QRF By Craig DiLouie starts by putting the reader straight into the midst of the action, you will get introduced to the main character as the scene opens up and be given a tease of what’s to come, with a small twist that will hook you in with the emotion.
What the main character feels from his time in the Iraqi war and by watching more news of it fold out in front of him again on the TV will intrigue you, with glimpses of his physical prowess while in combat sprinkled to add into the depth of this novel. Craig DiLouie knows how to write war/military related books, and he knows how to pull you into the novels he crafts, so be assured, if you love action packed war-related novels, you can trust Craig to deliver, and QRF is no different.
The plot takes the reader on two journeys, one that shows the reader what it is like for a soldier after fighting a war, how they try to live as a veteran and react in safety of their home country and another view that is the same soldier in the mists of a stressful or boring, war. Craig DiLouie blends these two views together so well in this novel that you hardly notice the switch between the two different places, characters and scenery. As its well described, paced out well and clear to understand.
– Have you ever thought about that? A boring war? Like, in movies that portrait wars, american wars, are mostly action and shootings and screams, but Craig is able to show you the little things in a war that the average person has no idea of. This novel will help a lot of people in the US understand what and why war veterans are how they are, incredible. –
‘Coop’s experiences in Iraq hadn’t broken him. He had plenty of bad memories but also good ones, and he had no serious moral regrets about anything he’d done. He didn’t consider himself damaged, but yeah, the war had changed him. He came out of Iraq a different man than when he entered, it was that simple. A permanent physical imprint. In a way, he’d aged. He felt like he carried the weight of a century on his shoulders. A lot of history to haul around. Forever at the edge of some great epiphany that would never come, some massive and complete wisdom that would make it all make sense.’
The first half of the book paints a picture of day to day lives of platoon privates deployed at a base in Iraq. You will get a look into what a soldier may think and feel at any given time. What they would do on their down time and how they learn to handle a situation that would put any civilian into a frenzy that would end up with them running for their life.
As the chapters go on you will get to see how soldiers handle coming home from the war, how they readjust to life that isn’t constant threats of bombs, daily drills and banter with other soldiers that a civilian just wouldn’t understand.
There are lot of insights of the war in Iraq and a brief history of the Al-Qaeda leaders and the start of the terrorist group ISIS and the events that followed weather they were the terrorist attacks on the United States of America or the suicide bombers that caused chaos in Iraq and Pakistan.
Then as the story goes on, about 6 or 7 chapters on, after a little teasing and playing with the idea. The story hits you with a twist that just will catch you off guard and the true story begins. A journey that they wont back down from, a mission that would see the end of them if they failed, a single chance for a right cause.
‘Nearly eight thousand miles. The trip would take close to a
full day.
Due to his height and frame, he’d won the window seat, from
which he’d watched America shrink and disappear. Now the view
only offered thin air and a bright world of cottony clouds, what
medievalists thought Heaven looked like.
“So we’re doing this,” Doc said.
“It’s something, huh?” Coop said.
The man looked dazed. “Oh yeah, it’s something.”
“You’re not happy.”
“I think this is stupid even for Gamblers.”
“Why’d you come?”
Doc glanced across Horvath and the aisle at Stuckey’s
satisfied profile. “You could say my recruiter is a hell of a
salesman.”
Coop laughed. “I’m starting to I wish I’d hung out with you
more back in the day.”
“I was too full of myself telling you the war was stupid.”
“You still do believe that, though, don’t you?”
“There’s a time and a place to be right,” Doc said.’
Characters are portrayed as hard set, stuck in their ways, men that have had different experiences after leaving the army. Though they may wander the country, finding the right place to set roots or they secure a good job and start a family. One this is for sure, they struggled to find friends on the outside but they relish with their old comrades from the army.
Coop may not have the life he thought he was going to have after leaving high school but he sure is make the most out of what his life turned out to be. But my favourite character is ‘Doc’ a person who was too smart for the war but never let it affect his relationships with his comrades.
For those always that always had questions about the Iraq war, then this is definitely a book to grab now, it has a lot for readers to chew on in a fictional sense. You will get mostly not the reasons behind the war but as a way to experience the war for yourself.
This novel by Craig DiLouie can also be a way of researching or gaining an insight if you were thinking about joining the Army. And lastly it will cater to people who lived through the Iraqi war. If you’re a soldier who did a few tours in the war torn country then you will want to see if your experiences match up or you want to see a different perspective of the war from what you went though yourself, and this also applies for those who have veteran family members and friends, as it will open your mind into what they might have gone through and help you understand and relate to them better.
War novels can be punching reads that take guts due to the death and destruction, so if you can handle all that you will enjoy QRF by Craig DiLouie as it will give you real insights to the life of what it is like to fight because your country told you to but also to fight for something you believe in.
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