Sheepdogs by Elliot Ackerman (2025)
For everyone who thrills to a trip into the twisting, dangerous and sometimes crazily funny world of paramilitary mercenaries, here's a first class ticket. Did I really just say funny? Yes I did, which turns out to be the bonus surprise in addition to a full roster of memorably quirky (but sometimes lethal) characters.
'Sheepdogs' plunges right into the shadowy morass of deep cover CIA operations to control global chaos to achieve.....uh....well, let's say acceptable outcomes. Yes, they could tell you about it but then they'd have to kill you. And that puts a lot of wear and tear on battle hardened veterans who choose to make a living trying to survive these off-the-books super secret, this-never-happened capers.
Two such individuals are disgraced operative 'Skwerl' and expert pilot 'Big Cheese' Aziz, both currently down and out for various reasons. They've been recruited by the anonymous, mysterious 'Sheepdog' to 'repossess' (also known as 'swipe') a jet plane and fly it to Marseilles........for a big fat fee. But nothing about this mission is what it seems and nobody involved in it is to be trusted. In no time at all, there's a poisoned dead body, a ravaging bear, priceless dishes, a surprise assassin and our guys' significant others, Skwerl's dominatrix girlfriend and Cheese's beloved pregnant wife.
There's also no shortage of government agencies and bigwigs (with an alphabet soup of acronyms) more than willing to disavow all knowledge of any anybody's actions......and come to think of it, nobody's entirely sure of anybody's actions anyhow.......
It's very clear that author Elliot Ackerman well knows the world he's describing and decided to have some fun with it. peppering the novel with moments of deadpan comic absurdity along the lines of 'Dr. Strangelove' or Carl Hiaasen books. A good thing, too, because that's exactly what kept me engaged and entertained all the way through to the irony-filled finale.
I loved the idea of bending the 'clandestine-mercenary-worldwide-chaos' thriller with a skewed, less than serious look at the untrustworthy participants. Here's hoping Skwerl, Cheese and the other assorted rogues they deal with stumble into further misadventures.
4 stars (****)
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