“Loaded with plenty of whiskey-tango-foxtrot moments, War Under the Mango Tree is a thoroughly entertaining lampoon of the US military machine via a fictionalized mission in an equally fictional Central African country… Not since Catch 22 has a novel this brilliant come along. Five cheeky stars!” —David Edlund, USA Today bestselling author of “Guarding Savage”
“. . . a brilliant satire of the hypocrisy, bureaucracy, banality, and ineptitude of the military. . .scathingly funny and often feels absurd—yet other times, all too real.” —David Aretha, editor of multiple award-winning military books
At a remote military camp in Africa a small detachment of American soldiers and their local allies wage a high-tech manhunt to neutralize the notorious warlord Daniel Odoki and defeat his rebel army. As the quixotic campaign unfolds, a cast of glory seeking generals, rapacious mercenaries and corrupt government officials are determined to finish off Odoki, though each for different reasons. Meanwhile, a hapless band of compatriots, pawns in a mysterious shadow war, race to discover the truth about Odoki before it’s too late.
In the tradition of writers such as Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut and Evelyn Waugh, War Under the Mango Tree exposes the absurdities of modern warfare as it intersects with media culture, technology, politics and big business. The result is a darkly painted satire of war, money and corruption on the far flung reaches of Pax Americana.
Glenn Voelz served for twenty-five years in the Army as an intelligence officer. During his career he worked on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the White House Situation Room and at NATO headquarters. He has published on a wide range of topics including diplomatic history, government contracting and military innovation.
Glenn lives in central Oregon with his family and enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, biking and cross-country skiing. He is a volunteer member of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team. His first novel is entitled War under the Mango Tree and he is currently working on a sequel—Operation Hermes.
