Review: Hard to believe--a little. But awesome storytelling, absolutely.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 26, 2012
First, I loved this book. I never give five stars any more, in principle.Second, I always read the worst reviews first. And then I wonder, am I really that stupid? Am I that insensitive to bad writing and weak characters that I didn't see what these critics hated about this book?  No. I'm not. My writer friends and I don't always agree about what's good, but I'm not a moron. The plot is fascinating, and the writing is good. Not beautiful, not poetic, but the style seems to fit the narrative. Sometimes the characters are astonishing, particularly the character of Petey; who could have been a disaster, but ended up being memorable.All that said, I thought "Latakia" was a remarkable book.  Matt, who seems to me to be a pretty typical nearly-thirty gay man of no particular distinction, finds himself in a freakish position that is both disorienting and terrifying. His accidental rescue throws him into another situation that is less terrifying but just as disorienting: surrounded by a group of bad-ass top-secret navy operatives who are as alien to him as if they were another species. As he learns more about these men, Matt not only learns something about himself, but finds that he has changed fundamentally because of his experience.And then the book becomes a love story. As it is supposed to.The second half of the book is more conventional in many ways, following the necessities of m/m romance. But what makes it fascinating is that the world Matt encounters during his harrowing misadventure gradually filters into his more mundane "real world," and the changes he has undergone come to the fore, making him into a finely-drawn character of far more complexity and depth than he was in the first half of the narrative.  The impact of being gay in the military is central to the second half of the story, but the way Smith has crafted the plot is ingenius and powerful.  This would make a great movie. In another universe, alas.