The Veteran is a collection of four short stories and a novella by Frederick Forsyth. The short stories each has a different theme. A man, the veteran of the title, is kicked to death and his murderers are defended by a brilliant barrister, resulting in unexpected justice. An art scam, concocted for revenge, rocks the art world. A ghostly nun heals seriously wounded servicemen during the Second World War. HM Customs pit their wits against a group of drug smugglers on an international flight. Different themes, but one common factor – you won’t expect the ending.
The novella is something else. It starts with Custer’s Last Stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn. There is only one survivor, a scout who speaks Cheyenne. The Native Americans take him in. He is forbidden to marry the woman he loves, but a holy man promises that they will be together, even as she leaves to marry another man. The rest of the story is about his search for the woman he lost. Again, the ending is unexpected.
One problem I often have with short stories is that they feel rushed. The author has comparatively few pages to give the characters personality, make you care about them and tell the story. None of the stories in The Veteran feels rushed. Frederick Forsyth manages to give each story room to develop in a short space. For example, the description of English police procedure in the short story ‘The Veteran’ is very well researched and very detailed. This is a book I’ll be happy to read more than once, but it’s not easy to categorise. Three of the short stories feature crimes and the fourth is about a con, so I’ve classed it as crime fiction.
