Redcap

Brian Callison

ISBN 10: 0727891790 / ISBN 13: 9780727891792

Published by Canongate Books, 2007

About this Item

Brian Callison, Canongate Books. It is Cyprus, in 1957. Bill Walker is a veteran Royal Military Police staff sergeant - something of a legend within the Corps, albeit a tarnished one. Maintaining his hard-as-nails Redcap image is difficult enough considering he is a reluctant hero desperate to stay alive. And this aim is endangered when only he knows that his commanding officer, Major Steadman, is a murderous psychopath who has sworn to kill him. What's worse is that Walker has no hard evidence despite Steadman's killing of an unarmed child. But when a further atrocity occurs, Staff Sergeant Bill Walker RMP can no longer turn a blind eye. Ambush, torture, courts martial, prisoners falling down guardroom stairs, the pursuit of armed fugitives from military justice, sudden deaths in coach accidents and brothels, murder of the innocent and not-so-innocent.and Bill Walker, bystander, nearing a well-deserved retirement, is a marked man in deep turmoil. Set initially against the violent backdrop of the Cypriot EOKA insurgency, "Redcap" moves to Germany and the British Army of the Rhine a decade later in the late 60's where Walker finds a ten year old spectre returning to haunt him. The climax to each half, in the first a court-martial, in the second a verbal confrontation between four strong-willed men behind closed doors, is some of the most dramatic and powerful writing in the long history of war fiction.

Seller Inventory # 9780727891792-SECONDHAND

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Redcap
• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0727891790
• ISBN 13: 9780727891792
• Binding: Paperback
• Book Type: Paperback

About this title

Synopsis

A new title from this bestselling author set in Cyprus and Germany - Cyprus, 1957. Bill Walker is a veteran Royal Military Police staff sergeant something of a legend within the Corps, albeit a tarnished one. Major Steadman is a murderous psychopath who has sworn to kill him. Walker has no hard evidence, despite Steadmans killing of an unarmed child. But when a further atrocity occurs, Walker can no longer turn a blind eye . . .

From Booklist

Bill Walker is a staff sergeant in the Royal Military Police, a Redcap. After a patrol turns deadly, Walker, trying to sort out how his team could possibly have been ambushed, discovers that his commanding officer, Major Steadman, may be a little . . . well, unbalanced. At its heart, Callison's novel dramatizes a protracted duel between Walker, a good man, and Steadman, a sadistic psychopath. Spanning a decade (late 1950s to late 1960s), the story is epic in scale but, considering its subject matter, written with a surprisingly light touch. Callison packs the tale with the kind of vivid detail that keeps us flipping the pages. And Walker, who narrates, has an offbeat sense of humor ("I'm ruggedly handsome, too, by the way. As well as shameless about telling lies when not under oath"), and his self-deprecating wit often defuses moments that could have gone way over the dramatic top. An out-of-the-ordinary and very effective thriller. David Pitt
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