All The Young Warriors [Kindle Edition]

Sunday, March 18, 2012

All The Young Warriors [Kindle Edition]

By : Anthony Neil Smith
List Price : ~~$2.99~~
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Customer Reviews

All The Young Warriors is by far the most accomplished and ambitious novel yet by Anthony Neil Smith. In ATYW, Smith touches on religious fanaticism and the impressionable American inner city youth misguided by recruitment vultures who feed their delusions by selling broken dreams and false prosperity with the acclimation for cause - a rebirth of faith. At the thrillers' heart lies a breaking man whose second lease on life is taken away at the hands of a merciless thug turned terrorist-in-training; Jilbriil. Having his partner and unborn child gunned down sets a turn of events in motion which sees the streets of Minnesota and the desert landscape of Somalia run red with vengeance and unjustified blood lust.
Bleeker (the meaning namesake 'bleak' not lost on the casual observer) mourns his partner's passing by fueling his rage across continents, leaving no stone untouched in his quest to rid the world of his personal demon. Accompanied by an unlikely alliance in the form of a local gangster whose son, Adem, has been caught up in the terrorist plight - Bleeker's investigation leads him down a path populated by extremists, pirates, killers, and government officials alike.
All The Young Warriors, for it's graphic depiction of murder and retribution, retains a sense of realism delivered through heart thumping emotion and pulse pounding clarity. The aspects of a world ravaged to ruin and ruled by violence, yet softened by a few kind souls is thought provoking and awe inspiring. Smith has delivered on one of the best books of 2011 with each chapter further evidence of his ability to demand a reader's attention and hold it until the very end. Captivating and utterly essential. 5 stars.

The plot, in short: on their way to the airport, an American-Somali gang-banger and his relatively innocent friend shoot two cops in Minnesota. They're on their way to Somalia to join the civil war and "figure out what it's like to be Somalia." The gang-banger finds his true calling in the war; the innocent friend finds that he's out of his depth. Meanwhile, the lover of one of the slain cops and the father of the innocent friend begin looking for the pair, tracking them through the criminal underworld of Minnesota and all the way to Somalia.
This is a dark, violent book. Smith doesn't shy away from the violence visited on people, especially in Somalia. In Smith's hands, this adds to, rather than detracts from, the story. The book moves fast, and the suspense ratchets up throughout. There is also an authenticity to this book -- I'm not aware that the author visited Somalia for research, but the book certainly reads like he did.
After his outstanding YELLOW MEDICINE and HOGDOGGIN' (not to mention his e-only CHOKE ON YOUR LIES), I'd been eagerly waiting for a new Anthony Neil Smith book -- I'm happy to report that I was not disappointed.