Source: I received a copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.
From Goodreads
No one knows the heart and mind of soldier. Every day they
must face scenarios and life choices that most of us will never even imagine.
When Rory Nichols joins the Army, this hard lesson hits hard and fast. After
911, he is deployed to Iraq. He and his wife, Emily, face sacrifice and strife
which they fear their young marriage may not survive. Pushed to his limits,
Rory begins to ask questions. Then one day, he receives a fateful phone call
relaying the most wicked of betrayals. He rushes home to face an enemy he had
not predicted. In this penultimate moment he will right a wrong and stand for
what he believes in at all costs; making a statement to his country, to his
family, and to all victims of this seething crime. It is a story of life, love,
and rising above the acts of war and abuse.
My Thoughts
Serving in the military is difficult during the
best of times. It is made harder when a
soldier must leave their family and go forth to a country to protect the rights
of others. In this book we find a
soldier who has made a promise to protect his country from all enemies both
foreign and domestic. He serves two
tours in Iraq. He has lived through the
loss of his best friend JT, who was also a soldier. Imagine his feelings of devastation when he
is called into his commanding officer’s office and told he is being sent home
early due to and incident that has put his four year old daughter in the
hospital. Imagine how he must feel being
so far away knowing he was unable to protect those he cherishes more than life
itself. Those imaginings don’t even
begin to tell you or explain to you what this soldier went through. The author has done an excellent job of
stepping into the mind of a soldier.
They have shown the reader all sides of the soldier and the complex life
they live. I do remember when the Iraq
war started after 9/11. My brother and
three of my nephews were shipped over. I
remember hearing from my brothers some of the things that were going on and
being told not to tell my mom. He wanted
to spare her the atrocities he saw. I
remember my own son joining the army. I
also remember my heart dropping when he told me he was being sent to
Korea. Everyone kept telling me that it
wasn’t like being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan.
They were right. He wasn’t right in the thick of things. He had to worry about the dictator just a few
miles from his camp firing a missile at him.
I was so proud of him when he told me he wasn’t afraid of dying if it
meant he could protect the lives of his loved ones. He left behind a pregnant wife, son, daughter
and step-daughter. Like Rory, in the
story, I have no doubt my son would go to all lengths to protect all member of
his family. There were so many
connections to make to this book. I am
proud to stand behind ALL of our soldiers and what they stand for. This is a book that everyone needs to read. I recommend it to everyone. My only word of warning is some of the
language. The content was so good I
could just skim over that part.
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