9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Gripping, but suspect
Date of Review: Oct 25, 2001
The Bottom Line: Read it. Decide for yourself whether or not his quotes are accurate. Regardless, you'll learn about the way things work in modern war, a subject quite apropos now.
Bowden's account of the Battle of the Black Sea fulfills the author's main goal, which was to write a true war story in the form of a novel. The book does read like fiction. It's compelling, captivating, and at times difficult to put down. It paints an inside picture of modern warfare, and give new perspective to what's going on in third-world countries today. He's a journalist, and he writes like a journalist. He uses emotion and feeling to capture the reader, making them care about this subject they may never have even heard about. By his list of sources at the end of the book, his research seems trustworthy. My one doubt, however, is the authenticy of the direct quotes he uses. Throughout each battle scene, he moves the story by using direct quotes from each of the soldiers. I'm not saying he's made up these quotes, I just wonder how a soldier under fire is about to recall exactly what he said at any certain point. No doubt, these quotes have come from the actual participants, but I just wonder how accurate they are. As a journalist myself, I find this hard to accept. I'm not questioning Bowden's research, just how accurate this stuff really is.
