Review: Interesting premise, but with rough edges
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 06 3, 2013
This is a story, set in the near future, about plots at the top levels of government to keep the U.S. and British forces in Afghanistan.  While we should all, at this point, be aware that our leaders don't always do their due dilligence or tell the truth before putting troops at risk (see the excellent500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror WarsorHubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq Warif you need more proof of this), there were several elements of this story that I felt strained the suspension of disbelief necessary to be involved in a fictional story.The action of the story begins when an election in Britain places the U.S./British alliance in jeopardy.  The story begins from the POV of the president's economic advisor, but quickly changes to a more omniscient POV.  While I have no trouble believing that a U.S. president would behave poorly, the behavior attributed to the president in this story really defies belief, as does how she presents herself (Who would lead in with a "As Hitler would say . . ."?  Nobody, but nobody, besides National Socialists just quotes Hitler like that).  There are actions attributed to various players that just don't ring true and the final outcome of the story also seems a bit far-fetched.Aside from the believability issues, there are some technical issues in the story that are distracting.  Punctuation is very touch-and-go.  Many terms that are usually capitalized are in lower case.  It is a relatively minor issue, but I found it just another distraction in a tale that was already fighting an uphill battle for plausibility in my mind.