May 30, 2022
Set in the early 1980s, Stejskal’s subpar third entry in his Snake Eater Chronicles (after 2021’s Appointment in Tehran) takes U.S. Army Special Forces Staff Sgt. Paul Stavros to Northern Ireland on an undercover mission to locate a former Green Beret comrade of Irish descent, who’s been recruited by sympathetic U.S. partisans to lend his skills as a demolition expert to the IRA’s guerilla campaign against the occupying British military. Posing as a freelance journalist investigating the impact of the Troubles on ordinary Irish citizens, Stavros spends his time drilling with the U.K. security forces and interviewing locals, hoping to stumble across his quarry. A subplot, focused on Stavros’s girlfriend’s training as an operative, feels disconnected and superfluous, and amid sparse period details, the action builds to a too-neatly-wrapped resolution. Stejskal does a good job maintaining suspense, but is circumspect in his description of the conflict, neither taking sides nor deeply exploring its political history, leaving readers unsure of the motivations of characters who can seem too modern and unconvincing. Series fans will hope for a return to form next time.