Section 8

Title: Section 8
Author: Robert Doherty
Publisher: HarperTorch 2005

When I picked up this novel, I was expecting an exciting story about the US special forces.  As I started reading the novel, I found it offered me more than just an exciting special force story. 

The story started with a covert operation by the US special forces in the southern Philippines against the terrorist group Abu Sayef, a very exciting yet a bit cliche beginning.  Then the author surprised me with stories from Yamashita's gold, the Japanese Unit 731 in northern China, and the Golden Lily project.  The author smartly linked all those legends, rumors, altogether seamlessly, and through the mouth of Abu Sayef's great leader, Abayon, told a great story of the cruelty of the Japanese Imperial army, the dark side of the some shadowy international organization, and some unsolved mysteries in history.  The struggle between the US government, the suppressed world, and the many shadowy organizations and figures around the world is vividly portrait-ed in this novel, yet it still offers great excitement and entertainment to the special forces operations.

The story ends with an even bigger mystery that left the readers more eager to know than at the beginning of the story.  If this novel is made into a motion picture, I am sure there is a lot of room for a sequel.

This novel is recommended, as it is one of few novels that give me a very fresh feel.