In short this is "Hammers Slammers" placed in near future. In more details ... this is story set a decade in the future, that is warning on what happens when charismatic person shows up during the turbulent times for a nation and unleashes his natural ambition to reach the highest position possible. Author manages to tell the story in very clear and fast paced way, with excellent portrayal of mercenaries themselves, media that will follow whomever pays the more (or whomever they are too much afraid to antagonize) and two-faced politicians. Battle scenes are fast, bloody and merciless as they are, technology is given as part of scenery (which is the way I like it, no constant bombardment of various weapon specs) and you can just visualize light assault vehicles chasing one another and exchanging fire or strike team infiltrating the heavily protected area to destroy their target.

If your first thought when I mentioned charismatic, ambitious military leader was Julius Caesar - you are right. Story revolves around USMC general Salter, military genius, retired (to be more precise dishonorably discharged) who becomes field commander of the largest mercenary forces in the world - Force Insertion. After several successful campaigns in the Middle East he soon becomes the CEO of the freelancer's company. His goals are not know to anyone, officers and soldiers are told only what is required to execute the mission and nothing more. He commands units and equipment sub-contracted from other mercenary troops in the world, light infantry, black ops, artillery, tanks, assault helicopters, fighter crafts, drones ... name it Force Insertion has it. Battle hardened troops are organized along the lines of Roman legions and cover area from Saudi Arabia to former Soviet republics in Central Asia bordering with Russia, China and India. All's good until Salter initiates operation that strikes fear into the Western world because no-one is sure what is happening.

Told from the perspective of Gent (Southern States' surname that I cannot spell :) ), commander under Salter in Marines and then commander of the numerous strike teams in Force Insertion (again under Salter). Through Gent we get details on how Salter lost his USMC commission, how Gent became his confidant and most importantly on ethics and morale when it comes to ruling the men that do fight for money first and foremost but generally they are living for a thrill of action and battle zone. To some it might sound barbarous and macho but in general military life did not change for centuries - only thing that changed in last 100 or so years was decline in number of fielded mercenaries on the battlefields and unfortunately that seems to be changing and mercs (like this fictional Force Insertion) are yet again becoming more and more widespread.

As time goes by and details (and methods) of Salter's and his political allies' actions start to surface Gent will have to make a decision - to fight with or against Salter. Salter, great game-player and manipulator extreme, ready to make a scene from every public event, scene that will bring him more popular support.

Ending was rather realistic (btw if you expect happy ending, you might want to skip this one) - at the end all power structures are mercenaries (as proved by the last year) and ready to do whatever is necessary to stay in power. I could not feel nothing but contempt for former secretary in US government from the book who tried to get place in future Salter's government but lost and then decided to change tactics. People might not like the forces who now form the "rebellion" but again, "enemy of my enemy is my friend".

In difficult times for every nation most dangerous are strong, capable and highly ambitious men and women capable to circumventing the laws of the nation and forcing their rule on the nation. People, masses, who are constantly in fear and having difficulties will always welcome that person (especially if money and gold is mentioned) - and voila, republic is lost and tyranny is born. Problem with tyrannies (kingdoms, empires and likes) is that while they can be established by capable men and women their successors are usually such failures that [following succession] nation find themselves in more precarious position (fast backward to city revolutions in 18th, 19th and 20th centuries...... hopefully in the future we wont have repetition of these same fights for freedom and rights). As Salter himself says, when people start to venerate warrior codes, be it mercenary code or Samurai code, then that signals that something is very very wrong with the society itself, it is indicator of coming turmoil.

And lets be honest - this person (or persons) does not need to come from what is traditional conservative organizations like army (excellent "Seven Days of May" comes to mind when it comes to coup d'etats). If last year proved anything is that all the little bureaucrats, mayors and governors, not to mention high-level politicians and/or their sponsors, are tyrants-in-making, so ready to take off liberties from others and so slow to give their ever greater powers back. And they will cling to power as long as they have convenient crisis at hand to use it to feed and boost that fear and melodrama so present and wanted in the general populace.

If one sentence can describe the book then it is - people that do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.

Excellent book on contemporary politics, mercenaries, warrior code and history. Highly recommended. ( )

Chilling near-future story about a Caesar-like military leader in America. ( )

BLUF: a great premise marred by flawed execution and negligible character development, and overburdened by exposition and the sheer inertia of plot with little to connect once scene to the other. All the more disappointing because it could have been so good.

Pressfield's novel was simply aggravating, not the least reason for which is that it had so much potential which was ultimately squandered. The premise is sound: the year is 2032 and private military companies are the new face of armed power, especially in the volatile Middle East where the massive oil conglomerates hire mercenaries such as those in Force Insertion to protect and stabilize oil fields. Disgraced Marine LtGen James Salter is the face of Force Insertion, and those men working for him would rather die than let him down. When Salter has a chance to reshape the United States - and the face of the world - it remains to be see just what his men (especially "Gent," the narrator) will do.

But with that established, the book careens all over the place, never lingering long enough on one location or scene to engross a reader at all. We're in Basra; we're in Dushanbe; we're in Washington; and it's all happening much too quickly to care. Pressfield worships at the altar of plot and exposition, and while I would be the first to admit I occasionally find those elements conspicuously absent from certain fiction styles, in this they are first, middle, and last on the author's priority sheet. Events unfold too quickly and without enough attention to context to draw in the reader. The whole book should really have been at least twice as long as it turned out to be, in order to flesh out the (non-existent) character development and elements aside from plot that can make fiction and literature such a delight to read.

It pains me to say this - again, because the premise is such a good start - but The Profession compares rather unfavorably to Tom Clancy. While Clancy's characters may have been one-dimensional, he at least took the time to sketch out that whole dimension, and wrote enough to compel the reader to follow along. Pressfield does neither, and this novel suffers dearly for that.

Though I must say (for those that will know what I'm talking about): it was nice to see "zenpundit.com" get a shout-out as a journalistic outlet of the future. ( )

Set in the near future, this is the story of a mercenary soldier nicknamed "Gent", who is a loyal follower of a highly successful, but disgraced General (a la MacArthur), now the leader of a huge mercenary army operating in the Middle East. When events play out which has the General leading his army (and Gent) to seize and control over a vast majority of the world's oil fields, he sees this as a means to exact revenge on those who lead to his ouster, and orchestrate a triumphant return home (a la Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon). We follow Gent's narration as he goes from loyal follower to questioning the General's motives and methods, to the exciting conclusion. All said, I really enjoyed this story. ( )

Didn't like this one at all. More time was spent describing weapons than the people who used them; in other words, very little character development.

On the up side, it did provide food for thought on tribalism and messianic leadership. But still, a disappointing read. If not for a book club, I would not have finished it. ( )