Killed In Action

Creator of The Equalizer TV series--the basis for the feature films starring Denzel Washington--Michael Sloan reinvents the story of the mysterious Robert McCall, a former intelligence officer who helps desperate people in need of his unique skill set. Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer. McCall’s first client is a distraught mother who is desperate to locate her young daughter, drawn into the shadowy world of white slavery. But this client may not be all she appears to be. At the time same, McCall is approached by a diplomat who works for the United Nations. Her son, an American Captain in the US Army, is part of a contingent advising Syrian Rebel forces in their fight against the Jihadists. He has been reported KIA, but his body has not been found. His mother asks McCall to find out if her son is alive or dead. When McCall embarks on a suicidal rescue mission in Syria, he stumbles upon a terror plot aimed at the United States. The terrorists are being protected by mercenaries known as Momento Miro—Remember That You Must Die. McCall discovers the key to the terror attacks is his one-time boss, Control, the head of a spy organization called “The Company.” He is missing. His life has been deleted from all personal and intelligence records, as if he never existed. McCall has to find his old friend and stop these terror attacks from being carried out on American soil. McCall also has to deal with an “Equalizer” wannabe, a psychotic vigilante whose attempts to be a “hero” and rid the New York streets of violent crime are getting innocent people killed.

Michael Sloan, co-creator of the classic 1980s TV series--the basis for the feature films starring Denzel Washington--reinvents the story of the mysterious, former covert intelligence officer who helps desperate people who are in need of his unique and deadly skills. Robert McCall is a former covert operations officer for the CIA who tries to atone for past sins by offering, free of charge, his services as a troubleshooter (often literally), a protector, and an investigator. People in need find him through a newspaper ad and on the internet: "Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer." Aided by a group of sometimes-mysterious contacts (some of whom date back to his spying days), McCall traverses the streets of New York City, visiting justice upon those who prey upon the weak. In this novel, based on the 1980s television show, and timed to come out shortly before the feature film version starring Denzel Washington, McCall goes up against an old enemy, a Chechen nightclub owner, who now runs an elite assassination service to try and save the life of an innocent woman.

Acclaimed New York Times journalist and author Chris Hedges offers a critical -- and fascinating -- lesson in the dangerous realities of our age: a stark look at the effects of war on combatants. Utterly lacking in rhetoric or dogma, this manual relies instead on bare fact, frank description, and a spare question-and-answer format. Hedges allows U.S. military documentation of the brutalizing physical and psychological consequences of combat to speak for itself. Hedges poses dozens of questions that young soldiers might ask about combat, and then answers them by quoting from medical and psychological studies. • What are my chances of being wounded or killed if we go to war? • What does it feel like to get shot? • What do artillery shells do to you? • What is the most painful way to get wounded? • Will I be afraid? • What could happen to me in a nuclear attack? • What does it feel like to kill someone? • Can I withstand torture? • What are the long-term consequences of combat stress? • What will happen to my body after I die? This profound and devastating portrayal of the horrors to which we subject our armed forces stands as a ringing indictment of the glorification of war and the concealment of its barbarity.

A controversial psychological examination of how soldiers’ willingness to kill has been encouraged and exploited to the detriment of contemporary civilian society. Psychologist and US Army Ranger Dave Grossman writes that the vast majority of soldiers are loath to pull the trigger in battle. Unfortunately, modern armies, using Pavlovian and operant conditioning, have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion. The mental cost for members of the military, as witnessed by the increase in post-traumatic stress, is devastating. The sociological cost for the rest of us is even worse: Contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army’s conditioning techniques and, Grossman argues, is responsible for the rising rate of murder and violence, especially among the young. Drawing from interviews, personal accounts, and academic studies, On Killing is an important look at the techniques the military uses to overcome the powerful reluctance to kill, of how killing affects the soldier, and of the societal implications of escalating violence.

Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918) is commemorated as one of the greatest War poets in Westminster Abbey. He was born in Bristol into the Jewish Faith but later moved to London to become an apprentice engraver. He was called up in 1915 and died in 1918 at the Battle of the Somme. His War poetry depicts in vivid detail the horror and sadness of war.