Review: Black Hawk Down Redux
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 3, 2012
"The Proud" returns to the world in which the Marines had been mostly cut but then restored by a grateful President.  That fictional premise has very little to do with this story, however, except to utilize a few characters introduced in the first book,The Few: A Tale of the Marines in the Near Future (The Return of the Marines: Book 1).  Foremost among these is newly-minted and highly decorated LT Niimoto, whose moniker "Korea Joe" has thankfully disappeared.The story begins with Somali pirates and could have been about current events.  Interesting stuff, but only backdrop for the operation to rescue two crewmen from an obscure village to which they are taken.  Things get hairy, to put it mildly.  The action is tense, realistic, and satisfying.  What more can you ask for?  The repetitive different takes on a scene are no longer used by Col. Brazee, and I thought the book was quite well put together.Finally, unlike the complete lack of an Indian perspective in "The Few", the pirates' perspective is well told and adds an interesting layer to the story.