Phil Davidson has just published a great action/thriller novel Dreamer. It hit my radar a couple of weeks ago and it is a wild ride from start to finish. What I enjoyed most though was the depth of this book. It operates on several levels, and it is up to the reader to decide how deeply to explore the story.

Set at the beginning  of the Falklands War it concerns some ex Vietnam Vets who are called to arms by an old comrade, the mission is to save the wife of one of their own. Sunny is being held captive, almost certainly being tortured, and faces the death sentence at the hands of Argentina’s dreaded secret police. There be no ’show trial’, just a cold bullet when they have extracted the information from the young lady.

For lovers of a great action romp Dreamer is probably the sleeper best seller of this Summer. But it is also much more than just a wild adventure by some renegade soldiers, there are some very strong themes of good versus evil that intertwine with the story line.

As soon as I finished reading Dreamer, I just knew that I wanted to find out more about Phil Davidson.

I managed to get some time with Phil Davidson, he is an interesting gentleman. A Vietnam Vet, following that adventure he found himself in Berlin, one of the very few people tasked with guarding the Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess. Hess was the last remaining prisoner in Spandau, the entire prison complex was maintained for this one inmate.  After leaving the Armed Services he moved on to an even more exciting career, a law enforcement officer, a teacher, a coach, and now a Civil Rights Lawyer. There is no doubt about it, Phil has been around the block a couple of times! I had assumed that Dreamer was Phil Davidson’s first book, I was wrong. In 1979 he wrote a text book, I think the title might give the subject matter away, ‘SWAT’. This was the text adopted across the countries police forces to develop SWAT teams.

In fact Phil Davidson’s career could make for a book by itself!

Although Dreamer is very much a novel, Phil took great pains to ensure the accuracy of technical and historical aspects that are mentioned. He also let slip that while the names had been changed, several of the main characters are indeed based around people that Phil has worked with while in the army.

A major theme in Dreamer is the internal conflict that existed within Argentina following the demise of the Peron’s. From 1975 till 1983 the military ruled with an iron fist. There are no exact numbers but some estimates claim that 30,000 Argentinians disappeared, were tortured, and then killed by the Junta.

Another theme that runs throughout Dreamer is good versus evil, God versus Satan. In the interview we explored this at some length. Phil himself, I think, has been a little surprised by what some reviewers and readers have said about this aspect. Somehow, someway, Dreamer has been labeled as Christian Literature. Many folks have taken umbrage at the cuss words in the the book, and a couple of very harmless sex scenes. As Phil points out, they were adults, and they were married!

I love the way people like to slap labels on books! Personally I read books because I want to, I pay little, actually, no attention to what other people have to say. A book stands on its own merits, and Dreamer is a highly meritorious book.

You can listen to the whole interview here.

Simon Barrett