Why this book: Written by my good friend Paul Shemella who I know well from my time in the Navy, and for whom I have worked for several times since, when he was the Director of the Center for Civil Military Relations/Counter Terroris

Summary in 4 sentences: Carl Malinowski is a retired SEAL officer who on occasion is contracted to take on politically sensitive missions in Latin America for the CIA, and he conducts these with a loyal cadre of about 5 other former SEALs.  The book begins with a successful “rendition” mission – Carl and his team kidnap a Colombian drug kingpin from his jungle lair and return him to the US.  The ensuing political tensions between the US and Colombia, force the CIA to call on Carl and his team to conduct a recovery mission of a key US official who was kidnapped in retaliation.  But the political issues complicate the mission significantly, and all is not as it seems for Carl and his team – and of course there are some beautiful women in the story that further complicate Carl’s mission.

My Impressions: A good yarn,  fun read and a nice combination of a popular special operations adventure story, complete with a romantic element, and a pretty realistic portrayal of special operators working in the netherworld of strategic, political and military intrigue.  Paul Shemella has worked in that world, not only in Latin America as the senior SEAL working counter-drug operations throughout South and Central America, but all over the world in his subsequent positions in Europe and Africa on active duty, and then later travelling to capitals all over the world to teach political military affairs and leadership to senior military and civilian leaders on behalf of the Naval Post Graduate School. He’s seen America at its best and worst overseas, and also worked with special operators and country teams, senior military leaders, and other counterparts all over the world.

The book starts on a mission in Latin America in which the team of former SEALs abducts a major drug kingpin for return to the states for trial.  After that success, the team returns to their civilian lives, and we spend the next portion of book getting to know Carl, his life, and we get to know some of the other characters who will play key roles in the drama as tensions brew between the US and Colombia.  Then, Carl and his team are called on again to help resolve a crisis that requires particularly sharp and reliable special operations expertise and experience in Latin America, and Carl and his team are a proven resource.

From a special operations perspective, I particularly enjoyed his descriptions of how the operators worked together preparing for and conducting their operations.  His descriptions of scenes in the jungles and on the rivers of Latin America clearly indicated that he had been there, done that.  I also enjoyed his portrayal of country team dynamics in Colombia.  I have had some experience myself in the often chaotic world of  country-team politics, trying to get the job done while dealing with all the personality and ego dynamics, and inter-agency competition.  Paul’s depictions rang true and were reminiscent of my own experiences.

On the less positive side, I did feel that his former SEALs were a bit too idealized for my taste.   They were all really good guys, very skilled operators, super motivated and super locked-on and committed to each other and their mission.  My own experience has not always been so positive – a lot of SEALs are indeed selflessly committed to each other and their mission, but others are not quite so selfless.  Especially after leaving the culture of the Navy and the Teams, many if not most SEALs are ready to make other commitments in life.  When called upon to perform primarily for money, working for other agencies, defense contractors, or other corporate entities outside of the culture of the military, loyalties and commitments are often not as strong.   In fact, for Carl Malinowski himself, this tension between his commitments to serve military-like objectives outside the military, and his desire for a new life was a key sub-theme in the book.  

I also felt that the the bad guys in Jungle Rules were perhaps a bit too evil, and the women perhaps also a bit too idealized – I wish I could have met such super-hot, intelligent, multi-dimensional women as those portrayed in this story.   I would have liked a bit more depth and dimension to the interesting characters in this book – but perhaps that is a limitation built into making a popular romantic adventure novel in 230 or so pages.  As a guy who has lived in that world, I was sometimes not just letting myself enjoy the story, but was noting what didn’t quite jive with my own experience or what wasn’t there that I expected to see.   These weren’t big distractions, and I enjoyed the book.  Paul wrote a good adventure story for SEALs and non-SEALs alike, which indeed did do justice to the SEAL Teams and SEAL Team values.

As the story moved toward its culmination, I was truly drawn in, and the last half of the book became a real page turner.   The final operation brought the story to its fast-moving and satisfying conclusion.  And Paul put in a nice twist at the end – I couldn’t stop reading until I found out how it would all turn out.  I spent an enjoyable afternoon turning pages and staying very engaged, speeding through the last half to third of the book.

Jungle Rules offers not only a good adventure story, but also some great insights into special operations in the political-military counter-drug netherworld of Latin America.