Time and Chance and Selected Short Stories
by Alexander Hopkin
John
Moses is a "soldier's soldier." He is a West Point graduate, completes
the elite and demanding training of the Army Special Forces, and is
assigned to fight the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq. The
atrocities of war are more than John can emotionally handle, so the
Army pulls him out of combat and reassigns him stateside. Unfortunately,
John is not ready to go home. He leaves the base without permission
and joins up with a couple that are backpacking across Europe and
winds up in Amsterdam. John struggles with his "good soldier" persona
as he becomes intimately involved in the drug and prostitution business
of the Amsterdam Red Light District. It appears that John still has
a sense of duty when he is called to help his country again. The reader
will wonder if John is he really working for our side as a "mole"
in the Dutch underground. In Time and Chance, Alexander Hopkins writes
a compelling novel about the emotional scars of war. Using the Amsterdam
Red Light District as the setting for most of the novel, Hopkins
magnifies the "noir" nature of the plot and the troubled persona
of John Moses. The ending of the novel is quite surprising and leaves
the reader with several unanswered questions. Hopkins also includes
three of his short stories in the publication all of which are well-written,
but somewhat dark in tone.
|
The
Book |
iUniverse Inc. |
August 5. 2004 |
Paperback |
0595310362 |
Fiction |
More
at Amazon.com |
Excerpt |
NOTE: |
The
Reviewer |
Robin
Thomas |
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