The years 2026 - 2027. China is the world's superpower. Recuperating from a nasty head injury in a military hospital, U.S. Army Private Jack Walker experiences vivid memories of fighting along the Chinese-Mongolian border. The military brass insist he's been fighting in Ethiopia, Africa; and they have photographs to prove it. Of course, all isn't what it appears to be. There's the matter of the luminescent purple liquid in the hypodermic needle and the little purple pill.

REVIEW

After six months, Alison Walker is allowed to see her husband after he returns from military duty in Africa with multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Jack Walker insists he wasn't in Africa, but no one's listening. Ms. Peake has the knack for hitting you with surprise endings. You'll not know what's going on with Jack until you read the last sentence.

Reviewed by: Margaret Marr
NightsAndWeekends.com

EXCERPT

Jack Walker opened his eyes. Nurse Mary was withdrawing a needle from his arm. A luminescent purplish liquid coated the inside of the syringe.

"What are you doing?"

The room swam. Shadows danced like eagle wings and men in feathered helmets along the walls and ceiling. An alarm beeped quietly somewhere close by.

Jack closed his eyes. Visions of muscular horses with flowing tails and manes filled his brain. Troops of men rode the horses across the South Gobi Desert. He remembered that the Mongolians had over three hundred different words to describe horses, mostly in regard to color. And he remembered the old Mongolian saying: "A Mongolian without a horse is like a bird without wings."

The evening sky above the steppe filled with violet and midnight blue swirls, sucking the creamy white clouds into a vortex of shadow. A red fox sauntered out into the open, a lumbering dark shape. Birds filled the air like blackened spice.