Story Story Review: Cannon Fodder: Operation Horse Whisperer by Marilyn Peake

Alison Walker, a stricken wife, goes to visit her husband for the first time. Visit him in the army hospital that he has been recovering in for 6 months. His head badly damaged and bandaged, his wife and he struggle at first to dance around each other and the situation that they find themselves in. But Jack is changed. He remembers things, people, eagles, conflict, in a place he was never sent to. Alison fears the worst, will Jack ever be the same?

The doctors and nurses are adamant that he will remember, positive that he will fight again and be an effective soldier, and the husband that she remembers. Jack however, still has the dreams, flashbacks of the place and experiences that the army say he never saw. 

What will become of Alison, and indeed Jack? Are the army really on his side or do they have a more sinister agenda? 

This is a lovely short story that entices you till the shocking twist at the end. 

I love Marilyn Peake’s work, I am slowly working my way through her works and am never disappointed. My only irk with this story, and the reason it is not 5 stars, is because I felt that the story could easily have been made more, perhaps even into a novella. BUT the way of the storyteller is to leave us wanting more….and as I pant and reach for the next tale in Peake’s arsenal of adventures, I can certainly see that it works……

Her themes are quite dark, eerie and always compelling. Sometimes stark themes and desperate situations, Peake weaves the tales through beautiful descriptions and poignant language. 

4 star read