The Dogs of War

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: Having read most novels and short stories of Frederic Forsyth, I was disappointed by the dated feeling of this early seventies novel. Usually the detailed writing style adds to the realism of the story, here it just detracts. There is enough material for one of FF's short stories, but the endless descriptions to expand this to full length are largely unnecessary and mostly uninteresting.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent--you have to live in Africa
Review: I actually liked this book more than Day of the Jackal, which is also 5 stars, because, having lived in Africa, the book rings true. Equally true the characters are 1-dimensional and cardboard caricatures at times, but, that does not mean it is not authentic. All these architypes you will see in post-Colonial Africa in one form or another. Also wickedly ironic and racist, but in a benign way.

Rating:
Summary: Above Average Book
Review: I did not like this book as much as I have liked many of his other books. Maybe I was excepting too much after The Day of the Jackal. I guess the subject matter and location just did not turn me on. I thought the story was very good idea, original. The characters are as good as the author has done in the past. There is a good amount of action and details that are interesting. The story is strongly created and moved through the book. I just was not that interested in the outcome but it was a good effort.

Rating:
Summary: No Quarter, Too Much Quartermastery
Review: I liked a lot of things about this book; sometimes that enjoyment continued for several pages at a time. Frederick Forsyth would be a great writer even if he were writing stereo instructions. The problem is, with all the attention paid here to logistics, "Dogs Of War" doesn't feel that far removed in dryness from a Sony manual.

Frederick Forsyth had his mojo working in the early 1970s, when he launched his fiction career with the magnificent "Day Of The Jackal" and followed up with a totally different, equally absorbing work in the same vein, "The Odessa File." He had contracted for a third book, and evidently drawing on his experiences as a journalist covering the Biafran civil war in Nigeria, decided to write about a group of mercs hired to topple the leader of a small African nation.

As a premise, "Dogs Of War" is very promising, and Forsyth's familiarity with the sights and smells of Africa feeds a backdrop that at times is presented quite well. A cynically world-weary tone predominates, and that works well in the context of the story. The problem is there isn't much of a plot, and a core group of main characters that, while presented as hard-bitten desperados, don't exactly give Pike, Dutch, and the rest of the Wild Bunch a run for the money in terms of characterization. One guy is called Tiny because he's large. Another strops his knife whenever there's a lull. When these characters finally face danger, we don't know them well enough to care about their fates.

You know there's a big problem when there's only a few pages left in the book and the mercenaries haven't even hit the beach of the country they are about to take over. Forsyth takes his time getting to the central action of the story, and though he writes with his usual flair, the final showdown is perfunctory and unconvincing.

You can see some positive developments in Forsyth's writing here, such as the emergence of humor, especially with a subplot about some scummy capitalists who set up a shell corporation for their illicit scheme with the unknowing help of a balmy Scottish widow. He works in a lot of fascinating commentary on the nature of the world though the eyes of the main protagonist, Cat Shannon.

"The truth is, the Establishment is on the side of the big battalions, because it created and armed them in the first place," he tells a lady friend. "It never seems to occur to the millions...that maybe God, if there is one, has something to do with truth, justice, and compassion rather than sheer brute force, and that truth and justice might possibly be on the side of the little platoons."

But not all the side routes Forsyth takes justify the time and attention, and there are too many ideas that either are left half-baked (a Russian interest in the African nation, a rival mercenary homicidally jealous of Shannon) or that cry plot convenience, like how Shannon gets the inside track on his employer's intentions.

In the end, "Dogs Of War" is not so much a bad book, but a frustratingly incomplete one. It's got that classic Forsyth style for those (like me) who admire it, but it lacks a sense of purpose. It's not a surprise Forsyth took a few years off before penning his next, far better novel, "The Devil's Alternative."


Rating:
Summary: A novel about a mercenary coup de etat in Zangaro.
Review: I think this is an interesting read even if it a novel. I read this after a reference to this book in a news story about the coup de etat in the island nation of Comorros. At that time, some South African mercenaries overthrew the crazed rule of the African ruler of Comorros. That is where the reference to the Dogs of War was made.
One of the previous reviewers thought it was bad for Forsyth to spend so much space on how the coup was organized. The procurement of all the arms with the export license was very fascinating. What Forsyth revealed was that coups could be done privately witout the knowledge of governments. One only had to know how to procure and organize for the overthrow of a government. I think Forsyth did this well.
This is an interesting read. This may not be on the level of his previous books, but it is still a good read.

Rating:
Summary: A novel about a mercenary coup de etat in Zangaro.
Review: I think this is an interesting read even if it a novel. I read this after a reference to this book in a news story about the coup de etat in the island nation of Comorros. At that time, some South African mercenaries overthrew the crazed rule of the African ruler of Comorros. That is where the reference to the Dogs of War was made.
One of the previous reviewers thought it was bad for Forsyth to spend so much space on how the coup was organized. The procurement of all the arms with the export license was very fascinating. What Forsyth revealed was that coups could be done privately witout the knowledge of governments. One only had to know how to procure and organize for the overthrow of a government. I think Forsyth did this well.
This is an interesting read. This may not be on the level of his previous books, but it is still a good read.

Rating:
Summary: not Forsyth's best
Review: If you're new to Frederick Forsyth and looking for a place to start, begin with something other than The Dogs of War. The book starts off well, setting up a creative grand scheme for Sir James Manson to make it big in a newly-discovered platinum site in a newly-independent African state. The historical context of the decolonization of Africa in the 1960s mixed with the experiences of mercenary fighters provides an interesting backdrop, but once the plot is set, the book becomes disappointing. Much of it is devoted to preparations made by Cat Shannon, Manson's hired gun, to stage a coup in the country in question. There is too much unnecessary detail here; so much so that the reader just wants Shannon's men to just get to Africa (finally). It soon becomes uninteresting whether the guns come from Spain or the boots from England, or what Shannon eats in one European capital while setting up hotel reservations in another to complete his plans. The final scene, once delivered, is satisfactory, but it is not enough to make up for the drawn out middle portion or to fulfill the promise of the book's opening chapters.

Rating:
Summary: not Forsyth's best
Review: If you're new to Frederick Forsyth and looking for a place to start, begin with something other than The Dogs of War. The book starts off well, setting up an industrialist to strike it rich (actually richer) in an African platinum site. Once the plot is set, the book becomes disappointing. More of it is devoted to the preparations than the action. Too much unnecessary detail here - even though that is one of Forsyth's strengths as a writer. The conclusion is quite satisfactory, but it's not enough to make up for the drawn-out middle portion of the book or to fulfill the promise of the opening chapters.

Rating:
Summary: pretty good but far from the best
Review: It can not be denied that Forsyth put a lot of research intothis, and should be duly commended for that. He has an ability ofwriting a good story, and unlike many, he knows how to conclude his works, usually above satisfactory levels. This was said to contain a shocker for an ending, but I tend to disagree. Not exactly a shocker, but a pretty neat twist to the story, that, for sure.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly dated
Review: Just having read "The constant Gardener" by John Le Carre, the "Dogs of War" caught me by surprise - and not in a positive way. The book is surprisingly dated, and up to last 40 pages, not much is happening. There are 2 clever twists, and a gripping end. But the rest of the book is not really worth reading. You are better off going for the "Jackal" or the "Odessa files", or, as mentioned above, the "Constant Gardener".