"Right now I'm the ranking targeteer on staff. I should be thrilled. I'm a key player in a popular war which is showing every sign of going our way."
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The Bluebonnet Battlefield by Douglas Shryock & Allen Martin Trafford Publishing
book review by K.R.Mecom
The Bluebonnet Battlefield centers on the character of Captain Tom Duncan, a military man whose job it is to plan attacks. The novel has an interesting, unusual structure. Told exclusively through emails, the novel's plot unfurls through the characters' different reactions to the events they both witness and learn about. As we follow Duncan's correspondence with his wife, friends, and colleagues, he undergoes subtle changes, beginning to question not only his own purpose and identity as a targeteer, but that of the entire military when he is commanded to plan an attack that will use nuclear weapons. And here lies the heart of the novel as the two authors explore what happens when one begins to question established truths.
Simmering below the main narrative of Duncan's life is the tension between the government of the United States and the state of Texas, whose governor, Denison, believes the war to be an illegal one. The second half of the novel concerns how Duncan will react to the possibility and realties of Texas succeeding from the United States. As Duncan states when writing to him Mom and Dad, "There comes a time where a man determines how he will spend his life. …He must define himself and define his world. That time has come for me." The authors display a deep knowledge and understanding of the military and its practices, and then are able to apply that realistically to what would happen if a state like Texas chose to become its own Republic. They explore in-depth the consequences of such an event with extraordinary, well-thought details.
Although the premise of the novel would be enough to capture anyone's attention, it is the characters that serve to bring the novel’s narrative to life. A stand out character is that of Duncan's wife, Scottie. Once again left behind by her husband as he goes off to war, Scottie struggles to raise the kids in Tom's absence, and shows the strains at constantly worrying about whether or not her husband is safe and alive. Tom Duncan is a nuanced, complicated character that readers will connect to and feel for.