I signed up to write a review for "The Commander" by Dan E. Hendrickson. It is a fictitious story following a United States Coast Guard Officer and initially that is what sold me. I'm game to read anything about the Coast Guard or features the Coast Guard because I am a Coast Guard veteran! In the beginning of the book, the author notes that his son who is in the Coast Guard was the inspiration behind the book. I only got to page 24 and I had to update my reading status from Yes I am reading this book to No I will not be reading this book. While the writing is done very well and the imagery was good and I was able to see the pictures in my head but I couldn't continue. I'll let you go ahead read about the book on your own and I won't go into details about what I read in the few short pages that I did read but I will say that I was constantly say things like:
That would never happen.
You can't do that. Dude would be in SO much trouble. Those were then followed by: Hold on, he got promoted? That wouldn't happen. That's not how things work. Do they follow a chain of command? Wait, dude is in the Navy and has a say over the Coastie's job? Unfortunately because I know policies and procedures I could not enjoy the book. If I had forced myself to complete it and write a review it would not have been a very good review solely for the fact that I was in the Coast Guard and I know how things work. I would be doing the author a disservice by leaving a poor review. Instead, I was able to express my feelings in a few sentences to be sent to the author as to WHY I didn't want to finish reading and reviewing his book. I do have my copy still and it isn't a very long read so now that I'm not reviewing it, maybe I'll be able to read it and finish it...and maybe keep a running tab of how many times I say "That wouldn't happen."
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