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While the forensics involved in solving murders has become a hot new storyline for thrillers in general, the novel KIA takes this in a new and interesting direction. As the real Scientific Director of the military's Central Identification Lab located in Hawaii, author Thomas Holland brings to his new book, KIA, a well grounded military take on identifying soldiers' remains. He then combines this expertise with an interesting storyline involving military corruption during the Vietnam War to provide something entirely new in the world of military thrillers. In the story, a soldier’s remains (presumed to be Native American Master Sergeant Jimmy Lee Tenkiller) are found in a Catholic cemetery just outside Ho Chi Minh City years after the war has ended. Dr. Kel McKelvey (the author's fictional counterpart) is tasked with determining if what have been found are indeed Tenkiller’s remains. There is some doubt as the sergeant was presumed AWOL near the end of the Vietnam War. McKelvey contacts a colleague to assist him, an officer working out of the US Army's Criminal Investigative Division, who has his own hands full with a series of civilian murders that keep turning up on US bases. The connection to McKelvey's case is that all of these dead civilians are former South Vietnamese military officers now residing in the United States. What follows from there is an interesting, readable thriller that takes readers into the world of military investigation and the solemn task self-assigned by the US military to bring every soldier home from war, even many years later. Holland's expertise in this field is undeniable, and his storytelling style is better than average. Although Holland's books are likely to appeal especially to those who have served in the military or those with an interest in forensics, there is enough action to keep most readers engaged. Perhaps the greatest gift that Holland gives his readers is keeping his storyline lean and pertinent. He creates a familiar world and stays with it. Often mystery writers add in what they perceive to be interesting filler (romantic storylines, for example) that add nothing to the real plot or purpose. Holland is one of the few who has not felt the need to add an irrelevant love interest or engaging female partner for McKelvey. Instead, he focuses on a man with a mission: to identify a soldier's remains and take that story where it leads him, largely into the world of soldiers, officialdom, and military bases. Holland doesn’t make the tasks McKelvey must perform more dramatic or worthy of attention than they are in reality. There are no White House interventions, no rescues of VIPs, nothing to put this story in the realm of the unreachable. This is the story of a character who works largely behind the scenes. In short, Holland has given his readers believable characters with a story grounded in real life. That’s far more than can be said for many a mystery writer.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, April 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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