The writing style of Don't Ask just didn't work for me. As I love the blurb, I wanted so badly to like this book, but instead it ended up being a DNF.

Title: Don't Ask
By: B.K. Dell
Publisher: Patriot Books
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3045038492
Blog: https://wordpress.com/post/caoilfhionnotoole.wordpress.com/66



Caleb Hertz is just a man who wants to be a Marine. And what is wrong with that? Nothing, as it should be only the USMC disagree. Why? Because of one simple fact, Private First Class Hertz is gay. That’s right G A Y. To the Marine Corps that might as well stand for Get Away You.
The book seems to be set in a time where “Don’t ask Don’t tell” is about to be appealed. How is it known that PFC Hertz is gay? You might be surprised at the answer.
With a drill instructor the living embodiment of drill instructor Hartman in Full Metal Jacket.
Hertz is all but convinced he has made a mistake joining the USMC when he makes an unlikely friend.
Just as it seems his fellow Marines see him as a brother Hertz has to go through the process twice more before his story continues.

When I started to read this book I was under the false impression it was based on True events which I learned by the half way mark was not the fact.
I may have spotted it sooner if I had any knowledge of the USMC. I was, at least, enjoying Hertz conviction and fight.
However, by the end I was lost about what this book was trying to say.
Was it trying to say:
A) Marine’s are not homophobic
B) Christians are not homophobic
Or
C) Both
I am left wondering if this is the whole reason for the book?
It seemed that for every question about Homosexuality the answer was a religious one. Not necessarily negative but religious none the less. Why? Are there no other sources available for answers?
I believed every moment of this book until the “Friendly Fire incident” and honestly I think the book should have ended there. Or at the very least stayed with Jackson. I understand why we were thrown from place to place but I really think the story could have gained more traction in one place. Instead it was more like a scene from A Few Good Men.
Yes, it showed what can happen to the family of Marine’s but by in large these were characters we had never heard of or only in passing. I had not gained enough about them to care much. I think it would have been pages better dedicated to Jackson’s or Ms Hobbs’s suffering.
I also felt that the bible played too big a role in this book. I did like some of the passages such as Psalm 121 and some of Jackson's reasoning such as “A fear-based system of morality is no morality at all.”
By the end of the book I felt like religion had been more center stage then the USMC or gay rights. I won’t even start about the strange ramblings about Muslims other to acknowledge that like any group of anything in existence there are good and bad.
To be honest If I were not reviewing this and simply reading for enjoyment I would have DNF’ed this book.
When groups of mixed sex were mentioned the men were always angry and shouting and the women always “wiping tears way” or crying, this I disliked a lot. The women in the book also seem two dimensional as they are only ever spoken about as wives, girlfriends and daughters. Their lives beyond such are never mentioned.
And while the book also had both sides of the story it seemed almost acceptable for the USMC to lie and no one else. I hate the pretense that a salt grain of truth counts in a hand full of salt lies.
If, however GI Jane (substitute woman for gay man), Full Metal Jacket, A Few Good Men and a Bible sound like your type of boot camp this is definitely the book for you.

Only two wands for this one /* /*

This is a book I probably wouldn't have looked twice at had I not read Ask, Tell by E.J. Noyes, a story that was riveting and informative. Especially to a reader such as myself who had no idea such a thing existed.

That is where these two stories part ways, and I'm going to do my best not to compare them as they are NOTHING alike.

So, Don't Ask is about an out Marine, or more specifically a young man who is outed by his partner as he boards the bus.

Everyone, Sargent's included, makes it their mission to make his life a misery, and next minute everyone is graduating (if that's what it's called.) While at boot camp, our lead meets Jackson, a man of faith, and thus the story takes a heavy turn toward religion and faith, complete with entire passages from the Bible. At one stage, the narration comes dangerously close to suggesting You can pray the gay away.

Then the author makes a brave move and the story becomes a legal thriller ( I use the word thriller loosely) again, with a huge focus on faith and religion.

Numerous times, I considered abandoning the story, but something kept me reading, albeit skim-reading, so for that alone, I give this book 3 stars.

I really don't know who I'd recommend it to, if anyone. It's not a romance, it's not a thriller, it's not about the military, but kind of is. It is HEAVY on religion to the point of being preachy. S

Copy received via NetGalley