Pairing Sellars with this knockout work was truly inspired. Sellars's performance is one of those rare occasions where narrative and narrator are in perfect sync. In a tone reminiscent of Capt. Benjamin Willard, Martin Sheen's character in Apocalypse Now Redux
(only not quite as jaded), Sellars's dryly cynical first-person delivery is in a voice rendered raspy, seemingly from whispering shouted orders. He brings the character of Gavin Kelly, a young Marine platoon leader, so to life that the illusion of listening to a real person tell a true story is complete. Kelly and his men are stationed in Somalia as part of a peacekeeping operation called Restore Hope. In this action-filled, sometimes disturbingly violent, morality tale, Kelly has to choose between loyalty and duty. West, a former marine platoon commander, must have been pleased to hear his first novel fleshed out so convincingly by Sellars. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover (Forecasts, Sept. 24, 2001). (Oct.)
