Military court martials tend to be short, their verdicts swiftly carried out. Unlike civilian courts, lawyers don't come up with reasons to delay or overturn sentences. The Code of Military Justice is more clear-cut, less filled with loopholes.
The Escape by David Baldacci Macmillan 475pp Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops 595 baht
Not that uniformed officers are infallible. They dislike making mistakes and exoneration isn't immediate. Lawyers-turned-novelists enjoy writing courtroom dramas, more than a few opting to give court martials a wide berth. Perhaps they were glossed over in law school. This reviewer's favourites in the genre are The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial and The Life Of Emil Zola.
In The Escape, David Baldacci presents readers with a contemporary, albeit fictitious case. Events aren't in chronological order, with the trial coming after an escape from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Robert Puller served two years of his life sentence for treason before breaking out of the maximum security prison.
The author's emphasis isn't on how he escaped but on the justice of his sentence. The Pullers are a career military family going back to the American Revolution. Robert's father was a retired general, his brother John an army investigator. Certain that Robert is innocent, John is determined to prove it.
Military Intelligence officer Veronica Knox is part of the team tracking down the fugitive, reluctantly agreeing with John that Robert was set up by high ranking soldiers. As Sherlock Holmes would say: "There's dirty work afoot." As witnesses at Robert's trial are interrogated, hitherto secret information is revealed.
The condemned man had been working on US weapons of mass destruction, nuclear and chemical. So were the Russians. The arms race will determine who wins World War III. The end of Soviet communism didn't mean that Moscow gave up on world domination.
There are those high up in Washington D.C. who doubt whether America offers more hope than Russia for a better future. They are behind the charges against Robert. What's more they are putting into motion acts of terrorism against the Pentagon, involving the Ebola virus. Can John and Knox prevent this?
In the penultimate chapter, several major characters are shot, though not all die. The Escape is a compelling page-turner.
Time And Time Again by Ben Elton Bantam 387pp Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops 625 baht
Back to the future
While there is academic dispute over whether World War II began with the overrunning of Manchuria, bombing of Pearl Harbor or invasion of Poland, its cause was incontrovertibly the aggression of Japan and Germany. The reason for World War I — sparked by the assassinations of the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince and his consort in the Balkans — remains a controversial topic.
The Treaty of Versailles blamed the entire conflict on Germany. But while the Germans stopped their allies from making separate peace deals and fought to the bitter end, they were no more responsible than Russia and France. Indeed, the Kaiser didn't think the war would come about. With every country's mobilisation, the military moved the politicians aside and war became inevitable.
Nevertheless, when the subject is taught in school, Germany in general and the Kaiser (infamous for his sabre-rattling) in particular are blamed. This is the theme of British author Ben Elton's Time And Time Again.
If the Kaiser had been removed from the equation in 1914, would that have prevented tens of millions of deaths? Ex-British army officer and adventurer Hugh Stanton is told that Cambridge University has secretly discovered the means to use a space and time warp and is persuaded to use it to target the Kaiser for the good of mankind.
The Back To The Future scenario takes him to 1914 Berlin via Constantinople. To his consternation, a woman is sent from a parallel universe to stop him. Kate is aware that the consequences of removing the Kaiser will be worse. A revolution to fill the vacuum on the throne will ensue. It will make Germany, not Russia, the centre of global communism.
Mortal enemies, they become wary colleagues. World War I can't be prevented. Yet who can they assassinate to stop a likely follow up war which will be even more devastating? They agree on a number of likely instigators and these are eliminated. Among those considered not worth bothering about is a loudmouth Austrian nonentity.
The author is noted for his comic creations (e.g. Captain Blackadder), but there are none here. Pages are given over to how Stanton and Kate plan to kill each other and they come close to succeeding. As for time travel, well, time will tell. Until it does, writing about it doesn't ring true.
