You will not find a more captivating, fun read this summer. A rip-roaring caper by a former combat Marine officer in Iraq, Afghanistan, and who knows what other shadowy places. There’s Big Cheese Aziz, an off-the-books Afghan pilot, and Skwerl (phonetic for squirrel— “because Marines can’t spell”), an equally dodgy former CIA operative, who are recruited by someone unknown to repossess (translate: ‘hijack’) a plane in Uganda, fly it to Marseille; eventually they fly it to Pennsylvania (enter Skwerl’s girlfriend, a dominatrix with an Amish client; Cheese’s pregnant wife, living in Texas, is kidnapped), before stashing it in the Colorado wilderness. Where did those expensive plates and dishes come from? Are they real? In the background is the grim reality of war, the damage to veterans, the lies, including a raid on an Afghan village, led by Ackerman, that resulted in the deaths of 60 children. Who are ‘sheepdogs’ anyway? Buy a copy for yourself and your best mate.

— Ray