The Second Korean War

I found this book to be fascinating, giving a view of life I know little about. Very readable and recommended.

This book follows a tradition established by Generals Sir John Hackett and Sir Richard Shirreff with their books 'Third World War' and 'War with Russia', respectively. Like these two books, 'The Second Korean War' describes the run up to a fictional conflict, although this time on the Korean Peninsula rather than in Europe. The book is set in a contemporary timescale and describes the fighting that follows on land, sea and air. Inevitably, such a scenario is likely to have limited appeal to many readers, but as Hackett and Shirreff have demonstrated there is a substantial market for well-researched military scenario based fiction. Halstead brings a lot of technical detail to his writing and covers a wide canvass with a range of key characters operating in Russia, China, North and South Korea and the continental United States. Pace is well-maintained and action scenes are set out with some skill. Readers familiar with Tom Clancy's earlier work will find much to enjoy, although some readers may find the military action on the part of the US forces perhaps too clinically simple, with little evidence of Helmut Von Moltke's oft-quoted dictum that 'no plan of operations reaches with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main force.' If this type of fiction interests you the book is likely to be hard to put down. Strongly recommended.