Laced together as tightly as a pair of military combat
boots, the impeccably written story Murder
on the Naval Base, by author Behcet Kaya, transports the reader from zero
to Mach 2 as fast as an F-18 Hornet catapulted off the flight deck of a
carrier. Beginning with a blurry account
of a cold-blooded shooting of a couple, singled out while having dinner at an
Officer’s Club, the prime suspect is apprehended hours later while apparently
attempting to flee the state. With over
a dozen eye-witnesses collaborating the incident, little was left in the puzzle
for the military investigators to piece together; especially once it was
determined the two victims were in fact the perpetrator’s wife and the man she
was having an on-going affair with.
After the shocking beginning of the novel, Behcet Kaya stylishly
brings the reader back on a journey throughout the life and career of the characters
while interlacing the technical jargon and vernacular of naval flight training
and the nuances of the military lifestyle.
Behcet Kaya, in a seamless scenario of terse chapters, creates realistic visual images in the
readers’ mind of grey painted ships and planes, officers in pressed-perfect
uniforms, military discipline with all its pomp and circumstance, and the
unfaltering code of honor upheld by our country’s finest fighting forces. Combined with a steamy undercurrent of lust,
love, sexual fulfillment, jealousy and primordial desires of the cast of
characters, the human condition of married life versus the structure and
demands of military careers are juxtaposed against the strength and will of personal
upbringing and ethical behavior.
The story circles back to the opening scene mid-way through
the book, as Behcet Kaya revealed a style and acumen of writing with his plot
machination bringing to my thoughts a “wow factor;” totally creating a
partition to his story for what becomes a series of court scenes, laden with wonderfully
intense exchanges of dialogue and offering inexhaustible stimulation of
thought. The cool part of this half of
the book is the reader has “just lived through” all of the stories being
examined and cross-examined by the JAG and private attorney. So confidently is the story told, that Behcet
Kaya actually tells the reader of the ending prior to the finale, then executes
the action creating what becomes a “play within a novel culminating to a
climax.” It is very rare to see such
mastery of writing as contained within Murder
on the Naval Base, as I definitely believe it will receive accolades from
many book contests, publishers’ recognition awards, reviewers’ praise and
certainly the public opinion. I feel
very privileged to have had an introductory release for this review.
Easily adaptable for a screenplay and an excellent choice
for a Hollywood blockbuster, Murder on
the Naval Base has elements of other excellent stories and movies within
its sub-structure. I found my mind
drifting to scenes from Top Gun with
the pilots finesse doing carrier landings at night and their fiercely
competitive and confrontational personalities; and the court scene had the bold
clarity of dialogue reminiscent in A Few
Good Men. Although possessing elements
of excellence brought out in other various forms of media, Murder on the Naval Base floats on its own keel of originality;
offering the reader a page-turner of excitement, legal intrigue,
psychologically thrilling moments, steamy sex and military honor - complete
with a surprise that is foreshadowed so brilliantly, even the most seasoned
reader will raise an eyebrow at the end with humble acknowledgement of the
literary mastery contained herein. All
this within the galley text of the second major work of Behcet Kaya suggests to
me we have much more to see from the keyboard of this very interesting and
skilled author.
Featured book for January 2012 
