Haig, Brian

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HAIG, Brian

PERSONAL:

Son of Alexander Haig (a U.S. Secretary of State); married; children: four. Education: Graduate of West Point Military Academy.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NJ. Agent—Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit Associates, 598 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022.

CAREER:

Author. U.S. Army, career infantry officer and military strategist; served as special assistant to General John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; International Business Communications, executive.

WRITINGS:

"SEAN DRUMMOND" SERIES

Secret Sanction, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Mortal Allies, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2002.

The Kingmaker, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Private Sector, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to periodicals, including New York Times, USA Today, and Harvard Journal.

ADAPTATIONS:

Secret Sanction was optioned for film by Intermedia; all novels in the "Sean Drummond" series adapted to audio and e-book formats by Time Warner.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Novels in the continuing series.

SIDELIGHTS:

Adding to his growing list of novels featuring U. S. Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) lawyer and former Special Forces operative Sean Drummond has replaced Brian Haig's own military career, during which time he was an officer and strategist. Haig was also a special assistant to General John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position that helped prepare Haig for writing his international thrillers.

Haig is the son of former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, and there are a number of family members in the legal profession, including Haig's attorney brother who practices in Washington, D.C. When Shalikashvili retired, Haig accepted a lucrative offer that then fell through, and during his time without work, he began to read novels. Haig worked for an international company for one year, but when he left, he took a year to write. He was a stay-at-home father, helping with his children's needs, but in that year, he also finished three books. When Warner bought two and contracted for four more, and then with Nicholas Cage's production company optioning all, Haig was firmly established as a successful writer.

The first novel in the series, Secret Sanction, called "an excellent military legal thriller" by Library Journal's Robert Conroy, finds Drummond in Bosnia to investigate the guilt or innocence of a U.S. Special Forces team. Thirty-five Serbs have been found dead of close-range bullet wounds to the head, and the Serbs are accusing the Green Berets of the massacre.

While the Washington Post Book World's John Greenya remarked that the book contained "clumsy foreshadowing and an excess of cardboard in too many of the characterizations," a Kirkus Reviews contributor called Haig's depiction of Drummond "a combination hard-nose and closet romantic," noting that the novel is "well-written and briskly paced."

In Mortal Allies, Drummond is called upon to defend an army officer accused of the rape and murder of the son of a high-level South Korean official. His co-counsel is former classmate and polar opposite Katherine Carlson, an attorney who specializes in defending controversial cases. The case inflames both gay-rights groups and religious activists, and the extensive media coverage threatens to cause the expulsion of U.S. troops from South Korea. A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that "Korean culture and the country's North/South divide play an important role in the novel's denouement, as Haig successfully kindles his powder keg of a plot."

The Kingmaker finds Drummond defending William Morrison, an unlikable general who is charged with murder and treason. In this novel, Drummond's ambivalence about defending Morrison is complicated by his romantic history with the general's wife. Booklist's George Cohen called Haig's plot "a rather standard story line," but remarked on the writer's "sharply drawn characters." Writing in Library Journal, Robert Conroy stated that "Drummond is a marvelously imperfect hero."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 2001, David Pitt, review of Secret Sanction, p. 1428; May 1, 2002, George Cohen, review of Mortal Allies, p. 1506; November 15, 2002, George Cohen, review of The Kingmaker, p. 568.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2001, review of Secret Sanction, p. 522; November 1, 2002, review of The Kingmaker, p. 1554; August 15, 2003, review of Private Sector, p. 1035.

Library Journal, June 1, 2001, Robert Conroy, review of Secret Sanction, p. 216; May 15, 2002, Robert Conroy, review of Mortal Allies, p. 124; December 2002, Robert Conroy, review of The Kingmaker, p. 178; September 1, 2003, Robert Conroy, review of Private Sector, p. 206.

Publishers Weekly, May 13, 2002, review of Mortal Allies, p. 52; November 18, 2002, review of The Kingmaker, p. 41; August 18, 2003, review of Private Sector, p. 56.

Washington Post Book World, August 12, 2001, John Greenya, review of Secret Sanction, p. 8.