7.8 /10 1 Votes
4.1/5 MouthShut Publisher Thomas Dunne Books Pages 228 pages (hardcover) ISBN 0312286910 | 3.8/5 Goodreads Language English Publication date 2001 Originally published 2001 Editor Frederick Forsyth Country United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback), e-book, audiobook Preceded by The Phantom of Manhattan Genres Fiction, Short story, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Mystery Similar Works by Frederick Forsyth, Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Veteran is a short story collection by British author Frederick Forsyth. The book was first published on 8 September 2001, through Thomas Dunne Books and includes five of Forsyth's short stories. This is the second short story collection by the author, following the release of his 1982 collection, No Comebacks.
Contents
Stories
A unidentified man is kicked to death by a pair of thugs in London in a mugging gone wrong. The police identify and apprehend the pair, but they are let off when one of the best attorneys of the country is named their pro bono counsellor. Soon after the dismissal of the case, the detectives identify the dead man as a former BATT soldier who served in Mirbat, Oman. The lawyer for the two men had fought with the dead man, defeating an attack of 300-400 men. A few weeks later, the bodies of the two men are found at the bottom of a lake, strangled by piano wire.
Publication
The stories were originally published individually online by the company Online Originals under the collective title Quintet, before being collected into a single volume as The Veteran.
Reception
Critical reception has been mixed. The Guardian panned The Veteran, writing "Paper-thin plots and cardboard characters from the self-styled world's greatest storyteller". Christopher Petit reckoned Forsyth was a relic of bygone times, calling it "polished and moribund as a joke at an after-dinner speech, with a ponderous twist, a punchline and a little moral to tie it all up". The BBC was mixed, stating that "This collection is tautly written and practically boasts of the deep level of research that underpins it. But the storytelling itself has mixed results - perhaps too mixed to convince a first-time reader of Forsyth's reputation as the thriller writer's thriller writer."
The Daily Telegraph was more positive in their review, as they felt that Forsyth had fun while writing the work and that while some of the stories were weaker than the others, they were all "highly readable".