West (The Village), a former Marine captain and assistant secretary of defense, adds a cyber-age twist to the military rescue formula in his fiction debut, which follows a group of biologically enhanced Marine reservists as they attempt to rescue a colleague, Capt. Tyler Cosgrove, captured while on patrol in Kosovo by Serb renegade Saco Iliac. The rogue Serb promptly tries to capitalize on his capture by phoning in a ransom demand to Cosgrove's fiancée in Manhattan. Meanwhile, the Marine team nicknamed the Pepperdogs (because they "run like a dog with pepper up its arse") sets out in hot pursuit, taking advantage of the performance-enhancing drugs the military is feeding them to close the gap in a hurry. The fun begins when the team's communication expert, a computer geek named Harvell, uses their Web site, Pepperdogs.com (best known up to this point for offering a dating service that introduced U.S. and NATO military to "attractive, English-speaking, wholesome" Kosovar women), to post periodic progress reports on the rescue mission. Before long, the whole world is tuning in and the rescue becomes an international media spectacle. West introduces too many characters and gets carried away with his plotting: the Marines hurry to rescue Cosgrove in time for Christmas and before his gravely ill mother dies of cancer. Still, his military expertise is evident, the cat-and-mouse game offers gripping chase scenes and the cyber angle provides comic relief. There's plenty of intriguing adventure here for military action fans. (Jan. 3)
