Borderland War

Author's Summary

What would really happen if the President of the United States decided to use the Army's Delta, Special Operations Command of Fort Bragg to attack drug cartel operations along our southern border? If Mexico's economy, once supported by American tourist dollars fell flat after drug violence brought death to American tourists who would he call upon?

MWSA Review

I've read several novels this year about drug cartels and the uneasy situation they create on the USA/Mexican border. The flaw in most of them is that they all assume the reader has a working knowledge of the problems and a similar ideological bent toward solving those problems. As a result, they jump right into the action...kind of like coming in the middle of a movie, the reader is lost for a while. Not so with David Thompson's Borderland War. His opening scene is a blast -- literally -- that sets the stage physically, emotionally -- and politically.  On top of that, it grabs a casual browser and makes him WANT to read the book.

While the author uses some nonstandard techniques that took me a bit to accept, I enjoyed this book on several levels. First, it was simple and to the point. The premise centers around a Presidential decision to resolve an ongoing problem of violence and drug trafficking along our southern border...and he turns to a special operations group in the Army. These men and women are trained in clandestine missions -- they get in, do what they were sent to do, and get out. (As a short story writer, I get the principle and applaud the skill and careful use of resources that this takes.) Second, the narrator is a hispanic member of this group and his special perspective makes the process interesting and allows a novice like to me to fully understand the situation in a humanistic way. Finally, while the action is there -- and it is exciting, it's not the focus so much as in some of the other works I've read. It's more nuanced and blended with mental rest stops where the author brings the reader up to speed with what's happening without an undue amount of narration.

Although this isn't a perfect novel, it is an entertaining and fun read -- and the first in this genre that I "got" on more than a super hero level. 

Reviewed by: Joyce Faulkner (2012)