I had no idea that war was so complicated. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who happens to be in the military, when you’re considering that this review is written by a civilian… one who’s closest encounter with the military has been that of watching war movies, playing the occasional military themed game, and of course the time I got to fire off various pieces of military hardware when I was living in the Philippines.

 

I always thought that it was pretty black and white, I didn’t realize there were so many gray zones when it came to the military.

 

Particularly when it comes to the fact that, if even 10% of what was hinted at in the book Outsourced was true, that the US military, nay the US government has gone into using mercenary companies to bolster the amount of troops that they actually have on the ground at the moment.

 

In order to circumvent the laws passed by congress.

 

Now, again, if even a fraction of the things hinted at in the novel are true, then Mercenary companies are becoming a pretty major player in the military world, and that there is a great deal of money to be made by these companies across the globe, wherever there are hotspots that the US military happen to be involved in.

 

It certainly opened my eyes when it comes to what is happening behind the scenes.

 

Now, for the review. As per usual, I will not give out any spoilers that one can’t find out on their own by reading the back cover of the novel. I hate ruining things for people.

 

The novel, written by R. J. Hillhouse in short, is about a mercenary outfit working in Iran for the government, acting as support for the troops, and taking on independent missions for cash.

 

Enter Camille Black, the head of a major player in the Mercenary Outsourcing world. She has been hired by the CIA to track down her former lover, who was supposed to have died several years before, and kill him.

 

It’s a novel about betrayal, secrets, terrorism, and subterfuge. Oh, and of course Mercenary companies hired by the U.S. Government to do things that they don’t want the public to discover.

 

And about the fighting between the different companies for contracts and sources.

 

Overall, it was a very well written novel, with plenty of action to keep the most adventure hungry reader satisfied.

 

The descriptions and the caracters were well constructed, although at times I found several of the characters in the novel to be too cliché.

 

One thing that really stuck out about the novel and something that really bothered me was how the main character acted at times. I swear to go she was schizophrenic. It was as if she couldn’t make up her mind about a certain character.

 

I can’t go into too much detail as it would be considered a fairly major spoiler, and as I have stated, I don’t like to spoil things for potential readers.

 

The overall plot wasn’t that difficult to follow, and even though there were some minor side plots, it all meshed together smoothly.

 

The thing is, I can’t say how much of the plot happens in the real world, and I never will be able to say… you know, the bit about the U.S. Government outsourcing to mercenary companies to bolster the troops in the Middle East and Afghanistan, using them to conduct ‘black’ operations that would drag people through the mud if it was ever found out, that sort of thing.

 

But, it read like it was all true, and felt very real as I devoured page after page. Even the location descriptions were very well done.

 

It wasn’t a super novel, but it was definitely worth reading, even if just to open your eyes to the whole Mercenary world that exists – or could exist.

 

3.5 out of 5.