A review by clark_w
Red Metal by H. Ripley Rawlings, Mark Greaney

5.0

I really like what I call "military procedurals" -- analogous to "police procedurals," which include a lot of details about police procedures and practices. Indeed, in police procedurals the police practices provide the main chronological framework for the story. For instance, I like reading radio traffic. And I like to read tactical military stuff. I'm not interested in the grand flow of strategy or in the geopolitics, but in a single ship or a pilot & wingman or a platoon, company, or battalion. Also I prefer to have as little romantic love interest as possible in a military book. I have trouble finding military procedurals that I like.

This book matched my preferences exactly, and it was executed superbly: interesting, three-dimensional characters, significant details of the right kind, plausible ratio of losses between our forces and theirs, excellent plotting and pacing. There was even an old guy in it. (I'm an old guy.)

I would pre-order the next book in the series today, if I could.