HONOR DUE: Book One
 The Citizen Warrior Series
By D. H. BROWN
www.dhbrownbooks.com
Manuscript 190 pages

In a suspenseful, sometimes-funny first book in his Citizen Warrior Series, DAVID H. BROWN, in HONOR DUE, has won a prime location on my bookshelf as a must-read author.   I have found that I really enjoy books written in first person. Although the majority of publishers require third person in fiction writing, I think first person allows a much more personal feeling for the reader.  It is as if the main character, the Major, is sitting right across the table and telling you his story—once in a while tossing in a joke or a “smart-ass” remark or action that enables you to thoroughly enjoy meeting the character.  The reader is privy to his internal dialogue, his thoughts, conversations with his dog, and even his arguments with God.  Bringing in the special care that he must take as a diabetic, even during traumatic times, makes the storyline even more realistic.  I think you’ll grow to love the sensitive, loving, and protective man that lies within the Major’s gruff and gritty exterior.

The Major is “an ex-special forces vet whose years in ‘Nam taught him what he needed to know to work as a covert agent for the shadow branches of the government when he returned home.” Continuing from the book description, “in the 90's he realized his bosses weren't taking terrorism seriously. Finally, a diabetic and completely tired of the life, he'd had enough of the killing, and one day he simply walked into the Pacific Northwest rainforest and lost himself”(page 2). 

Having done reviews on two other books by former Vietnam veterans, (The Road from Here to Where You Stay and the Negligence of Death*) I have found a haunting spirit that surrounds those veterans and their stories about the Vietnam era.  They sadden me, and yet pull me in to share what proves to be intimate parts of their lives.  I am always grateful for that experience.  Perhaps it is because I wrote to a friend who was in that war and he would never talk about what was happening there.  Indeed, there are many veterans who cannot talk about their Vietnam service time.  In a way, because of the controversies over the war and the unwillingness for involved soldiers to share their experiences, there is a certain mystique that seems to have developed.  As a lover of mysteries, perhaps that is why I am continuously enthralled by those novels I find that are written by veterans of this puzzling war.

No matter the reason—veterans of Vietnam never quite give up their warrior persona.  The Major didn’t and when he arrived in the rainforest he’d brought all of his skills and talents, as well as his memories.  Deep inside he knew that even though he’d had enough of the killing and he was now a civilian, he knew also that he would still always be a warrior and would be prepared whenever he was forced to again play that role. 

It was a good thing that he’d prepared.

When the stranger showed up, asking questions, carrying his picture from his service days, instinct immediately told the Major there was trouble coming.  He didn’t know why yet, but his instinct told him—he would have to kill that stranger.  So he did.

Many of the Major’s war memories surrounded his wife and child and her Montagnard family.  Though his wife and child had been killed, he had worked to bring her family to the United States.  Indeed he had met his wife through one of his warrior brothers, Ang.  Now, as he followed the trail that the stranger had taken, he found that brother, to be tortured, dead. 

But he also found evidence that someone had escaped—perhaps Ang’s wife?  The Major had to find out.

One of my favorite characters is Black Dog—truly the Major’s best friend.  As the Major tracked through the rainforest, it was Black Dog who discovered the hiding place, and would not leave it, until Blon, Ang’s daughter, had been found, nearly frozen, nearly dead.

As he doctored and nursed Blon back to health, the Major had plenty of time to think—why was this happening now and who was behind it?  Considering those with whom he had worked years ago, he was able to realize one thing quickly. The stranger that had been sent and who murdered Ang was really another victim—he had been sent to his death, as surely as he had died.  He had become a victim of war and for that he had honor due him.  The Major would see that honor was given to both of his warrior brothers—Ang and the stranger!

But the Major found he was no longer alone in his war.  Not only did neighbors prove to be trustworthy, but Blon, too, sought revenge.  And, as she watched the Major and had to depend upon him for her life, she sought, too, to fill the empty place in his heart that had long been empty.

As the Major follows the clues and tracks the men responsible, still he searches for the reason, the “why” this was happening.  What he ultimately discovers surprises him…as well as the readers!

Look for this suspense-packed first book soon.  The Major is already on to something new in HONOR DEFENDED.  You won’t want to miss the Citizen Warrior Series!

G. A. Bixler
For IP Book Reviewers