The Pepperdogs: A Novel - Softcover

West, Bing

4.03

67 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743456432 ISBN 13: 9780743456432

Publisher: Pocket Star, 2003

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From Bing West, author of the acclaimed war chronicle The Village, comes an explosive novel of high-tech warfare, international politics, and the unbreakable bonds of loyalty under fire.

At the end of a three-month tour in Kosovo, five American Marine reservists are looking forward to going home -- until one of the men runs into a pack of bloodthirsty Serbian soldiers, and disappears. After patrols fail to find him, Captain Mark Lang breaks ranks and moves the rest of his recon team -- dubbed "the Pepperdogs" -- deep into forbidden Serbian territory to rescue their friend.

What begins as a rogue mission soon takes on global implications when one of the team members begins posting their actions on the Web, drawing worldwide attention and further igniting an already volatile situation. With the eyes of the world upon them, and the life of their friend at stake, the only things the Pepperdogs have left to depend on is their weapons, their instincts, and each other.

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From the Publisher:

Five reservists from New York City, a firefighter, a toy-store executive, an auto mechanic, a computer nerd and a commodities trader. But that hardly does them justice. They are, in fact, something of a new breed: a carefully selected, superbly conditioned reconnaissance team (The Pepperdogs), highly trained to infiltrate enemy lines and cause maximum chaos wherever they operate. Things in the Balkans are relatively quiet post 9/11, which is how US policy wonks much prefer it. But lotsa luck. Captain Tyler Cosgrove, an American marine a day away from shipping home to be with his dying mother, is whacked on the head and hijacked by a brutish Serbian soldier who covets his motorbike. Faster than you can say Semper Fi!, and without the formality of specific orders, Captain Mark Lang mounts up. "Get gear and pull ammo," he tells his team, partly because Cosgrove is Lang's best friend and partly because marines don't leave marines to un-tender mercies. So begins an improbable two-day journey as the Pepperdogs walk a hundred miles and fight eight pitched battles, by then having enraged the Serbs, tickled the Muslims, annoyed their own brass, and made headlines all over the world, laudatory and condemnatory in about equal measure. As for the mission, well, they're marines, aren't they?

First-novelist West, himself a former marine captain (The Villager, 1972) takes on complex themes here -- duty, loyalty, and what to do when they conflict -- and deals with them capably. Mostly, though, this is a story about warriors, told authoritatively and brilliantly.

About the Author:

Francis J. "Bing" West served in Vietnam as a Marine infantry officer, and later as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Dean of Research at the Naval War College, an analyst at the RAND Corporation, and a lead CNN commentator during Desert Storm. He is currently president of the GAMA Corporation. A frequent contributor to defense journals, West is also the author of Small Unit Action in Vietnam, and Naval Forces and National Security. His acclaimed chronicle of Vietnam, The Village, is available from Pocket Books. He is also the coauthor of The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division. Visit his website at westwrite.com.

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