Short Story review – The Last Patrol

Another Welsh author (and short story) I discovered quite by chance via Twitter. The story I’ve reviewed here was written in aid of the Semper Fi Fund, a U.S. military charity …|

Richard is an ex-member of the Parachute Regiment who became involved in the secretive world of the private security industry in post-Gulf War II, Iraq. Since then, he has worked in Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and many other hostile environments, continually at the tip of the spear as the intelligence services fight the Global War on Terror.  In addition to his past and post-military careers, Richard C. Pendry is forging a new additional career in writing. 

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The Last Patrol

                 A first class story. Poignant, hard-hitting, and well-written. Loved it!

 

What can I say about this short story? It’s little more than a ten-minute read but the story it packs into its short length is absolutely superb.

The author’s portrayal of a serving soldier in Afghanistan is frighteningly authentic just as you would expect given the author’s own military experience. Despite being such a short read, the story unfolds via two polar opposites character wise – different sides of the same coin as it were – before the reality of the story hits home.  Through excellent attention to detail and imaginative imagery, the author recreates a vivid snapshot of a moment and incident during the Afghan conflict. This is a hard-hitting though moving story that reminds us of the brutal reality of war along with a frightening and poignant nod to the future.

Given the author’s background I was impressed with the impartiality he was able to portray all the characters in the story, and not just the ones he can most obviously identify with. In addition to being a great premise for a story, the writing of it too was equally well executed. A first class story, and definitely enough to intrigue me into reading more from this author.

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This short story is available as a free download via signing up at the author’s website, but if however, you would like to make a donation to the Semper Fi Fund please purchase the short story through Amazon as all proceeds from the sale of this story are donated to the said charity.

www.semperfifund.org

 

See also: 

Twitter – @RichadCPendry – Website – www.richardpendry.com –

See Here for Richard C. Pendry’s Amazon Author page: