Great

I wasn't overly impressed with this book, the story was alright but the execution just didn't draw me in. Coming off of reading Jeffrey Archer's As The Crow Flies, this didn't even compare in terms of characters, scenes and story development.

Pretty straight forward plot set in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the British decide they want to capture some parts of the Soviet's fancy Hind helicopter and to do so smuggle in a surface-to-air missile and decide to train some locals to do the task. Sent off early and unprepared with half the missiles and the single launcher the locals are annihilated and only a boy returns carrying the single launcher.

All emotional, Barry Crispin SAS decides to take the launcher and the remaining missiles into Afghanistan to finish the job so the locals didn't die in vain, and so the meat of the story begins.

It's alright but I didn't find myself at all compelled by the story at times drifting off to read the newspaper instead when my mind wandered. Would be suitable to pass time if you have no alternative entertainment, eg on a plane. ( )

Written in 1984 about the Soviet Union's attempt to set up a friendly government in Afghanistan, this novel remains a timely reminder of history's many failures by would-be conquerors with similar plans in mind. ( )