Review: Bride of a Bygone War
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 27, 2011
The author is a great story teller who exhibits a command of the subject matter and the period. This is an excellent thriller that grew my interest, particularly after the first third of the book when the background circumstances were defined.  I like stories which clearly take me away into the time and place, and this one captured the spirit.  Much like some other recent historical novels, we are inside the lives of Americans who are on foreign soil in extremely dangerous circumstances.We are taken to the midst of the Lebanese Civil War in 1981 at the side of Conrad Prosser, junior case officer in the Beirut CIA station, and Walter Lukash, a seasoned case officer newly  assigned to the Phalangist Intelligence Services in East Beirut. Walt is known to be effective in recruiting agents but a difficult character who does not  follow the rules.We learn from the Ambassador that since the November elections, the White House and the National Security Council are asking if the leaders of the Phalange Party can be coaxed(bribed) to take a more moderate position toward their Muslim countrymen.Increased intelligence cooperation with the Phalange is clearly the starting point.  Lukash has been selected by the agency to act as the US government's  intelligence representative to the Phalanage and to encourage them to believe that further American support will be contingent on the letter and spirit of their cooperation.The support will primarily come in the form of newly-delivered electronic communications equipment and weaponsthat must have their usage monitored to insure they does not precipitate a Syrian response against American interests in Beirut.Prosser knows Lukash from their Beirut work two years earlier; he knows him to have a short memory and to be a guy who cares only about what is happening to himself today.The reader learns one fact not disclosed by Lukash to his CIA bosses that may destroy their plans:  Lukash is also known in Beirut as William Conklin, an American Arab language student who abruptly flew out five years ago and deserted Muna, his beautiful new Lebanese bride from a prominent Phalange family.Within this framework Lukash must also deal  with his soul-mate Irish girlfriend, Lorraine Ellis, who has followed him from Amman with the hope of marriage and life in the U.S.Lukash's assignment will have him cross over into East Beirut and settle in with the Phalange.  It also has him working shoulder to shoulder with the Phalangist Major Elie who has long desired to marry Lukash's deserted wife.  Meanwhile, Lukash nearly becomes a casualty of  both Syrian and Phalangists power players.The author's detailed descriptions of the Beirut city life and the Lebanese countryside during this period add rich flavor and strong credability to the story.  We come to know the crossover points, the ad hoc roadblocks by local militias, and random actions taken by factions for power, politics, money, or personal pleasure including kidnapping and random executions.  The human suffering of the Lebanese citizenry from years upon years of fighting and political collapse is made personal through the portraits of characters of different ages and social circumstances, from the former upper middle class merchant families who have lost nearly all their wealth from burned businesses during the war, to seventeen year olds who act as hooded thugs at impromptu roadblocks.We see the factionalized Lebanese society composed of groups who seek to destroy each other based on a religion, revenge, or personal power politics of the Lebanese or the  Syrian Asad family.As one would expect if you are at the Green Line in Beirut of 1981, Lukash and Prosser are at risk in a free-for-all setting which apparently continues today.  While this is a novel about history as well as love and personal growth, it is also very relevent to understanding the nature of today's Middle East region.