass! Of course Joe is devious, cunning, manipulative and when not led by his balls to risk life and career, brilliant. He can figure it all out, right?
Unfortunately for Joe fear of being outed as gay in the military is magnified along with the rest of his problems when his unquestionable lack of control and discretion takes over and he sleeps with almost eighteen year-old Cotton while on leave in Gstaad, placing more than his future on the line when they are discovered in a compromising situation. The thought of ending up in Leavenworth worries Joe enough to make him vomit on the flight home, but being young, virile and with a high libido these worries only slow him down, and soon he's back at Wheelus missing Cotton, but making due by going for his regularly scheduled 'rubdown' sessions with buddy Hal, and throughout the story making a couple of new male acquaintances including one that rocks his world!!
I loved this book. In Captain Harding and His Men Elliott Mackle again excels at immediately capturing the reader's attention as well as time and place to develop atmosphere. However, what I love about this series so far is that the military details are outstanding without making the reader yawn with boredom. On the contrary, both stories are fun and funny while still managing to deal with serious issues pertinent to military life during that specific time in history. Joe's voice as narrator is unmistakable, and in this book in particular I think that narration just gets better. Mackle gives readers an idea of what happened in the first book, however I do recommend that Captain Harding's Six Day War: A Novel be read first for a better understanding, and enjoyment, of this series.
Captain Harding and His Men is a military suspense full of action with an involved mystery and highly amusing moments provided by the narrator's voice. The mystery/suspense is full of twists and turns with both the main and secondary characters contributing fully to advance the plot, making this story a delightful read while providing some exciting and charged moments. Mr. Mackle interlaces Joe's sexual escapades with the suspense and makes them pertinent to the story so that there are no awkward pauses and no real separation between the two. Joe is a memorable character. I laughed with him and at him, and I worried for him too. I did. I ended the story worried about where he's going next, but confident that Joe being Joe will come out smelling like roses. Will there be more Joe? I hope so.
September 17, 2017
Last time it was Captain Harding’s Six- Day War, and Elliott Mackle isn’t yet ready for a cease fire, coming on strong with its sequel Captain Harding and His Men.This second book of Harding’s exploits finds him still at Wheelus AFB with the redoubtable “top cop” Captain Jeff Masters and Colonel Opstein as his friend and superior, respectively. It also finds him still in love with the American ambassador’s son, Cotton. This time, however, they’re dealing with mysterious cargo shipments that involve munitions. Someone, of course, ends up dead—which spirals into more death and destruction and uncovers a plot that threatens American interests in the entire region. And what a denouement it is—solidly written and grippingly plotted, outfitted with sex, violence and death. Mackle tells this bit like a master, effortlessly finding the emotional center of the conflict and working that last nerve until it frazzles. If the military jargon mystifies you (as it did someone I know), suck it up, call it atmosphere and read for context. You won’t be disappointed with where Mackle takes you. In short, Captain Harding and His Men is an absolutely top-notch sequel to Captain Harding’s Six-Day War—and one that will stand admirably on its own merits.
Full review at https://outinprintblog.wordpress.com/...
Full review at https://outinprintblog.wordpress.com/...
September 2, 2019
Having narrowly averted a major international political crisis less than a year before, US Air Force Captain Joe Harding is endeavoring to stay away from trouble (in both his work-life as well as love-life). The book setting is ensconced in the 1960's and any hint of homosexual scandal spells disaster for any armed forces personnel.
Joe's problem is that he's a bit of a trouble-magnet. Trouble comes to him through his work buddies, his ranked superiors and inferiors - harassment, bullying, verbal abuse, power-plays, etc. On the private and personal level, further troubles loom for Joe when he continues clandestine M-M relations with guys both on as well as off Wheelus Air Base, strategically located in pre-Gaddafi Libya. Even more trouble when Joe finds himself losing his resolve to keep away from attractive and barely seventeen year old Cotton (son of the US Ambassador).
Murder, mystery and intrigue abound in this Mackle sequel to Captain Harding's Six-Day War - the apparent suicide of a car-pool officer in downtown Tripoli may or may not have anything to do with the deaths resulting from a runway crash of a military transport plane. Joe is reluctantly drawn into a growing maelstrom of evidence cover-ups - mysterious consignments of supplies being couriered off-base using military transport, doctored flight records. Immediate superiors as well as higher up powers seem to quickly clamp down on any efforts on Joe's part to elucidate the truth. And when he's caught in a hotel room with the under-aged Cotton by the latter's father - will this play into the hands of those who want Joe silenced / removed forever?
Mackle does not disappoint his fans - this book has great plot, fast action, violent deaths, bad-guys in high up places within the US forces and CIA. My initial disappointment that this sequel is merely 173 pages long was alleviated upon reading the actual content found with the pages. Joe's pragmatism, emotional struggles and ethical dilemmas are vividly realistic. Despite being published by Lethe Press under their gay romance banner, and there are some aspects of romance, this is not really a gay romance plot IMO. I was of course keenly interested to discover how Joe and Cotton would navigate their growing relationship through the minefields of under-aged love, social class difference, and the oppressive anti-gay culture of the US armed services.
I was hooked from page one and read it through in one sitting. This was a thoroughly satisfying reading experience and I hope not to wait too long for Mackle's next Captain Harding title.
Joe's problem is that he's a bit of a trouble-magnet. Trouble comes to him through his work buddies, his ranked superiors and inferiors - harassment, bullying, verbal abuse, power-plays, etc. On the private and personal level, further troubles loom for Joe when he continues clandestine M-M relations with guys both on as well as off Wheelus Air Base, strategically located in pre-Gaddafi Libya. Even more trouble when Joe finds himself losing his resolve to keep away from attractive and barely seventeen year old Cotton (son of the US Ambassador).
Murder, mystery and intrigue abound in this Mackle sequel to Captain Harding's Six-Day War - the apparent suicide of a car-pool officer in downtown Tripoli may or may not have anything to do with the deaths resulting from a runway crash of a military transport plane. Joe is reluctantly drawn into a growing maelstrom of evidence cover-ups - mysterious consignments of supplies being couriered off-base using military transport, doctored flight records. Immediate superiors as well as higher up powers seem to quickly clamp down on any efforts on Joe's part to elucidate the truth. And when he's caught in a hotel room with the under-aged Cotton by the latter's father - will this play into the hands of those who want Joe silenced / removed forever?
Mackle does not disappoint his fans - this book has great plot, fast action, violent deaths, bad-guys in high up places within the US forces and CIA. My initial disappointment that this sequel is merely 173 pages long was alleviated upon reading the actual content found with the pages. Joe's pragmatism, emotional struggles and ethical dilemmas are vividly realistic. Despite being published by Lethe Press under their gay romance banner, and there are some aspects of romance, this is not really a gay romance plot IMO. I was of course keenly interested to discover how Joe and Cotton would navigate their growing relationship through the minefields of under-aged love, social class difference, and the oppressive anti-gay culture of the US armed services.
I was hooked from page one and read it through in one sitting. This was a thoroughly satisfying reading experience and I hope not to wait too long for Mackle's next Captain Harding title.
July 5, 2012
I enjoyed reading this sequel to Captain Harding's Six-Day War very much. While the first book dragged a bit for me in places this one is non-stop action from beginning to end. The characters and plot really clicked with me this time and my only complaint is that I'd like to see how/if Joe and Cotton's love works out. More, please, Mr. Mackle. There's so much against them; their age, life experiences, Joe's career, Cotton's family situation and the time in which they live but despite all of that I'd really like to think they're able to make a go of it.
June 6, 2014
While I truly feel that this is a Four Star read, there is something unsettling about this book that doesn't sit right with me. The writing is fine, the plot is fine, and the characters, for the most part, are fine, but something is off.
Regardless, I like the author and his writing so Four Stars it is.
Regardless, I like the author and his writing so Four Stars it is.
March 9, 2013
I'm usually not a fan of war history books, but Elliott Mackle blends gay romance with wartime adventure in this novel and its companion work 'Captain Harding's Six-Day War.'
Intrigue, espionage and love affairs weave through both books.
Intrigue, espionage and love affairs weave through both books.
August 25, 2012
Wow, great sequel! Need even more! Check out Erastes review, she's the best. Not my favorite time of history, but incredibly portrayed. You really feel like you are there.
August 11, 2015
2012 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews