the exercise by mark west, book review

The great Francis Rossi once sang, Oh-oh-oh, you're in the army now! However, I don't think even the Quomaster could have foreseen just how much trouble Corporal Ray Ward and his squad of home guard soldiers would face after they have to take refuge in a medical care facility when they need medical attention after an accident during a routine training exercise.  

Set during the height of the second world war, Mark West's The Exercise is a punchy fast-paced action horror novella that hits the ground running and never lets up during its stunning cinematic style narrative.  

West has created a lovable cast of characters; imagine a Dad's Army mixed with the Kelly's Heroes, and you get an idea of what you are in for, world-weary, slightly wisecracking soldiers who just want to get this exercise over and done with. West allows just enough time to develop the characters into believable individuals. He doesn't waste any time on unnecessary characterisation; instead, he focuses the primary attention on creating a novella that thunders down the road like a Mark VI Crusader tank. Despite the limited time spent on fleshing out the squaddies, The Exercise never feels as though it is populated with paper-thin cyphers. The characters are distinct enough, with enough personality for the reader to become fully invested in their story.  

The Exercise's main strength is in West's ability to craft a tale that feels real. Historical fiction lives and dies on the story feeling historically accurate. All too often, the writer fails to have the characters and the scene-setting feel realistic, and this comes to the fore with the dialogue. Thankfully West has taken great care to make everything about the "real world" of this story feel 100% authentic. The squaddies talk and act like real squaddies from the 1940s, the descriptions of the vehicles and equipment and even how the characters act and respond to the story's events feel convincing.  

West's clever use of prologue foreshadows what is to come once the action hots up towards the final act of the novella; it gives a hint as to what to expect without entirely giving the game away. But we know the boys will be in for some nasty action once the secrets of the medical care facility are revealed.  

If I have one criticism of the novella, one of the characters gives a name to the evil that they encounter; yes, West explains how he knows what to call them by revealing that the character had seen a film with them in the cinema. However, it just felt a little bit too convenient. It could have been better if they were just left unclassified to allow for a greater sense of mystery.  

West keeps the reader hooked during the first two-thirds of the novella thanks to a great sense of camaraderie between the squaddies, but it is the final third of the novella where West's writing really shines; he directs the action-heavy last act with a keen sense of pace and perfect delivery of set pieces leading up to a nail-biting finale, which he hits with the precision of a sniper.  

The Exercise will leave you gasping for air and feeling utterly pumped to the max by the time you turn the final page and proves yet again that Mark West is one of our most under-appreciated writers of horror.  

The Exercise by Mark West  

August 1943.

Forced to seek medical attention, Corporal Ray Ward and his squad are warmly welcomed at Sinclair House, a rehabilitation unit dealing with solders suffering from shell-shock.

But Sinclair House isn’t what it appears to be. Out in the orchards, blood-chilling screams can be heard from the locked Nissen huts and the sheer volume of armed, clearly agitated military personnel around the property seems excessive. Ward and his men know something very wrong is happening at this isolated country estate and soon find themselves caught up in the middle of terrifying events…

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