Hugo Ayala has burned his bridges with the Colombian military by denouncing murders committed by his former officers. After surviving a bloody assignment in Yemen with an American security company, he completes U.S. Army basic training. But he’s blocked from becoming a green card soldier by new anti-immigration laws. He stays on as an illegal, and joins the American Foreign Legion, an immigration rights group whose members have fought for the USA.

Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is detaining and deporting thousands of people, without due process. But now the communities being targeted include Hugo and others who know how to fight back. The leader of the AFL has his own political backers and doubtful motives. As each side ratchets up the violence, American political unity starts to crack.

Neal Alexander was born in the UK but now lives and works in Columbia, South America where he makes documentary films. As far as I can tell, The Mutiny of the American Foreign Legion is his first published novel which is an all action tale of Hugo and Valentina who, by separate means, leave Columbia for a better life in the USA. Mutiny is billed as the first in a series to be called Rebels of the American Hemisphere.

At the start of the story, Hugo is a soldier in the Columbian Naval Infantry where he is effective but is regarded as a misfit, being given all the difficult work. After recovering from serious injury in the line of duty, he finds himself out of the Navy and struggling to find employment. Relief comes in the form of some security work in the middle-east on behalf of the US government but when that ends, he travels to the USA. Sadly, his efforts on behalf of the US are not recognised and he finds himself working as an undocumented immigrant.

In Mutiny, Alexander highlights some of the pressures in many South and Central American countries, particularly Columbia and the unfairness of life in the USA for immigrants, both legal and illegal. The synopsis above details some of these concerns including allegations that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deport people without due process and that immigrants are welcome to serve in the US forces but are not entitled to permanent citizenship.

Whilst the author made me feel sympathetic towards his characters, particularly Hugo and Valentina, I felt that his violent novel with a blend of fact and fiction weakened his arguments. Whilst ICE is a US agency which may well have some rogue operators, I am not aware of an American Foreign Legion. Also, the lack of citizenship for non-citizen combatants (often referred to as mercenaries) is far from unique; troops in Ghurkha Regiments in the UK Army do not automatically get UK citizenship and France only guarantees citizenship to Foreign Legion members after three years good service or if they are wounded in a battle for France.

The action sequences were entertaining, particularly during the final chapters but again, if the author is trying to make political points, I feel that full scale military action against a government agency is arguably not the way to go. Also, I struggled with the numerous unfamiliar initials which are not always detailed in the text. Admittedly there is a detailed glossary in the opening pages which would be easy to flick back to in a paper version but this is not so simple with an electronic reader.

Maybe I’m overthinking everything. If you are looking for an all action story where good defeats evil then The Mutiny of the American Foreign Legion could be the book for you.

Neal Alexander was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in England. He has lived and worked in Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Colombia. He has co-written multiple scripts for short and feature films, and this is his first novel.