Relapse: The Cost of War is the sequel to the military war novel A Failed State by Andrew E. Coussens. In that novel, readers met Damien Collins, a member of an elite intelligence gathering team determined to stop the spread of ISIS, and followed his adventures in Afghanistan, including what happened when his mission went awry.
When Relapse opens, Damien is back in the United States dealing with his pending divorce and a protective order against him preventing him from seeing his daughter. Meanwhile, his comrade and friend, known as “Loki”, is in an Afghan prison as a result of his failed mission. Damien has a lot to worry about, including frequent bouts of anxiety that lead him to seek help from a psychiatrist. He has also returned to work and trained in the United States for his next assignment.
Written in the third person, the novel alternates scenes with Damien and Loki’s experiences in prison. Loki’s wife and son are of course worried about him, so after the intervention of the United States government, it is a relief for them when Loki is finally released and can return home. However, Loki’s problems don’t end there. He is dealing with his own advice on PTSD. Since his family lives in a remote area, you’d think there would be little to trigger his PTSD, but he gets frustrated with his wife, and things only get worse when he finds his dead neighbor and realizes that a poster of the Mexican drug has moved. in your backyard.
Due to the bond Loki and Damien share, when Loki realizes he needs help, Damien comes to his aid and they practice some vigilante justice against the people who threaten Loki’s house. However, the greatest threat to both may be the demons within them as they seek to adjust to civilian life at home. Those demons can finally destroy your friendship.
Coussens writes no frills, telling a tough but sensitive story about real-life characters based on the military personnel who fight for this country every day. Coussens ‘personal military experiences influence the story as evident from the military terms used, and add a greater level of realism to the novel, both in the action scenes and through the depiction of the characters’ emotions. . These are men fighting to hold everything together in a world that is not always fair to its military heroes. The descriptions of their marital relationships are especially well done and will make readers relate to Damien and Loki.
At the same time, there is a lot of plot and Coussens does a masterful job of alternating scenes between the main characters and at the same time bringing scenes with terrorist characters so that we can understand their backgrounds and motives. The pacing is strong, causing the novel to move rapidly until the reader reaches the last page and is saddened that the book has finished. Fortunately, we have a bit of suspense left, a sure sign that a third book is planned.
