The Veteran

Five, highly enjoyable stories that are masterfully told with detail and pace. The first, “The Veteran” revolves around the trial of two thugs who kicked to death an anonymous old man. The cops have a watertight case, but a high-flying QC takes the case under Legal Aid and with sumptuous courtroom brilliance manages to get the pair released. There is a deadly twist, however, when the QC’s motives become clear. “The Art of the Matter” revolves around the revenge of those cheated by a duplicitous art dealer. “The Miracle” is a heart-warming and miraculous World Wat 2 tale – or at least is until the unnecessarily cynically and wholly bitter twist. “The Citizen” revolves around a drug bust, while the novella length show more “Whispering Wind” is an odd, supernatural tale of the sole survivor of the Little Big Horn and a love that spans the centuries. The five tales hang on the strength of their twists, with some being cleverer than others and you get the feeling that Forsyth worked backwards from the twist and constructed the rest of the story to fit in with it. That said these are fun stories and you get the feeling Forsyth enjoyed himself immensely in constructing them. The narrative id taut, there is plenty of interesting background detail and the pace is unrelenting. show less

The Veteran is a book of five longish short stories by Forsyth, some of which are quite good, some of which are less so. Nearly all of them have somewhat surprising plot twists toward the end which give the reader a pretty good jolt.

The first story, "The Veteran," is about the murder of an unidentified old man by two young thugs. The police search everywhere for his identity, but to no avail. Then, to everyone's surprise, the best defense lawyer in London takes these thugs on and wins their case. Then ... plot twist.

The second story, "The Art of the Matter," is a delightful and heavily researched story on the art world and how a young art professional at an auction house gets royally screwed by a big wig there and his story of ultimate show more revenge. It's pretty sweet.

The third story, "The Miracle," is about an American tourist couple in Italy who happen upon an Italian of German origin in a town there who tells them a miraculous story, only to have, ta dah, a plot twist at the end. *** SPOILER ALERT *** I don't view this story as plausible after thinking about it though. To think that this man and his accomplice could set up their scam in a specific courtyard out of the way in this town and just expect suckers, like these tourists, to happen along and listen to a lengthy tale, only to give up their cash, is beyond belief. Just not realistic.

The fourth story, "The Citizen," is about drug running, with a mega plot twist at the end.

The final story, "Whispering Wind," is the one everyone raves about. Everyone seems to love it. I hated it. I couldn't stand it. It's novella length and I just couldn't finish the final 50 pages. I gave up. I was so bored. The story is about the life of the only white man to survive Custer's last stand, and you would think, interesting premise, right, especially as written by an upper class Englishman. But Custer hardly appears in this story and it turns into a fantasy story, and I hardly view Forsyth as a master of fantasy. Stick to the spy/thriller genre, Mr. Forsyth. Please. I hated this story.

All of this said, it's a pretty solid book and if you're a fan, you must read it. If you've never read any of his work, this really isn't representative of most of his work, but it's not bad. Somewhat recommended. show less

This was a completely other Forsyth than I've read before. It contains five stories which have one in common: justice for the little man. In the first story The Veteran the police is searching for the identity of a victim and to put the responsible persons behind the bars. Unfortunately, a famous lawyer is freeing the two evil ones, but the end serves justice. The Art of the Manner shows how simple people came to their money. Important art dealers are beaten at their own game. It's a very amusing story. The Miracle is a story with a religious touch. A miracle which took place 1944 in Siena and nobody is able to explain how this events could have taken place The Citizen shows that the best planning for a crime always has a hole. It took show more me until the very last page to find out the puzzle - very well written. Last but not least Whispering Wind which is starting 1876 and is leading the main character into 1977. Ben Craig is a scout who serves under General Custer at the Little Bighorn (06-25-1876) where he helps a young Cheyenne girl flee from the soldiers and where he finds her soul again 100 years later. It's a wonderful story. show less

The Veteran is one of five novellas included in this book. Each one has an interesting twist. My favorite -- and the longest -- is titled Whispering Wind. It is the story of one of Lt. Col. George Custer's white scouts who survived the Little Bighorn battle. Although the main character is fictional, it is gives a thorough, factual history of the Campaign against the Sioux Indians in 1876. The entire book, however, is hard to put down once you're into any of the stories.

Oplichting, wraak, geweld, fraude, drugs(smokkel) en achtervolging zijn de spannende ingrediënten van deze verhalenbundel. De rasverteller Forsyth bewijst hier, naast romans, ook korte(re) verhalen te kunnen schrijven, met een onverwachte plot. Na vier eigentijdse verhalen gaat hij in het laatste verhaal van de bundel terug naar het Wilde Westen in de negentiende eeuw: de enige blanke overlevende van Little Big Horn, de 'woudloper' Ben Craig, blijkt heel geleidelijk een nieuwe Rip van Winkle te zijn en krijgt zijn indiaanse geliefde na honderd jaar voor één enkele nacht. De verteltrant is breedsprakig, met veel aandacht voor feitjes en details; de spanning wordt langzaam opgebouwd. Liefhebbers van dit genre komen aan hun trekken. show more Normale druk. - M. Willard show less

I enjoyed reading these short stories. Quite a departure from usual Forsyth books. The stories overall were terrific. I like "The Citizen" the best, but all of the others were really good, too. "The Veteran" was the best story of the lot. All of the stories will stick with you, I think.

This book is a series of five short stories.

1. The Veteran - is the story about a investigation/pretrial of the murder of an old unknown man by two thugs. The first half seems dry but then lawyers get involved and a twist at the end is satisfying.
2.The Art of the Matter - involves an art swindle and how revenge is plotted and executed
3. The Miracle - is a lovely "story" given to an American tourist in a square in a small Italian village with a twist at the end of this story is totally unexpected and brings a smile.
4. The Citizen - is a story about a simple flight home from a trip to Thailand where a passenger leaves a note to the pilot that he has seen something suspicious between two passengers
5. Whispering Wind - is a departure from show more the spy/detective action gendre that Forsyth is known for. It is about Billy Craig, a survivor of "Custer's Last Stand". As a western story it was not bad and I think he can tell a credible western novel but there is an element of science fiction/mystical aspect that occupies the second half of the story which was well done once I adjusted to the change in the story but bothered me at first. I am sure that there never was a true "Billy Craig" but the story is well done.

One becomes comfortable with Forsyth's writing style. He gives enough detail of the organization/subject of which he is writing but not so much that you feel like you are studying for an exam. show less