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    The Valley
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    The Valley
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    The Valley
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Valley

    Written by John Renehan

    Narrated by George Newbern

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

     "You're going up the Valley."

    Black didn't know its name, but he knew it lay deeper and higher than any other place Americans had ventured. You had to travel through a network of interlinked valleys, past all the other remote American outposts, just to get to its mouth. Everything about the place was myth and rumor, but one fact was clear: There were many valleys in the mountains of Afghanistan, and most were hard places where people died hard deaths. But there was only one Valley. It was the farthest, and the hardest, and the worst.

    When Black, a deskbound admin officer, is sent up the Valley to investigate a warning shot fired by a near-forgotten platoon, he can only see it as the final bureaucratic insult in a short and unhappy Army career. What he doesn't know is that his investigation puts at risk the centuries-old arrangements that keep this violent land in fragile balance, and will launch a shattering personal odyssey of obsession and discovery as Black reckons with the platoon's dark secrets, accumulated over endless hours fighting and dying in defense of an indefensible piece of land.

    The Valley is a riveting tour de force that changes our understanding of the men who fight our wars and announces John Renehan as one of the great American storytellers of our time.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 10, 2015
    ISBN9780698188860
    Unavailable
    The Valley
    Author

    John Renehan

    John Renehan served in the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division as a field artillery officer in Iraq. He previously worked as an attorney in New York City. He lives with his family in Virginia. This is his first novel.

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    Reviews for The Valley

    4/5

    20 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This is not a book I would have ordinarily have been interested in just by reading the blurb - I was so glad I gave it a chance.

      Lieutenant Black is living a fairly mundane life as part of military administration on an U.S. base in Afghanistan. He has become somewhat disillusioned with his military career, when he is sent to a remote command post in one of the huge valleys in the Nuristan mountains. Black is tasked with investigating a warning shot fired in a nearby village, pretty mundane stuff for routine paperwork. Of course not all is what it seems there...

      I loved this book pretty much as soon as I started to read it, I found the descriptions of military life and procedures absolutely fascinating. I loved how everything as explained simply, as I knew pretty much nothing about the U.S. Army. The book really gripped me, I was dying to know just what the heck was going on at the command post - sadly as the book reached its conclusion I was left scratching my head.

      There are a lot of revelations to keep track of, I didn't really understand why some events were significant. Who was actually involved in what, and what the heck did that all mean and why was it a problem. Also there was a lot of mistaken identity, by the end of book I didn't understand who was supposed to be who. It was just confusing. Also there is a huge italic part near the end that I couldn't work out. Was that a flashback? What was the deal with the professor? So confused!

      Great subject matter, convoluted conclusion. I came away from this book feeling I had missed something, or several something's.


      ***Disclaimer***
      I received an advanced reader copy for free through Goodreads First Reads. The opinions stated this review are entirely my own.
    • 4/5
      When I received a copy of The Valley by John Renehan, I almost did not read it, and that would have been my error. Renehen has created a fantastic, in depth, and at times suspenseful look at the men who put their lives on the line to maintain a fragile balance at a remote outpost in Afghanistan. I highly recommend The Valley and look forward to reading more works from this author.
    • 4/5
      This is a niche book that will be enjoyed by people with a military background and particularly those who served in the Middle East in recent years. I see very little crossover outside of that group. The story involves a man named Black who is sent to investigate possible wrongdoing at an outpost close to enemy lines. Lots of military terminology make it difficult for someone like myself who has never been in the military.
    • 5/5
      I agree wholeheartedly with the wise reviewer who said, "If you want to read one book about the war in Afghanistan, this is it." I've read more than one, have been on an Afghan/Pakistan tear of late, but this is the book that kept me reading all through the night.Firstly, it's an Army procedural. "Hooah, LT" is the greeting for Black, a lieutenant carrying the burden of a brutal combat background, who is assigned to investigate the shooting of a goat in the remotest, furtherest, smallest operating base in Nuristan, near the Pakistani border. The Nuristanis were the last Afghans to become Muslims, which does not endear them to the area Taliban. And The Valley is lush with poppy cultivation. And the Vega Base is rife with mysterious deaths and disappearances, with stalking tribal children, two sergeants in brutish competition, a Wizard, a Monk, Xanadu, and almost too many secrets for one investigator to uncover in a week. Renehan's familiarity with the life, considering his background in field artillery in Iraq, is a considerable asset to the novel. What is unexpected is his brilliant construction of many unfolding mysteries, his ability to deviously hide clues, and the perfection of both outer and inner dialogue.I have enjoyed many a police procedural. This one, with the additional pressures of an insane war, rises right to the top of my best evers, along with Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie, Robert B Parker's Spenser, and Dennis Lehane's Angie and Patrick. None of those took place in a war zone (well, Lehane's Dorchester, maybe). I'd give this to anyone in or out of the service with immense pleasure. A remarkable read. Where did this guy come from?
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the descriptions of military base facilities, equipment and operations. The combat scenes and dialogue were engrossing. However, other than the protagonist, I felt the characters were forgettable. Perhaps, the author unknowingly directed this book toward "military readers". But I am glad I read it and plan to buy it when it's released in March.
    • 4/5
      The Valley – Stunning ThrillerThe Valley is the debut thriller from former American soldier John Renehan which is a brilliant mixture of war amid an investigation. Reading this you will feel that you too have been in the Valley alongside Lieutenant Black as he slowly discovers the dark secrets of a highly strung out platoon at an isolated and very remote outpost in Afghanistan. This descriptions and the imagery that they bring shows John Renehan to be a keen observer of his surroundings and you feel the harshness of the land, the harshness of the people and the loneliness of the soldier.Lieutenant Black is a desk jockey at FOB Omaha when his commanding officer informs him that he has been randomly selected to carry out Army Regulation 15-6 investigation at Combat Outpost Vega which is based up an isolated Valley in Afghanistan, he would be there for a week to interview the men and the local chief about a dead goat. Bringing to life the politics of the locality while dodging the bullets that the American forces had to deal with.After a six hour night time journey to COP Vega his welcoming committee is a bad tempered sergeant who puts him on his back in the mud screaming at him. Once inside the post he is also informed that he is the only commissioned officer there as the platoon’s officer had taken his place in the convoy back to base.It is not until the following day he realises how unprepared he is to do this investigation and how much the sergeants and the other ranks are not happy he is there. Even more so when he insists they have to go down the Valley to meet with the local village chief where he meets full hostility of the locals especially when the platoon have to literally run back to the outpost to save their own skins.Black cannot at first work out why the chief exploded in anger and cannot get any clear or honest answers from any of the men on the base. It is only when the base comes under renewed attack that he is able to slowly able to put together what the problems are and why there is an evasion of the truth by the men. It is when he has made his way up to the furthest outpost known as Traynor that he is able to gain a fuller picture.It is while Vega is under a sustained attack that he is able to understand what has been happening and why the men are afraid to speak out to him or to another sergeant. Injured and concussed he is able to help run the command post while under attack and is able to get air support in. He is also eventually evacuated back to Omaha where he is given time to recover.It is while he is moved to Kuwait that he is finally able to understand what one of the men said to him when he arrived at Vega "The Devil is in this valley, sir.” It is here that the pieces fall in to place and realises that he is lucky to be alive, when so many did not get away.This is an excellent debut that makes you feel part of the investigation and feel the isolation of an unwanted officer on an outpost where there are even hostiles there. At times you have to get past some of the military jargon but there are explanations to help your understanding. A great military thriller that really grabs you and you feel the harshness of battle, plenty of action infused with mystery.
    • 5/5
      An enigmatic mystery wrapped in a war story. The author masterfully conveys what it is like to be in the Army in a modern war. From the artificial normalcy of a secure base camp, to the baffling insanity in the middle of a hot war zone, the descriptions are spot on. The images of men under fire in combat, are powerful enough to take your breath away. It all starts as another annoying assignment for First Lieutenant Black, who is stuck in an office in secure base Omaha. But it turns out this assignment will take him into the field for a couple of days. He has to track down the facts surrounding a minor incident involving a run in between an Army patrol and some civilians. Warning shots were fired and a goat was killed. A goat. Surely this wouldn’t take long to investigate, but it did happen in the Valley. Not just any valley, but the Valley. The location is the farthest outpost of our troops, smack on the border of the country. Ops people consider it the Wild West. A lonely outpost in hostile territory, far from help. What could possibly go wrong? Everything! This book provided for review by the well read folks at Shelf Awareness and Dutton Books.