Readers’ Reviews 

Master Sergeant Ray Flaherty’s Strangers Brothers is a well-written novel that allows you to follow Kumpang (Tom Aquinas) from childhood to manhood. It’s a story of a young boy who has set almost impossible goals for himself in order to honor the man who was the father figure in his life. Flaherty’s unique storytelling transforms the reader into the mind of Kumpang as he goes from an immigrant Lao lad on through the invasion of Grenada as a Ranger.

Anyone who has endured the rigors of Basic Training, Jump School and Ranger training will enjoy Flaherty’s narrative. You re-live the pain of the ‘M14 thumb’ (mine was the ‘M1 Thumb’), and the fear of standing in the door of a mock-up on the 34-foot tower, staring down at the ‘Black Hat.’ Thirty-four feet seemed like a thousand when you stood there knowing you were to leap out into space, and the only things that would keep you from plummeting to the hard Georgia ground below were those two, thin, risers connected to your harness and a thin cable. You prayed to God that none would snap. You screamed out your number and leapt into space, your eyes squeezed shut, your arms flailing in the wind, even while your fingers gripped the reserve parachute pack on your chest. The fall, that seemed to go on forever, was suddenly jerked to a stop as the risers reached the end of the slack, and you coasted slowly down the cable.

There was the panoramic view as you were hoisted to the top of the 250-foot towers. When you stared out across the horizon, you swore you could almost see the curvature of the earth. Then, the click of the lock when the ring which held your parachute engaged the release, and you felt the chute break loose. The instructor’s voice drummed in your ears. “You have the dirty arm, Trooper. Slip to the right. Slip to the right!”

And yes, there were a couple of incidents where jumpers had slipped into the towers. . . .

War is war, whether it be World War II, Korea, Vietnam or Grenada, and Flaherty’s description of the invasion of Grenada places you with those Rangers aboard the Blackhawks as they approached the landing zone. You can almost feel the heat as the choppers are hit, burst into flames and crashed to the ground. Only someone who has been there can know the fear of coming under fire for the first time. Then events happen so swiftly that you react, not because you’re thinking, but because the training you had made you do things out of instinct. The screw-ups before and during the invasion, no maps, no beacons to guide the choppers in, unknown assessments of the enemy troops, all contributed to an almost disastrous engagement but created the scenario for the final outcome of the story.

Strangers Brothers is a novel well-worth reading.

MSG Charles James, US Army (Ret.)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Strangers Brothers. Truthfully, it make me think, long after I put it down. It gave me insight into things I'd heard but didn't really understand: for instance, the training. I have always known it was hard, but had no details. The comradeship was there, too.

Carol Salzman

A great read! Strangers Brothers show how the practical and emotional understanding of one man ("Tom") can bring goals, success, and two culturally disparate families together. Strangers Brothers has an emotional immediacy that never leaves . . . It carries right to the last page. The ending brought a tear to my eye. In fact, many passages brought tears of sorrow or joy.

Marie E. Roman, Educator

Strangers Brothers, Raymond F. Flaherty with Pat McDonough, ISBN 978-0-9653467-8-8, $21.95, www.terrasanctapress.com

A good novel is one that presents a unique character that the reader can identify with, feel an empathy for, and want to know what will ultimately happen to. By that standard, Strangers Brothers by Pulitzer Prize nominated author Raymond F. Flaherty is a first class novel that introduces Kumpang, an immigrant boy from Laos who enlists in the American army, goes through basic training, jump school, and ranger training, to take his place as a Ranger and participates in the invasion of Grenada.

A Master Sergeant in the Airborne Ranger and the American Special Forces who served in Korea, Laos, and Vietnam, Raymond Flaherty provides both experience and expertise with respect to the context of his novel that incorporates an intimacy, an accuracy, and an emotional resonance that makes Strangers Brothers a particularly engaging read and a very strongly recommended addition to the community library fiction shelves and personal reading lists.

Also very highly recommended is Raymond Flaherty's earlier novel, He Didn't Say Good-Bye (Terra Sancta Press 978-0-9653467-7-1, $24.95).

Small Press Bookwatch: The Fiction Shelf November 2008

Readership:

General audiences, history buffs, military personnel and their families, mature high school students, and those with special interest in the US Army Airborne Rangers.

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