Spin Zhira

First class.' Doug Beattie MC, An Ordinary Soldier 'Brims with authenticity and dark humour.' Patrick Hennessey, The Junior Officers' Reading Club 'A must read.' Richard Dorney, The Killing Zone 'The best book by a soldier concerning the Afghan War that I have read.' Frank Ledwidge, Losing Small Wars 'A very good read.' William Reeve Former BBC World Service and Afghanistan Correspondent 'Five stars' SOLDIER The official magazine of the British Army. Spin Zhira: Old Man in Helmand is a rare insight into the male mid-life crisis. What every woman needs to know and why every man should be careful what he wishes for. Chris Green had it all: A beautiful wife and family; a highly paid and glamorous job as an international marketing and communications expert; a trophy house in a prestigious postcode; a powerful SUV; designer sunglasses; Dolce and Gabbana suits and twice yearly holidays to exotic destinations. But when Chris became disillusioned with this seemingly perfect existence he didn't buy a sports car, run off with the au pair or snort cocaine from the breasts of prostitutes. Instead he went to fight the increasingly unpopular war on terror in Afghanistan. In the process of discovering himself he unwittingly discovers that the courage and heroism of the soldiers he fights alongside are confounded by self-deception, incompetence, corruption and "an industrial strength counterterrorism killing machine". It's a world where the dipsomaniac governor is in the pay of the illicit opium trade, the Chief of Police is a pederast and all round bad guy and the locals still haven't forgiven the British for the occupation of 1842, or for the Russian Invasion of 1979. All infidels look the same so you can't really tell them apart. Missing his two young sons, unable to influence policy and just a phone-call away from a brawl he can only lose with the elite SAS, Chris dreams of epic powder days in the High Alps a world away from Afghanistan. But before he can return home to a hero's welcome - and his wife's divorce lawyers - he must first complete one last mission to Zumbalay, the Taliban Heart of Darkness and an unlikely reunion with an old man in Helmand. Guaranteed to make you laugh and cry - or your money back (but check the small print first).