The Desert by Bryon Morrigan

The ARC of this book came to me a few weeks back but because of other obligations I was unable to start on this (and the rest o my TBR stack) right away. I want to apologize for that. Had I known what I was missing, I'd have started the night I received it.

In all honesty, though, I didn't expect a lot from this book. I saw the cover (with the soldier on the front), read the back cover and was convinced it was going to be yet another practice in mediocrity. I'm always one to admit when I'm wrong.

The book starts slowly with and officer and a soldier doing recon for WMD's in Iraq. They happen to find a cave with the grave of a soldier from a lost platoon. They also find his journal. That's where the book begins.

Like I said, it starts slowly. But, in all fairness, so do freight trains. These large beasts take a while to get up to speed but once they get going, it's hard as hell to stop them. The same could be said for this novel.

I read the first chapter in passing and sat the book down. A few days later I picked it up again and read 150 pages in a matter of an hour and some change. I didn't want to put it down and, had it not been so late to begin with, I'd have finished it that night.

Morrigan takes us into the Iraqi desert; an abandoned village and the bowels of Hell as two men struggle to free themselves, retain their sanity and make it out in one piece.

The Desert is a sly combination of action and horror with enough chills to keep a reader on their toes and enough heart pounding action to keep a reader's blood racing.

The characters are, not only enjoyable, but also believable and empathetic. The feel of the whole book is carried throughout from page one until the end. The dialog was well written. In short, this is a great book by a talented author whom I hope to see more of in the near future.

Yes, there are spots where they pace slowed a bit more than I liked but it did little to detract from the story as a whole. This book was a fine example of writing that even some more established authors should look to as an example of how to keep a reader's attention.