Dr. John A. King reviews Ranulph Fiennes' rare SAS novel The Feather Men, a hybrid of spy and war fiction about elite soldiers crossing moral lines. The book is so scarce King had to import it from England at great cost, and he refuses to lend his copy.
Hey, all you war book buffs, here's one for you. The Featherman. Warning, it's bloody hard to find. I had to get this out of England for a ridiculous amount of money. So it's one of those— this is not a true story, but it is a true story. I just know a guy. True story about the SAS and a group of people that look after the SAS. So I'm having a run of them today, folks. Full brilliant on the brilliant to bollocks-o-meter. So what I love about it is just the way it's written. It is a spy novel, war novel, camaraderie novel, the dangers of crossing over lines stated and unstated in terms of loyalty and passion, and it's just very, very well done. Great descriptive writing but doesn't overstate things. Does a great job of it. It's really, really just a solid story. So if you love a war story, you love a spy story, you love an action story, you love some twisty-turny stuff, got it all in them. Really hard to find. If you want to borrow mine, the answer is a solid no, because I don't— I might buy you a copy, but I ain't gonna lend you mine. Yeah, whatever, you know. So definitely brilliant. Get yourself a copy if you can find it. If not, borrow someone's. Not mine. Cheers.
