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The Severance: A Novel
The Severance is a mystery set amid war, the war in Afghanistan. Its authenticity derives from the author's combat experience there. The protagonist is an officer who ran afoul of Army discipline, and was assigned to lead a rehabilitation platoon of similar troublemakers. While fighting the Taliban they discover a corrupt contractor's cache of dollars, plot to smuggle it home- only to find themselves fighting a deadly unknown foe trying to highjack it.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 21, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 14, 2012
The Severance is about a “Dirty Dozen” type of platoon in Afghanistan. Captain Jake Roberts has the task of keeping these misfits in check, and, because of their past indiscretions, they are given the more undesirable patrol duties. They will be discharged from the military shortly without full benefits. Although they are returning home as decorated heroes, they are apprehensive about their return to the states and worry about their transition into civilian life.
This is where what they call “The Severance” comes into play. Earlier the platoon accidently stumbled upon a large sum of money stolen by a crooked civilian contractor. This money will be for their return to the states, and the biggest part of the book revolves around how they will get it out of Afghanistan and to the states.
The Severance was a quick, interesting read with the banter between the soldiers entertaining. I liked the story although it didn’t seem to be developed to its full potential. It did have several unexpected twists and turns towards the end. The characters seemed quirky enough although they, just as the storyline, could have been developed deeper. The female characters in the story especially seemed to be one dimensional. I found the characters to be rather unlikable, but I suppose that was what the author was striving for since they were a group of social misfits. I wasn’t able to critique the editing because the copy I read was an advance uncorrected proof. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it for those who enjoy military novels set in Afghanistan or Iraq.
This is where what they call “The Severance” comes into play. Earlier the platoon accidently stumbled upon a large sum of money stolen by a crooked civilian contractor. This money will be for their return to the states, and the biggest part of the book revolves around how they will get it out of Afghanistan and to the states.
The Severance was a quick, interesting read with the banter between the soldiers entertaining. I liked the story although it didn’t seem to be developed to its full potential. It did have several unexpected twists and turns towards the end. The characters seemed quirky enough although they, just as the storyline, could have been developed deeper. The female characters in the story especially seemed to be one dimensional. I found the characters to be rather unlikable, but I suppose that was what the author was striving for since they were a group of social misfits. I wasn’t able to critique the editing because the copy I read was an advance uncorrected proof. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it for those who enjoy military novels set in Afghanistan or Iraq.
October 20, 2010
I read this book on recommendation, and being a military officer like the author, I can certainly vouch for a lot of the things you read about in the book, especially the banter between the Soldiers (who must have known each other VERY well in the author's mind as some of those comments would incite fistfights (and almost did), and some of the comments spoken around the CPT would have been censored, to a greater degree, from my experience). So in terms of realism, you definitely get some of those guys who, despite any redeemable aspects of their service, have committed acts that simply cannot be tolerated within military culture (i.e. the medic with the drug problem or enlisted men who assault officers). My final comment on the relationship between the fiction to overall military culture is the longest one, and it involves reminding anyone who reads this review that this is a work of FICTION, from the mostly singular viewpoint of a bitter and internally-antagonized...protagonist. For example, my experience with senior officers does not reflect that of the author. While I found some of the script for those officers humorous, due to having heard similarly-themed comments, most of the field-grade commentary that I've heard during my career was imbued with a greater degree of personality, for better or for worse. I feel that the author has transferred a sort of general attitude about those officers into a montage represented by aspects of cookie-cutter stereotypes, rather than building (at least, in my opinion) the battalion commander and maybe showing some dialogue behind the scenes with those senior level officers. In terms of character development, I think he failed to FULLY illustrate some of the ambiguities that are dealt with by military leadership that have as much downward pressure on them from their superiors as upward pressure from the Soldiers they lead, and he simply lumped it all into goulash-leftovers-coagulated attitude for the proclaimed star of the show, summed thusly: "they all suck, they hate me and they're political hacks, the lot of them" and I think he knows better and should have done a better job scripting in some more reality. But, hey this is Jake Roberts, so, if he was trying to get us to hate the guy, then he was successful - I hated him after reading the first scripted thought. McBride, however, is the gold nugget, and the guy I wish had seen more page-time.
Now, for the good stuff. I thought it was hilarious, in large part. I put the book down on a few occasions to stare at the ceiling and try to wipe the knowing grin off of my face because of certain things about military culture that, to see them in print, are hilarious. To prevent any spoilers, all aspects of the relationship between Roberts and his platoon sergeant, to me, were nearly true-to-life and, funny. Personally, I think McBride was the actual star of the show - he has "flavor", and I really enjoyed his scenes.
The twists were entertaining as well - no, it's not Dan Brown or The Game of Thrones, but his twists did what they should do for a 300-page book: kept the pace moving and kept me wondering until the last several pages. For those who complain, consider this: it's a 300-page mystery, it's not a history-spanning, Neal Stephenson engineering-project like Cryptonomicon. The book, to me, was designed to grab you, keep you reading to find out what happens, and satisfy you with an ironic ending that left me thinking these guys aren't in the clear yet. Simple, to the point, and if you don't enjoy some straightforward irony once in a while, then perhaps you should go buy a sense of humor and work up to this book.
Finally, it's a first effort, and it's not bad. I have personal disagreements with some things, treating "The Severance" as a noun was a bit over the top for me - I feel that it should have been treated as less of a mechanism for moving the plot (though, that's what the book is about, right!?) and tied in more with the motivations of the folks being ousted from service upon return to the States (i.e. character development; though reading about the medic was a step in the right direction - yet, we didn't really see him again). The scripting was a little stiff, but I give the guy points for causing my eyebrows to reach new heights when he confronts his infidelity in a pretty realistic way towards the end (though I was secretly hoping that much worse would happen to Captain Jake "Trash" Roberts) Also, I read it in three hours - I couldn't put it down because the pacing is fantastic. And hey, if Sawyer gets the chance to write another, and kills Roberts off (haha), while breathing some life into his McBride character, I'll keep reading, and that's the best compliment that I can give any new author.
Now, for the good stuff. I thought it was hilarious, in large part. I put the book down on a few occasions to stare at the ceiling and try to wipe the knowing grin off of my face because of certain things about military culture that, to see them in print, are hilarious. To prevent any spoilers, all aspects of the relationship between Roberts and his platoon sergeant, to me, were nearly true-to-life and, funny. Personally, I think McBride was the actual star of the show - he has "flavor", and I really enjoyed his scenes.
The twists were entertaining as well - no, it's not Dan Brown or The Game of Thrones, but his twists did what they should do for a 300-page book: kept the pace moving and kept me wondering until the last several pages. For those who complain, consider this: it's a 300-page mystery, it's not a history-spanning, Neal Stephenson engineering-project like Cryptonomicon. The book, to me, was designed to grab you, keep you reading to find out what happens, and satisfy you with an ironic ending that left me thinking these guys aren't in the clear yet. Simple, to the point, and if you don't enjoy some straightforward irony once in a while, then perhaps you should go buy a sense of humor and work up to this book.
Finally, it's a first effort, and it's not bad. I have personal disagreements with some things, treating "The Severance" as a noun was a bit over the top for me - I feel that it should have been treated as less of a mechanism for moving the plot (though, that's what the book is about, right!?) and tied in more with the motivations of the folks being ousted from service upon return to the States (i.e. character development; though reading about the medic was a step in the right direction - yet, we didn't really see him again). The scripting was a little stiff, but I give the guy points for causing my eyebrows to reach new heights when he confronts his infidelity in a pretty realistic way towards the end (though I was secretly hoping that much worse would happen to Captain Jake "Trash" Roberts) Also, I read it in three hours - I couldn't put it down because the pacing is fantastic. And hey, if Sawyer gets the chance to write another, and kills Roberts off (haha), while breathing some life into his McBride character, I'll keep reading, and that's the best compliment that I can give any new author.
April 13, 2012
The "Bad News Bears" take Afghanistan. 9 years of war in Afganistan have produced...well at least this soldier's-eye view novel (and maybe a slight reduction in the worldwide poppy trade). Basically, it is about a cliche' band of scuffy, rag-tag misfits, drilled out of decent military units and put into "Kodiak Company" where these renegades band together and...well, you get the drill. This may have also been the plot to the movie "Stripes".
However, protagonist Jake Roberts is no Bill Murray. Other than a line where he reacts to a subordinate who says: "My anger management coach says life isn't about winning and losing, you have to relax and enjoy the experience" by saying: "Your anger management coach is an idiot, life is about winning" -he isn't very funny. And neither is the book. Although set in a theater of war, this noir tale of greed, lust, deception, murder and former Senator John Edwards sleaziness could have been set in a corporate environment, a small town or any number of other settings. The Afghanistan setting simply makes it topical. So not funny but dramatic? Well, to a degree, however, Sawyer too often employs the deux ex machina. By turns, Jake is bailed out from a pregnant mistress by a patsy and later from a murderous rival by a very convenient left-field medical problem and whenever he is stumped by a mystery, his Sargent eventually just figures it out and explains it to him. So the drama builds but dissipates rather than resolves as fate seems to always step in to save the Captain and his writer.
Speaking of writing, Sawyer presents a journeyman's workable text. The dialog exists more to advance the plot rather than as art of its own. The characters are well drawn but certain are pure literary devices. Jake's former mistress (an Army captain) and current mistress (a young nurse) are presented as being physically indistinguishable (I hate it when that happens). His Sargent and BFF is both Greek chorus and that guy in every horror or mystery story who knows everything that is going on and for some reason can give hints but can't divulge everything (until the Lawrence tires of advancing the plot and just has him explain what's going on). Basically, the story needed two more thorough revisions.
In short, rent the early 90's George Clooney / Ice Cube (does he still call himself that?) movie "Three Kings" which also sets the old film noir heist movie during an American foray into the middle east and comes away with a far more entertaining product.
October 31, 2010
Captain Jake Roberts is given the task of commanding a group of misfits, a ‘rehabilitation platoon’ a modern day Dirty Dozen as it where, made up of “bitter, unruly, former drunks and drug addicts, troublemakers and other misfits” who—while not an a suicide mission—are put in a place where they are not expected to succeed during the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In an intelligent plot Sawyer, a decorated officer himself, lets us tag along with these ‘short-timers’ as they contemplate their return the United States within a week. Although they are coming home as heroes with medals, they all face the reality of being unemployed, “disposable heroes”, and with their troubled pasts many of them will be unable to find work.
This is where the severance is ready to kick in. The platoon accidentally discovered five million dollars in unmarked bills in the back of a corrupt contractor’s car and discreetly purloined it for themselves. Now all they have to do is to find a way to smuggle it stateside so they all have a new leash on a financial start to civilian life. Unfortunately someone other than those ‘in the know’ has also discovered their secret and is quietly trying to muscle in.
In his debut novel Sawyer has found a way to paint a feasible picture describing life in the desert and mountains of Afghanistan. We become embedded with the platoon on their last mission, learn about the characters who make up the group of bad boys that are striving to succeed in the face of impossible odds and ultimately find ourselves pulling for this bunch of rag-tag soldiers to make it home with the loot. What with ex-girlfriends threatening blackmail, top-brass that stay out of harm’s way and each member of the platoon under special scrutiny from the Criminal Investigation Division, it’s a wonder the soldiers can get their job done, but Sawyer’s realistic portrait makes this an all too believable story
In an intelligent plot Sawyer, a decorated officer himself, lets us tag along with these ‘short-timers’ as they contemplate their return the United States within a week. Although they are coming home as heroes with medals, they all face the reality of being unemployed, “disposable heroes”, and with their troubled pasts many of them will be unable to find work.
This is where the severance is ready to kick in. The platoon accidentally discovered five million dollars in unmarked bills in the back of a corrupt contractor’s car and discreetly purloined it for themselves. Now all they have to do is to find a way to smuggle it stateside so they all have a new leash on a financial start to civilian life. Unfortunately someone other than those ‘in the know’ has also discovered their secret and is quietly trying to muscle in.
In his debut novel Sawyer has found a way to paint a feasible picture describing life in the desert and mountains of Afghanistan. We become embedded with the platoon on their last mission, learn about the characters who make up the group of bad boys that are striving to succeed in the face of impossible odds and ultimately find ourselves pulling for this bunch of rag-tag soldiers to make it home with the loot. What with ex-girlfriends threatening blackmail, top-brass that stay out of harm’s way and each member of the platoon under special scrutiny from the Criminal Investigation Division, it’s a wonder the soldiers can get their job done, but Sawyer’s realistic portrait makes this an all too believable story
October 9, 2010
While this is far from a perfect book I really enjoyed it. I thought the author's voice was refreshing and his characters, for the lack of a better term, quirky. While there weren't any "heroes" in this book (it actually features some pretty unsavory characters) I think that’s one of its more enduring qualities. Sawyer crafts a world without heroes or villains. Everyone just fits somewhere in between– just like in real life. I think maybe the author was trying to tell the story from the perspective of the “bad” guys. If that’s the case it was certainly an ambitious goal. Maybe a little much for a first time author.
As far as the ending goes there was a healthy does of “dues ex machina” but then again that’s what happens to people in that scenario in the real world (I wont spoil it for you, I actually hope you give this one a chance.) While Sawyer’s protagonist doesn’t do anything particularly noble or heroic I don’t think he was crafted to (that’s not to say that he doesn’t do anything interesting or entertaining, because he certainly does.)
The Severance doesn’t hit the 10-ring, but it’s a fun ride full of twists and turns. Definitely worth picking up.
As far as the ending goes there was a healthy does of “dues ex machina” but then again that’s what happens to people in that scenario in the real world (I wont spoil it for you, I actually hope you give this one a chance.) While Sawyer’s protagonist doesn’t do anything particularly noble or heroic I don’t think he was crafted to (that’s not to say that he doesn’t do anything interesting or entertaining, because he certainly does.)
The Severance doesn’t hit the 10-ring, but it’s a fun ride full of twists and turns. Definitely worth picking up.
August 19, 2010
A ho-hum mixture of war, caper, and mystery genres. Set in Afghanistan and Iraq (but with little real atmosphere of either of those war zones; this could have happened in pretty much any war from WWII on), it's the story of a Dirty Dozen type outfit of rule breakers who stumble onto a big chunk of money that they will use to get their lives together if they can survive until they go home and figure out how to take the money with them. There are some decent twists, but then the ending is resolved with a howler of a coincidence. I also found the protagonist unsympathetic. Fleshed out, with better character development, a stronger setting, and a lead character who takes more responsibility for his failures, this could have been good, but it doesn't quite get there on any count.
May 1, 2013
Excellent novel about a 21st century version of "The Dirty Dozen"
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews