Review: `Perhaps the cure for guilt from killing is more killing.'
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 24, 2013
Peter von Bleichert was born in New York City, has lived in Puerto Rico, Greece, and England, and currently resides in northern California. He holds degrees in history (American College of Greece, Athens. Greece) and a graduate degree in International Business and International Relations/Diplomacy (Schiller International University, London). He completed a one-year writing internship at British Royal United Services Institute for Defense Studies covering major international events and interviews, and teaches business and political science at College of San Mateo. Currently pursuing post-graduate studies in Public Policy and Administration with a specialization in Homeland security at Walden University, Peter von Bleichert comes from a family with a long military history: his grandfather and father are both veterans from WWII - their familial relationship is found in the book BLITZ! STORMING THE MAGINOT LINE, which was written by E. Wolfram von Bleichert, translated into English by his son Rolf von Belichert and edited by his grandson Peter. This is Peter von Bleichert's fifth novel and his inherited genes and current studies have prepared him well.According to Peter von Bleichert's statement, `my new book is about an Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands that traps the British Crown Prince--who happens to be an Apache attack helicopter pilot--in the melee. I love adventure stories and exploring the planets past, and this tale has both.'  What this young and gifted author has created is a wholly credible account `at some time in the future' for a second assault on the Falkland Islands - `Las Islas Malvinas' -  but rather than repeating a story similar to the famous Falkland Island war of the 1980s, he instead places the action in the context of the British Crown Prince Edward who has just completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan as a pilot of an Apache Assault Helicopter where he lost a beloved friend and was responsible for an inadvertent murder of a child - a trauma that haunts him permanently. Once home in England he is sent as a Royal visit to the Falkland Islands off Argentina in an attempt to confirm British control over the oil fields there, and upon arrival meets yet another war, this one engineered by the ruthless Argentine President Valeria Moreno and her minions, the ex-Nazi Dr. Waldemar Amsel and Major Ezequiel Vargas who seek to dispel British occupancy. Prince Edward must rise to the duties of a military leader, find connection to the people of the Falkland Islands, and restore the broken peace of that important island as well as salvage his own damaged psyche.Though the book is brief (a novella in essence) it is tensely and tightly written with a keen sense of military combat action and an even more sensitive approach to the question of the senseless wars of our time. `Though no disfigurement may be apparent, war can wound a man deeply.' Peter von Bleichert is a major force in the genre of techno thrillers yet retains that rare trait of writing with a strong sense of compassion. His is a very solid talent. Grady Harp, September 13