The Second Korean War

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

Written based on the author’s imagination, The Second Korean War was definitely an intense and gripping read for me. There were many highlights of events leading up to the start of another Korean War such as the illegal warhead transaction and the building of tunnels, just to name a few. I was really impressed by how detailed the story is. Despite having little knowledge of anything war-related, I in a way understand the concern in a political sense, especially in regards of the relations between North and South Korea. I can see the author really put a lot of his experiences in this book because it was apparent that he clearly knows what he wrote about. The twist and turns in this book had kept me on the edge from the start until the end. It is in a way had me thinking of how very blockbuster-like this story is.

Another thing that is notable in this book is that it was written in third person multiple points of view. In another book, there usually two or three characters whose thoughts and progress were highlighted, but it was not the case in this book. Each event in this book was written in different characters’ point of view. For example, Tunnel No. 1 project in North Korea was written on one of the book’s main characters, Lee Ho Suk, a prisoner who was sentenced to work in the tunnels and soon becoming one of the major players in The Second Korean War while the destruction of Yongbyon, North Korea’s nuclear complex in the point of view of an international observer, Manfred Werzel.

However, this is where, in my opinion, having many characters have its disadvantage. I had a hard time to keep track of each character because there were simply many of them. Different names, different places and not to mention, I also had to keep up with the many events happening in this book. While I did enjoy this book for its roller-coaster of events had kept me on edge, the frequently changing of characters’ point of views had my focus on reading this book lost. However, this book, in my opinion, deserves a 4 star out of 5 star rating. It is a very potential book that despite my losing focus at times in reading this book, I am happy to recommend it to everyone who would enjoy this gripping read!

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.