Customer Reviews

The Dogs of War

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you're new to Frederick Forsyth and looking for a place to start, begin with something other than The Dogs of War. The book starts off well, setting up a creative grand scheme for Sir James Manson to make it big in a newly-discovered platinum site in a newly-independent African state. The historical context of the decolonization of Africa in the 1960s mixed with the experiences of mercenary fighters provides an interesting backdrop, but once the plot is set, the book becomes disappointing. Much of it is devoted to preparations made by Cat Shannon, Manson's hired gun, to stage a coup in the country in question. There is too much unnecessary detail here; so much so that the reader just wants Shannon's men to just get to Africa (finally). It soon becomes uninteresting whether the guns come from Spain or the boots from England, or what Shannon eats in one European capital while setting up hotel reservations in another to complete his plans. The final scene, once delivered, is satisfactory, but it is not enough to make up for the drawn out middle portion or to fulfill the promise of the book's opening chapters.

This is the definitive merc novel.

Well researched, in fact based on his experiences as a journo during the Biafran war of the 60s. Also a good education in the world of mercs.

I think this is an interesting read even if it a novel. I read this after a reference to this book in a news story about the coup de etat in the island nation of Comorros. At that time, some South African mercenaries overthrew the crazed rule of the African ruler of Comorros. That is where the reference to the Dogs of War was made.
One of the previous reviewers thought it was bad for Forsyth to spend so much space on how the coup was organized. The procurement of all the arms with the export license was very fascinating. What Forsyth revealed was that coups could be done privately witout the knowledge of governments. One only had to know how to procure and organize for the overthrow of a government. I think Forsyth did this well.
This is an interesting read. This may not be on the level of his previous books, but it is still a good read.

The Dogs of War by F. F. is an intricate cultural novel which focuses on the different concepts that underlie politics across the world in a central African location. This book is intricate in all the concepts it deals with, i.e. politics, resource economy and the eclectic types of tribal mercenaries present. All in all, the book is a horrendous yet scrupulous analysis of the complex avarice that is ubiquitous in all socio-cultural hodgepodge novels. The complex metaphorical analysis and connections present in the book allow the reader to better discern the sundry of indelible characters that try to attain the resource-gluttonous needs of every complex society around the world. The platinum rich mountain is more than a unifying symbol of greed unto which all humanity rests its existential and rather materialistic bases on. It is more of a dithering social analysis that percolates through the general needs of our modern world, which depend on such symbols as platinum rich mountains. The incipient technological innovations that come through what we need in our modernistic valued world comes to see the mountain as a complex intertwined mix of different cultural as well as political needs. It therefore becomes the sole possessor of all mind psychology and philosophy, which base their attitudes on the materialism that pervades most of our societies and governments today.! YEAAAA

The whole idea of a group of mercenaries going on a covert mission to invade another country to overthrow the government, insert a puppet dictator and then exploit the natural resources sounded fascinating and realistic to me. I expected a lot of drama and intrigue but that's not what I got. I would describe most of the book as bland or lukewarm. There were simply too many monotonous details written about the organizing of the covert operation than the operation itself. I don't mind reading about details of events before an operation or attack, it's just that the organizing of this operation went a little too smoothly. It seemed like the hero of the story (a mercenary) didn't have too many worries. There was just one big problem he had but it was delt with very quickly like magic. How a certain event unfolded was not explained very well as it could have been. While reading, I was wondering "Where was he and how did he know?" and "Exactly how did that happen?". Some may not pay that much attention to it but I think the sub-plot could have been drawn out more, it was resolved too easily.

The little twist at the end was effective and made sense. I actually thought that it was kind of funny.

Forsyth fans will find this book enjoyable, but not nearly as gripping as his other books like "The Fist of God" and "The Day of the Jackel".

A mercenary by the name of Cat Shannon, is hired by a British business tycoon, James Manson, to overthrow the ruthless Communist dictator of the African State of Zangaro.
The plot is interesting and it is always good to see a Third World Communist dictator get his comeuppance but there is too much petty detail, which makes large chunks of the novel boring.
I would have preferred less on the logistics and more on the human interactions.
Forsyth's other works The Odessa File Fist of God , and The Fourth Protocol are much better

This was a really really good book. I will understand, although, how some people might get turned off. It is very detailed on the 'how to' of building a mercenary operation amongst other things (banking and setting up front companies), which I really enjoyed.
It seemed to be almost a manual for the mercenary soldier. In fact, if you are thinking of becoming one you should probably read this book.

Don't get me wrong here either. There was a very good story, and with a surprising end (and surprising middles too).

Very well written. Anyone know of other books detailed like this?

At least this is a different story, and in this book you will see that the people who has money and power think that they could do anything, but they have to take care of the people who work for them, specially in the job of Cat Shannon.
The book will keep you interested almost in all pages, the last to chapters are to long for the things Forsyth describes in them, but so far you have to finish the book, in one chapter says that Cat swam several miles to do his exercises, but at the end of the book this is a contradiction, you will see when you read the epilogue.
As the books of Forsyth that I like, you will never know if this story is true or false.

Having read most novels and short stories of Frederic Forsyth, I was disappointed by the dated feeling of this early seventies novel. Usually the detailed writing style adds to the realism of the story, here it just detracts. There is enough material for one of FF's short stories, but the endless descriptions to expand this to full length are largely unnecessary and mostly uninteresting.

I actually liked this book more than Day of the Jackal, which is also 5 stars, because, having lived in Africa, the book rings true. Equally true the characters are 1-dimensional and cardboard caricatures at times, but, that does not mean it is not authentic. All these architypes you will see in post-Colonial Africa in one form or another. Also wickedly ironic and racist, but in a benign way.