Several
people are waiting to greet Captain
Vivian Gembara when she returns home
after a year in Iraq—her grateful fiancé
and two senior officers dispatched from
headquarters to retrieve "the file." Certainly not the homecoming she expected, but such is life when you are in the business of soldiers behaving badly. As a lawyer for the U.S. Army, it's Vivian's job to counsel them, investigate them, and when necessary, prosecute them.
Drowning in the Desert: A JAG's Search for Justice in Iraq is part legal thriller, part searing combat drama. A prosecutor and soldier, Vivian heads to Iraq with few illusions about military justice. A night of vengeance changes everything. By the time she leaves, several Iraqis have died in U.S. custody, soldiers are facing charges of murder and cover-up, and the career of a legendary colonel is in ruins. Stepping off the plane in Colorado, she knows the two senior officers waiting for her aren't there to welcome her home. Drowning in the Desert is the true story of Captain Vivian Gembara, the 28-year-old maverick behind the Army's first major investigation into detainee abuse. It is also the never told story of how this investigation was thwarted.
Vivian arrives in Iraq short on soldiers, armor, and guidance. The only thing she isn't short on is ambition. When readers first meet Vivian, she’s feverishly working on a case involving two soldiers who betrayed the unit. Convinced her big moment has finally arrived, Vivian doesn't let a convoy attack or a crime scene laden with IEDs, stop her investigation. When the guilty verdict is announced, her commanders are elated. Vivian basks in their approval—unaware of the dramatic turn her life is about to take.
Asked to look into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the drowning death of a local teenager, she finds herself investigating a crime with links to senior officers. Now forced to choose between pleasing commanders and upholding the laws of war, Vivian discovers just how challenging it will be to 'return with honor.' Drowning in the Desert is an unflinching account of the savagery that becomes possible when commanders value 'the fight' above everything. A gripping parable about leadership, courage, and the sometime high price of belonging, Drowning in the Desert ensures readers will never look at war the same way. |
