FAR BRIGHT STAR

This bleak, thoughtful look at the brutality and futility of war is masterfully narrated by Ed Sala. In the summer of 1916, an inexperienced group of "America's eager export of losers, deadbeats, cutthroats, dilettantes, and murderers," led by veteran officer Napoleon Childs, travels into Mexico to pursue Pancho Villa. After an ambush, most of the men are killed. Childs, beaten, bloodied, devastated, and left to die, begins both a trek for survival and an inward journey as he attempts to understand himself and his experiences. Robert Olmstead (COAL BLACK HORSE) writes cowboy-lean prose, and Sala delivers each gritty exchange with exceptional honesty. His interpretations of greenhorn cowboys and Mexican villagers ring with authenticity, and Childs's near-death delusions are convincing, thanks to Sala's sensitive performance. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2009]