Written by Douglas Kimball

Publisher Description

Colin Campbell is developing the first black pepper plantation in the West Indies. His days are spent clearing jungle, planting and fighting vipers. His nights are spent playing jazz piano at a local bar and enjoying the company of the local ladies. He meets Alan Greene at a jazz festival in Limon. Alan, a Canadian botanist, is marooned in Costa Rica, abandoned when his employer curtailed his mission. (He refused to leave his outpost so he could complete research on the native herbal traditions.) Alan agrees to help Colin, known locally as El Colonel, with his pepper propagation problems in exchange for a small salary, room, board, and help getting to the Canadian Embassy to clear up his visa issues, gain access to funds, and exit Costa Rica.

But Alan does not leave Costa Rica. He and Colin develop an abiding friendship while navigating…

Where to begin? It seems that war is just too big of a topic for Hollywood to handle in 90-110 minutes. Go figure. I know I can’t do it justice in 300-plus pages, either, but it will be more accurate than anything Hollywood can dish up.

I suspect what people want from Hollywood is to take the viewer from innocent civilian to battle-hardened soldier and back again. Do we really want Hollywood to tell us about Charlie’s war in Afghanistan or are we more interested in the conflicts within the soul of the Lion of Panjshir?

Modern war movies seem to be more about telling the story within the story. The other problem with movies is that there is no smell, except of popcorn and spilled fountain drinks. Try to imagine the real smells of war. Then smell the “imagined” ones of fear and death. Do death and fear have…