War Women

June 1, 2021

Senior NCO in charge of the U.S. 8th Army's classified documents in 1970s South Korea, Sgt. First Class Cecil B. Harvey has vanished--and so has some top-secret material that was in his charge. Now Sgts. George Sue�o and Ernie Bascom have another case to solve, even as they seek to spring rules-challenging Overseas Observer reporter Katie Byrd Worthington from jail while persuading her to pull a controversial story. Next in a top-notch series.

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Starred review from September 20, 2021
In Limón’s superior 15th novel featuring U.S. Army investigators George Sueño and Ernie Bascom in 1970s South Korea (after 2019’s GI Confidential), the partners, who prioritize justice over protocol, have two major problems to resolve. When Sgt. First Class Cecil Harvey, the gatekeeper of classified information for 8th Army Headquarters near Seoul, goes AWOL, the detectives are concerned. They’ve had their differences with the missing man, but he has provided them with gossip and leads over the years. Their anxiety increases after learning Harvey was supposedly secretly listening to North Korean radio propaganda in the company of a defector from that country. The search for his whereabouts overlaps with a directive to help censor the reporting of Katie Byrd Worthington, a civilian tabloid journalist. Worthington has gotten some embarrassing photos of the 8th Army’s chief of staff, but Sueño and Bascom discover she’s really been focused on exposing the sexual abuse of members of a female army unit. The absence of a murder mystery doesn’t lessen the tension, and Limón evokes the setting with his usual skill. This long-running series remains as strong as ever. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary.

October 15, 2021
Tough guy Ernie Bascom and self-made intellectual George Sue�o, Eighth Army MPs stationed in South Korea in the 1970s, are once again walking a familiar tightrope: Do they follow the cases in front of them wherever they lead, risking repercussions from the ass-covering army brass, or do they cover their own perpetually overexposed asses? With a treason charge lurking over their heads if they help a fellow sergeant who appears to be leaking confidential documents to a North Korean spy, the intrepid MPs start digging, uncovering a scheme that could trigger another Korean War. Meanwhile, their frenemy, tabloid reporter Katie Byrd Worthington, is tracking an explosive case of her own: rampant sexual abuse by male officers, which has prompted a mutiny by female soldiers determined to expose their superior officers' crimes. Careening around Seoul in Ernie's souped-up jeep, the pair expose the underbelly of the American occupation of South Korea in all its sexist and racist ugliness. Through 15 episodes, Lim�n continues to balance old-school, Chandlerian action with crisp historical detail and penetrating insight into military malfeasance.

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