Patrol

Patrol
ISBN: 9781612003788
Publication Date: 1 June 2016

"Already loose sand had drifted over the stamped-down square which momentarily had distinguished the subaltern's grave: no there was no sign, no mark, no indication whatsoever. There had been, here, eleven men. Now ten rode away."

In the Mesopotamian desert during World War I, the leader of a British patrol is shot and killed, by an unseen enemy. The officer is the only one who knows their orders and has not told anyone else where they are located. From then on the sergeant has to try to lead the men through a hostile desert landscape which is full of invisible Arab snipers. One by one they are picked off, and the group of diverse characters from different backgrounds has to try to come together in order to survive.

The decision making process proves far from easy as tensions and prejudices from their former lives come to the fore. This is a thrilling tale of suspense, which continues right to the last page. It was a best seller in the 1920s and was filmed twice by Walter Summers (as Lost Patrol in 1929) and by John Ford (as The Lost Patrol in 1934).