“[Bravo Two Zero] actually improves with every read”
I picked up Bravo Two Zero on recommendation by Alan Partridge. I had assumed it was a novel, but it actually purports to be the non-fiction account of a British Special Forces soldier on deployment behind enemy lines in Iraq during the Gulf War. I say purports, because several subsequent books have come out disputing some of McNab’s accounts of his time in the war, and the book apparently concedes some fictionalization. This makes it one of those strange hybrids that is difficult to categorize. I choose to consider it non-fiction, simply because the author is indeed who he says he is in the book (albeit under a pseudonym), and because the events it describes are, in broad strokes, true.
The story is told in plain, conversational prose festooned with initialisms and other military jargon. Despite having to look up a few things (I had no idea what a berken was), I found it an easy and compelling read with the pacing of a Frederick Forsythe novel. McNab begins with his team’s prep for the mission, which provides a lot of details on the process without feeling bogged down. essentially, they were instructed to comrpomise a communication line that allowed Iraq to launch SCUD missiles, crippling their ability to attack nearby targets and hastening the invasion.
From there, the book spends its second section detailing their actions in Iraq, which go awry almost immediately and involve their attempt to avoid capture. The attempt fails, and the third and longest section of the book describes McNab’s captivity in graphic detail, highlighting the torture and general abuse he (allegedly) underwent while incarcerated. There is no dramatic escape, merely a stoid endurance until the closing days of the war make a prisoner exchange more prudent than execution or outright liberation.
I can’t comment on the veracity of the story since i haven’t read the other accounts and am no expert. I can only say that the book is as enjoyable as Alan said it would be, though it may be a while before I get the chance to reread it and see if it really does improve.