SOLDIER OF THE QUEEN

Young Subaltern Ogilvie vacillates between disgust at the excesses and brutality of the British Raj and his love of the military ideal and the British Empire circa 1895. His ambivalence eventually reaches a crisis--though the issues do not entirely resolve, for our author has more to write about our hero in subsequent novels in his James Ogilvie series. Christopher Scott sounds like a member of the regiment himself, crisply delivering the authentic-sounding period details as if he were a messenger giving a detailed report to his colonel. One can't help admiring this messenger even if one can't accept the values, implicit in his manner and message, that he so strongly believes in. Y.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 06]