Controlled Conclusion

Controlled Conclusion, Walter Ihlefield, PageFree Publishing, Inc, 2002

This is the second novel about Mitchell Parks, former Navy SEAL (code name Banshee), and now police chief in small-town Virginia. His best friend, and fellow ex-SEAL, Owen "Hawk" Taggart, now part of the Kentucky State Police, is shot and killed during a routine traffic stop. In Taggart's pocket is found a list of five other ex-SEALs living near Parks in Virginia. Parks has to assume that the assailant will not stop with one dead ex-SEAL (Parks is also on the list). He goes to the others to fill them in, and start thinking about a counterattack. Another name on the list is Michael Parks, fellow ex-SEAL and Mitchell's estranged brother.

Since returning from Vietnam, Michael has lived by himself as a hermit. He blames himself for the death of another SEAL, courtesy of one of his mines. He is told by one of the others on the list that the death was not his fault, lifting a huge weight from his shoulders. Meantime, their unknown assailant is not your garden-variety nutcase. Whoever it is knows their way around weapons and military strategy, leading the ex-SEALs to believe that someone who also served in Vietnam wants revenge.

They get plenty of help from the local Navy base (they may be out of the military, but they haven't been forgotten by those in authority there). Finding more than one listening device in the Parks residence, a plan is hatched to lure the assailant(s) to Michael's isolated farm to settle this once and for all.

This is another excellent novel. It has enough action and military influence (for lack of a better term) to satisfy anyone, and the author does a fine job at making real people out of the characters, and not just military stereotypes. Will there be a Mitchell Parks, Volume 3?