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Title: The Valley
Author: John Renehan
Narrator: William Hope
Format: Unabridged
Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
Language: English
Release date: 06-04-15
Publisher: Jammer Audio
Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense
Publisher's Summary:
There were many valleys in the mountains of Afghanistan, but there was only one like this....
Black didn't even know its proper name. It was the farthest, the hardest, and the worst. He thought that everything about the Valley was myth and rumour.
But Black finds after traveling deep into the heart of the Valley an illumination of dark secrets that had accumulated during month after month of fighting and dying in defence of an indefensible piece of land....
Critic Reviews:
"Both a gripping, tightly-wound mystery as well as a sharply observed look at the deterioration of men tasked with too vague a mission and too little support deep in the mountains of Afghanistan." (Phil Klay, author of Redeployment)
Members Reviews:
Perhaps the US-side great novel of the Afghan war
Fiendishly challenging mystery plot, dialog of soldiers even better than the detailed and vivid ambience of Afghan combat a few years ago.
Perhaps a movie script in novel form, invites e-learning and rewards close and thoughtful mulling.
Saw a memorial to our folks who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, a sad number of blank but unjustly dog tags. Renehan makes me think twice and then three times about each and every character, especially Afghans and the joes or enlisted men, no matter how minimal their dialog.
This Ain't Your Grandfather's Shangri-La
The author takes pains to explain military jargon and slang, but his prose would flow better in the early going if he'd have just thrown a glossary in at the back. If you couldn't decipher a term, you could always go look it up. As it is, the definitions are just a distraction. That said, I couldn't put this book down once I started. Nothing is as it seems, except that everything is inscrutable. Forget the politics of our Adventures in Afghanistan, this is just a great mystery novel set in a part of the world few of us could ever understand. There are similarities to "Platoon" in this novel given the conflict between the two senior sergeants, but that just adds to the mystery. Lieutenant Black is a good character and I hope the author let's him stay in the Army, but over in Special Forces (Black Ops).
A Head-Scratching, Slippery Slope, Twisting Plot, Must Re-Read Ride Without the Scooby-Doo Ending
A great read, with the traditional introduction of characters and story through the first third, followed by the build-up through the second third, culminating in a wild, twisting and confusing, yet joyful, ride the last third; akin to sliding down a slippery slope of dramatic action. I bought the book, knowing it was a war novel set in Afghanistan, but picked it up to read a month later, forgetting there was 'some mystery' to it, and could not put it down. A great thriller, set in a modern military drama.
After reading the book, I must admit, i felt (and still feel), like one does after seeing a a good movie, say The Matrix or Interstellar; that is, you get it, you followed it, you enjoyed it, but yet you half chuckle, because you think you got most of it, or is it you were more confused, yet you smile and clap with everyone else, and say, "gotta see that again". Admittedly, i was definitely confused at the end, but enjoyed the fact that it didn't have the "explains it all" Scooby-Doo ending, that other readers expect. Like some of my favorite movies, i simply said, "phew, Must Re-Read".