Bright Star

Bright Star, Harold Coyle's third novel and second in a continuing series following the careers of various Army officers, is an intriguing and very human look at the lives of professional soldiers both on the home front and on the field of battle. Set sometime before the fall of the Soviet Union and after the events of Sword Point, Bright Star once again features Scott Dixon, Hal Cerro, Nikolai Ilvanich and Fay Dixon (Scott's wife) and introduces television reporter Jan Fields, a rising star in a cable news network and former colleague of Fay's.The novel starts on a somber note as Major (promotable) Dixon sits at his home computer writing a letter of resignation from the Army he has served and loved for years. The war in Iran has left an emotional scar, and his wife's hopes for a return to her journalism career after Scotty's expected after-20-year retirement have been put on hold by her husband's deployment to fight the Soviets in the Persian Gulf. The strains of the conflict -- nightmares of battles for Scott, the sudden upending of long-made plans for Fay -- create a vast emotional chasm between husband and wife. But Dixon is a soldier to his very marrow, and although he is listless and even resigned to accept whatever backwater job he's offered by his superiors, Scotty tosses the letter of resignation away and waits for new orders to be cut, much to Fay's discontent.And when a UH-60 helicopter carrying Lt. Col. William Dedinger is shot down in Sudan by a guerrilla team, Scott Dixon, Medal of Honor winner, is assigned to serve as the chief of staff of the 2nd U.S. Corps (Forward) in Cairo, Egypt. There, he's to assist in the expected prepositioning of Army equipment in that cautiously friendly Middle Eastern country, in addition to other, more classified tasks. It's a mostly desk-bound assignment, very much the opposite of the combat-geared armored task force command he declined around the same time he was contemplating leaving the Army.Naturally, Scotty's new posting and promotion to light colonel don't do anything to help heal the growing rift with his wife, who is forced to cancel her acceptance of a job with CBS to accompany Scott to Cairo. And although she does get another job with her former college roommate and friend Jan Fields, the sojourn to Egypt will have unhappy consequences.Meanwhile, the ambitions of Libyan Col. Nafissi will soon lead to another conflict that will once again pit the United States and the Soviet Union against each other as the superpowers go to the assistance of their client states -- Egypt and Libya. Soon the desert sands are littered with wrecked tanks and dead soldiers as fierce battles are waged on the air, land, sea....and the hearts of combat veterans such as Scotty Dixon and Capt. Hal Cerro.

Captured the tension apparent at the time from those making the policy to those carrying it out. I especially enjoyed the Green Berets romp in the Horn of Africa. If you read Waller's "The Commandos" and recall the real-life Gulf War aviation attack on Iraq and compare with a similar aviation attack in "Bright Star" you see some 'coincidences.'

Sword Point starts off a bit slow, but once you get into it, you will want to read it twice. The book is full of many twists to add to the plot. You really get to know the tactics that both sides of the conflict use. These tactics seem real enough to actually be used, in fact, you start to wonder why they haven't been use yet. If you love Tom Clancy style novels, then I suggest you pick this one up.

Harold Coyle has written another classic. After reading THE TEN THOUSAND, SWORD POINT and CODE OF HONOUR, I stumbled across this in a London bookstore and once again was not disappointed. The story of a Middle East conflict involving Egypt and Sudan occupied by US forces, and Ethiopia and Libya occupied by the Soviets might seem a little out of date now, considering events in the Gulf began to occur just after this book was wriiten, but it is still a brilliant read.Coyle's descriptions of the military hardware and their capabilities are well researched and the characters are much more three-dimensional than most other books of this genre. Particularly Scott Dixon's crisis-ridden marriage to Fay, and his comfort in reporter Jan Fields, which comes to a head right in the thick of the fighting. The maps are a good guide, as with all his other books, on how the action scenes take place on the ground with tank and mechanised battalions, and there's also action at sea and in the air. Also very plausible is the SS-18s converted to carry nerve gas warheads, made all too realistic by Saddam's recent (presumed?) developments in that field! The locations, particularly Egypt, are authentically portrayed, having travelled to the Middle East(and returning there again in a couple of weeks!) one can imagine oneself being there witnessing it all. All in all, essential reading. If you're an aspiring writer such as I am(I'm working on my second manuscript now), Harold Coyle's books come highly recommended! I read this one in one sitting until the early hours.

Harold Coyle demonstrates the benefit of many years previous military service in this well thought out and accurate description of the problems of middle eastern politics.Hard to fault.