The Dogs Of War  (English, Paperback, Forsyth Frederick)

First published in the year 1974, The Dogs Of War is a classic war novel that revolves around a group of African, and European soldiers sent by a British industrialist to overthrow the Zangaro government.

Summary Of The Book 

The Dogs Of War is based on a small fictional African republic, where the presence of platinum deposits have been found out. This makes a British company plan to overthrow the government by using a team of mercenaries. The mercenaries are professional killers, and cold-blooded men. The plot starts off with Shannon, and his mercenaries being sent back after they lost a West African war. In the meantime, a prospector called Mulrooney sends certain mineral samples from a mystical mountain to a British-based company called Manson Consolidated.

British mining tycoon Sir James Manson analyses these samples to find that there is a huge amount of Platinum in Zangaro, from where the mineral deposits were exported. Manson begins to make plans of replacing the current president in Zangaro with a puppet leader, who would sign off the mining rights to a shell company, which was owned by Manson himself. This would result in Mason pocketing 60 million pounds.

For the majority of this book, the readers are provided insight into the working of mercenaries, as they carefully plan, and execute their agenda. Are the mercenaries successful in their escapades? Like any other book by Forsyth, The Dogs Of War is packed with twists, and suspense, which will keep the readers glued. This war novel has also been adapted into a movie by the same name, and was directed by John Irvin. The movie was released in 1980, and was filmed in Belize.

About Frederick Forsyth

Frederick Forsyth is a well-known political commentator, and author. Apart from this book, Forsyth has written The Day Of The Jackal, The Fourth Protocol, The Veteran, The Fist of God, The Afghan, and Avenger.

Forsyth was born on the 25th of August, 1938, in Ashford, Kent, England. He completed his schooling from Tonbridge School, after which he finished his graduation studies from the University of Granada, Spain. After that, he served as a jet fighter pilot in the RAF. In 1961, he became a journalist for Reuters, followed by BBC, where he held the position of an assistant diplomatic correspondent. In 1971, he released his first thriller novel, The Day Of The Jackal, which won him the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In 2012, Forsyth was presented with the Cartier Diamond Dagger award by the Crime Writers Association for his literary works.