My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read this back in the early 1980s. It was lent to me by my Brother-in-law. It concerns the British mercenaries out in Angola during the conflict of 1974. A former Portuguese colony is becoming independent and the various factions are fighting one another. The Communists have Cuban and Soviet advisers etc. Another group has predominately British mercenaries. They are led by a man of Greek Cypriot origin. An ex-British Army man who is given the alias of Callen. In a short time, Callen becomes notorious for attacking the Communist coveys and even executing his own men. Then there is the public televised trial. The author, Chris Dempster is also present at this time and he has his own story to tell. As a young kid, I can remember watching the court case on the news and the stories in the newspapers of Callen. The whole thing is well written by someone who was there, but I can't help feeling there is a little bit of the macho bravado aspect to this. A lot of ordinary people on all sides of the conflict died brutal deaths.
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