“Close and Destroy” by Tom Marshall

I can’t think of a better way to kick off the new year than by touting a novel by my friend Tom Marshall. Many of you will know Tom’s many years of work for Recoil and Off Grid magazines, but fewer still know that Tom is an Army Veteran with service in the GWOT as well as work as a contractor for a prominent PMC.

Tom’s first novel leverages his experience to create an operational environment which will be familiar to many.

Windsor Kraft Strategies is a shadow empire in the murky world of private intelligence and corporatized warfare. Their “Special Mission Troops,” staffed by former military operators and intelligence specialists, are able to discreetly deliver surgical force around the globe, making them a silent partner in American foreign policy. 

In the failing nation-state of Daristan, NATO’s long-running counterinsurgency campaign begins to falter when the country’s fundamentalist spiritual leader returns from exile with an army of devout fighters – and covert support from foreign agents looking to upset the balance of world power. 

A token force of international peacekeepers, propped up by the Special Mission Troops and their local guerilla units, try to hold the line as coalition governments scramble to shore up exit plans amid the shockwave of violence.

Windsor Kraft’s team must begin evacuating their clients while attempting to stall the newly energized insurgent offensive. But with the clock ticking, the country collapsing, and a hidden enemy hunting them behind the scenes, they must choose between mission accomplishment and self-preservation, or risk being abandoned behind enemy lines by the government that hired them.

The Kindle version is available now with the paperback available for pre-order with a January 14, 2025 release from Amazon.