Now Nat is assigned the inquiry into another fatal Gulf War incident?one that led to the death of helicopter pilot Cpt. Karen Emma Walden, who is in line for the Medal of Honor. Serling suspects collusion when Walden's crew chief, medic and machine gunner at first supply the same details of the event. But as the three begin to break, their confessions provide vivid, disturbing images of the physical and psychological brutalities of war. Serling, meanwhile, suffers the demons of depressive drinking as he struggles to rebuild his marriage, career and life by assuaging the remorse arising from his own desert storm. Duncan constructs this novel with the slick cinematic skill that has made him a top Hollywood screenwriter (Nick of Time, etc.), and when Serling finally uncovers the truth of what happened both to himself and to Walden, there won't be a dry eye in the house. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist This military tale imagined during the Gulf War would sink out of sight if not for the star-studded (Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan) action movie with which it will be packaged this year. The basic plot pits flawed truthseeker against liars and bureaucrats and operates by determining whether a female chopper pilot posthumously merits the Medal of Honor. Politicos demand it; Lieutenant Colonel Serling (no doubt the Washington role) gets the task of putting the paperwork ducks in a row as a means of reviving his career after blighting it in a friendly-fire incident, whose horrors he expunges by drinking most of the way through this book. Through his hangovers, Serling interrogates the men who crewed Captain Walden's helicopter. Based on their conflicting versions, a half-dozen different flashbacks of Walden's fatal battle occur, which probably indicates Meg Ryan will get killed in a variety of postures, heroic or cowardly. Anyway, Serling corners the liars and proves Captain Walden gave her life as a . . . well, wait for the movie and consider this book the scrip.

 Putnam Adult 0399141510 / 9780399141515
Hardcover As New Condition New York 

Price: 21.07 USD