The Veteran: Five Heart-Stopping Stories

by Frederick Forsyth

Book Overview

On a grimy sidewalk in a defeated neighborhood, an old man is beaten to death. When a cop investigates, he finds two killers and a startling legacy of honor ... In a prestigious London art gallery an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312983425
• ISBN13: 9780312983420
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.5" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Forsyth's short works

Frederick Forsyth never disappoints. This is a collestion of 5 short stories where characters are developed quickly, and you keep reading to find the tales' final twist.The Veteran deals with the justice beyond a court of law and the honor of former comrades. It is worth the price of the entire book.The Art of the Matter covers greed, swindlers and pay back in a very satisfying manner. In fact all of the stories deal with payback in some form.The Miracle is a great story that justs sucks you into its magic just before the door comes crashing down.The Citizen tells you exactly what is going to happen, but you don't see the truth until the final couple of lines.However, Whispering Wind is the finest story. It is part ghost story and part morality tale. Highly recommended.Douglas De BonoAuthor of ROGUE STATE

A Riveting Work of Fiction

What do a young art dealer who was cheated by his boss, an unknown murdered man in a British public housing project, an American couple in Sienna at the Palio (a race going back to the 13th century), a family returning from vacation in Thailand, and the only man to survive Custer's last stand all have in common? When Frederick Forsyth writes about them, you will find yourself following every word and turning every page. This is an absolutely remarkable collection of short stories running from the very realistic through the surprising to the supernatural. His portrait of a saint in Sienna is brilliant and compelling, and the outcome of the story is stunning and memorable. He provides a very satisfying explanation of who a murdered unknown person really is and how his identity affects the thugs who killed him. The life of the only scout to survive Custer's last stand is told so grippingly that I could not stop from finishing it. Forsyth simply has the wonderful knack for writing fiction so it seems real, personal, and meaningful. His writing carries you into a world of possibilities and will stretch your own thinking and enrich your understanding of life's possibilities.

Maybe the best book (of 500 !!) I've read this year

(...) The Veteran is a compilation of five novellas: 78-, 70-, 34-, 36-, and 140-pages in length, to be exact. They have several things in common -- gripping story telling, enough flesh and detail to get involved and hooked in, and a strong twist at the end to surprise and delight. Whether it's vigilante justice, the scammee scamming the scammer, or a delightfully evocative tale about native America, Forsyth may be at his very best as he spins these five yarns spanning gullible tourists to drug smuggling. As a voracious reader, it's rare anymore I turn the pages with such delight and entertainment. This one goes on my top shelf, the one with little company ! Get it -- read it -- enjoy!

Enjoyed It More Than His Last Novel

The new media of, "electronic only", reading is very exciting, for not only will it allow many new writers to appear, but also it facilitates great work by established Authors. There is no actual book to produce, and I would guess this allows writers to create new novella length works without disturbing the progress of traditional novels.This short story is wonderful. At the penultimate page it delivers a neck-snapping twist only to deliver a second thrashing on the final page. The entire novella is concisely written and has the pace of Mr. Forsyth's memorable classics of traditional length. The characters are all well drawn and are used to deliver a tale that seems familiar with a type of cynicism toward a profession that in life is all too often demonized. The Author uses this familiarity as a bit of a sleight of hand so you expect little in the way of an explosive ending.I cannot recommend these e-books more highly. There are easily downloaded to your computer, there is a vast library of quality work that expands daily, and they are a bargain as well.Download and read!

Engrossing, as expected, but should you look elsewhere?

I have never read a Forsyth book I did not like, whether it be the penultimate thriller "The Day Of The Jackal", the quirky tales of "No Comebacks" or the decidedly unusual but immensely enjoyable "The Phantom of Manhattan"."The Veteran" does not disappoint. At 107 pages it is fairly short, which is unfortunate because it is an excellent book. I would not hesitate to reccommend to any Forsyth Fanatic or, for that matter, nearly any reader of the thriller genre to make this your first, or next, e-book purchase.However, this raises an important question. The second page has the following statement "Readers are welcome to view, save, file and print out single copies of this work for their personal use." Unfortunately, Microsoft Reader is noticeably short such a print feature, and is indeed is reluctant to allow you to do much of anything. A quick investigation of the publisher reveals that this book is available in other formats, including Glassbook and PDF, and I would recommend you look at both these options if you will want to print the book.That being said, "The Veteran" and the other 2 released books of The Quintet being written by Frederick Forsyth ("The Citizen" and The Miracle") are not to be missed.