The Consignment

by Grant Sutherland

With Diplomatic Immunity, Grant Sutherland exploded onto the literary scene as one of the most original new authors of international suspense. Now, in his new novel of conspiracy, conscience, and terrifying deception--a novel stretching from the upheaval of the Gulf War to the inner secrets of the current Pentagon--a desperate man struggles to survive a battle for the truth...a battle without any rules except one: win or die.

It wasn’t just a war we were fighting out there in the Gulf; the truth is we were joined in battle against the weapons of every major arms manufacturing country on earth--including our own.

Captain Ned Rourke of the U.S. Rangers always expected war to be hell, but he never imagined that his men would be cut down in the Gulf War with weapons created by his own country. Disillusioned, betrayed, and looking for justice, he’s determined to find those responsible and make them pay the price. But to do so, he’ll have to work undercover as a marketing manager for Haplon Systems, an arms trader skirting the decrees of international law. Forced to live a double life, Rourke knows he is risking something more important than justice: the trust of his wife and son. And when his friend Dimitri Spandos, a former West Point classmate now working for Haplon’s biggest competitor, is discovered shot to death at an arms fair, Rourke knows that he’s entered a world as dangerous as any battlefield. Haplon’s latest deal--to ship a massive quantity of arms to an unnamed African country--is clearly worth killing for, but can Rourke discover who’s really behind it before his marriage is destroyed...and he ends up with a bullet in the head?

The more Rourke learns, the closer he gets to a conspiracy reaching from the killing fields of West Africa to the upper echelons of the Pentagon, and a deadly cover-up that someone intended Dimitri Spandos to take to his grave. But Rourke is now fighting in a war where an ally can become an enemy in the blink of an eye, where no flags or uniforms mark sides--and where knowing the truth could be a sentence of death. If he and his family are going to survive, he’s going to have to throw away the rule book, put his principles aside, and prepare to get blood on his hands once again.


From the Hardcover edition.

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

A native Australian, Grant Sutherland now lives in Herefordshire, England.

Reviews

[Patrick Scheele · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just meh. I found the most interesting mystery was why my edition of the book was printed on perforated pages. I've never seen that before, so I can only speculate the pages are intended to be torn out and reused as toilet paper once they've been read.

The mysteries described in the book aren't nearly as interesting. Someone dies early on, but we never get enough information to speculate who killed him. And in the end it wasn't very interesting anyway. I just read it and I've already forgot. I think the CIA was involved or something?

There's also the mystery of the stolen diamonds, but I don't think that ever gets resolved.

The main character has a very annoying tendency of "reading" people. He just "knows" someone is guilty or innocent. The female suspect, who forces him to sign a lie and lets him rot in jail for a while where he gets to watch a friend being beaten to death is obviously innocent and the guy who helps him find and free his missing son and saves his life is obviously guilty. No evidence required! Gah!

I'm not really sure what the point of the book was supposed to be. The story is basically about a shipment of weapons to Congo. This is supposed to be a bad thing, but when the weapons do get through, they just end up with some people working for the government to protect the airport and the foreigners stranded there from the rebels. Big whoop!

And then there's the wife. She's convinced her husband is cheating on her. She doesn't have any evidence, but why would she need that? She has pictures of her husband meeting with a woman. No kissing, no hand-holding, they just meet at a tomb. To her, that's enough to start talking about divorce and cheat on her husband in return. I was kinda happy she randomly died in the end.

[David Linzee · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this thriller an honorable soldier stumbles and falls into the dishonorable world of arms dealing. The book is low-key and slow-paced, but I found it absorbing. Sutherland takes us from a weapons show to the back room of a 47th Street diamond merchant to the docks of New Jersey. It's a fascinating and entirely believable tour of the arms trade. The hero ends up in the middle of an African civil war, where the lives of himself and his family are on the line.

[K. Lepischak · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly interesting read, moving along nicely to a disappointing end.

[J. Ewbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book by Grant Southerland is a good story, so it is a good read. Some characters may be larger than life but the story is interesting and that makes it a good read for me.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

airplane reading