Review – Rule of Law

Show-time under the big top. SEAL Team Six has just taken center stage. For good or for ill, the lives of an American Journalist and the son of the Saudi royal family rested in the hands of one of the most capable Special Forces Units currently under arms. Expertly trained, incredibly equipped, this should have been a walk in the park. Of course, one can never forget the most-oft quoted proverb of the SEAL Team community: “The only good day was yesterday.” And with bad – bogus? – intel, the “walk in the park” becomes a bloody fight for survival. In the aftermath, hard questions are being asked, and no one seems to be able to provide the answers. Did the president play political games with the lives of U.S. service members? Who was ultimately responsible for the spectacular failure of SEAL Team Six? Paige Chambers, a determined young lawyer, has a very personal reason for wanting to know the answer. The case she files will polarize the nation and test the resiliency of the Constitution. The stakes are huge, the alliances shaky, and she will be left to wonder if the saying on the Supreme Court building still holds true. Equal justice under law. It makes a nice motto. But will it work when one of the most powerful people on the planet is also a defendant? Randy Singer has written what can only be called an epic tour de force of legal and military suspense. His writing is tight, his plot lines are engaging, and the action rarely allows for the reader to take a ragged breath. My only criticism is simply this; the book is just too long! At 473 pages, and with a cast of 40 characters to keep track of (there is a CAST OF CHARACTERS at the beginning of the book), one is reminded of Abbot and Costello’s infamous radio program, WHO’S ON FIRST? Perhaps the CAST OF CHARACTERS at the front of the book should be detachable? If you have the necessary patience and stamina, as well as the time and inclination, Randy Singer produces a fictional story that reads like yesterday’s headlines in terms of authenticity. Along the way, the author forces the reader to really think through what we have always naively accepted as THE RULE OF LAW. 4 stars for an excellent book that requires a lot from the reader