Book 31 of My 2014 Goal

Hook Up: A Novel of Fort Bragg by William P. Singley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The cover of the book gives a great description of what the book is about all on its own. Hook Up: A Novel of Fort Bragg by William P. Singley is a fiction although based on actual people and events taking place at Fort Bragg, N.C., home of the 82 Airborne with the time period being between the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The book centers on history and the military/life of the group of main characters when they show up at Fort Bragg hoping to make it as paratroopers.

The characters of the book are believable for the most part although I do have a problem believing it all. I would think it was maybe 'exaggerated' at different points but all in all, they were believable. Every group has its quitters, lovers, clowns, bullies, etc. and this one was no different although I didn't find the all-out-and-out cry baby. Even so, the dynamics of the group was very believable as were the individual characters on their own. The author made these men real to me as I read about them. I like some better than others but that didn't matter, the point is they were real and I was able to connect to the point where either I liked them or not.

The pace of the book was good although this is a very long novel, over 400 pages. There were parts that seemed to slow a bit and of course other parts that were quick. I guess that just goes with the military way to 'hurry up and wait'. Even so the slow parts were never long and the book always held my attention.

Speaking of the military way, much of what went on in the book goes on even to today. If one person does something wrong, everyone pays the price. You are called every name in the book, marched for no reason in full gear, and the list goes on and on but the point is that I can relate to much of it and it doesn't matter if you are stationed at Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, Fort Polk, or any of the other Forts, it is all the same.

I really enjoyed the story and 'meeting' these men. I especially liked that the author added an Epilogue at the end and wrote a short up-date/out come of each man. Although saddened by some of it, it is a nice touch so the reader knows what happened to each of them instead of the book ending and now we haven't a clue if this one ever made a movie or that one ever stayed in medicine. I also wanted to add that the author added a Glossary at the end of the book so even if you are not familiar with any military terms (although most you can guess what it is/means by the way it is used in the sentence) you can just look it up in the back.

I did noticed typos which were mostly spacing issues where two words don't have a space between them but it really didn't take away from the story however the language used may be an issue for some. Not only is there a lot of swearing but the "n" word is used and there is sexual content so I definitely wouldn't recommend this book for young readers.

I received a free copy of this book for my honest review.

View all my reviews