*Quote from the Wikipaedia article: When questioned in a 2000 BBC documentary, the U.S. Sinclair finds himself in some interesting moral and ethical dilemmas that are sensitively handled.īilled as a legal thriller, it’s not much of the latter, but the legal aspect is quite good. Unlike the captain of the Vincennes, Wakefield is court-martialed and the last third or so of the book is the trial, itself quite interesting if you like legal drama, which I do. 290 civilians were killed including 66 children.*) ) I’m still puzzled by how an Airbus 300 could have been confused with an attacking F-14. (Remember the USS Vincennes shooting down Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988? see. Queeg’s must have been relatively common because my brother-in-law’s first assignment as an ensign was under a similar character.) When the ship fails to heave to and then makes what appears to be a threatening move, the captain asks Sinclair for a legal interpretation of the orders, very broad and suitably vague,** then destroys the ship only to learn it was an unarmed civilian ship, albeit an alien one. (As an aside, the Caine Mutiny is a must read and based oin Herman Wouk’s experiences aboard a WW II mine-sweeper/destroyer. He’s the typical Queeg without the steel balls and stolen ice cream. The Michaelson’s captain Wakefield, anxious to see some combat, decides to intercept an alien vessel that is technically outside his patrol zone. So maybe in the future they have eliminated all swearing yeah, right. Except there was not one “fuck” in the entire book. The naval dialogue seems quite realistic, and were it not for a few references to space stuff, one might think they were aboard a modern day Navy ship. Ensign Paul Sinclair’s first ship assignment is on the USS Michaelson, where, in addition to his other duties, he acts as the ship's legal officer.
Interesting blend of hard SF and legal drama.
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