Perhaps an antagonistic bull would buy this paperback if he were a bull in an airport bookshop. The publisher (Coronet) has packaged it to make it as unappealing as possible to a thoughtful reader.
I certainly would not have glanced at it, so I am very pleased to have been given it and signed by Sir Richard to boot. As I’m only on page 58 there will be no spoilers. I should say immediately that I admire literary stylists so don’t buy this book if you want elegant writing. Sir Richard’s style is like a car crash between Dennis Wheatley and Jeffrey Archer – no bad thing if you want to write a best-seller – but his novel is in a genre I greatly admire: prophetic fiction. I don’t expect you to remember, but in 2017 I wrote briefly about Erskine Childers andJohn Buchan – who wrote fiction that turned out to be not far from reality; In Requiem. I hope Sir Richard Shirreff does not join this literary pantheon; I expect he does too.
I was an uneasy participant in the Cold War serving in the Honourable Artillery Company in the 1970s. The regiment’s role was top secret but suffice to say it was suicidal. NATO armies today must be, as I was, a little uneasy. I venture the difference is that fifty years ago there was an expectation of total war. In the 21st century the super powers are nibblers not gobblers; China in the South China Sea, Russia in Moldova, the Crimea and more of Ukraine.
If Russia made a move on the Baltic States (NATO members) how would NATO react? I’m only on page 58 but I suspect Sir Richard spent enough time as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe to be worried the NATO alliance might not spring to their help. He admires Lady Thatcher’s defence of the Falklands. Would NATO do the same for the Baltic States? I think Sir Richard is going to get a lot of the frustration he felt serving in NATO off his be-medalled chest in War with Russia.