Published by Henry Holt and Co. on July 11, 2023
The Militia House combines the story of a Marine deployed to Afghanistan with a horror story. War is horror even without a supernatural element, which might be the story’s point.
The novel begins as a conventional story of a soldier in Afghanistan. It has the uncertain feel of many debut war novels told by veterans who want to write about their military experience but aren’t sure what they want to say.
Alex Loyette is a corporal who leads three other Marines in the routine tasks associated with establishing landing zones for helicopters. Alex joined the Marines because he was failing in college. He wanted to make people think he was doing something important, but he didn’t care about military service. His brother was the war hero, someone who died after stepping on an IED, whose sacrifice meant more to others than to Alex. Alex knows he will never be a hero, will never be perceived in the same light as his brother.
Alex has given up on everything. He doesn’t want to try to live up to a potential that he can’t recognize. He doesn’t want to do good things or be a good person or please people who cared about him. He just wants to be left alone. He comes to realize that by joining the Marines, he ran away from one lost cause to join another.
The novel’s hook is a building just outside the wire called the Militia House. British soldiers claim that the Militia House is haunted. It was at one point occupied as barracks by Soviet soldiers who fought their last battle against the Taliban in its confines. Bullet holes riddle the interior walls.
Creepy events occur before Alex visits the Militia House. He sees a dog with porcupine quills stuck in its nose. Quills eventually turn up at other locations. Drawings pinned to the walls seem to change, as if they are being redrawn. A notebook in which Alex scribbles his thoughts reappears every time he burns it. One of Alex’s men talks in his sleep and appears to be sleepwalking.
The creepiest events occur in the Militia House, where time is distorted and a stairway to a basement appears and disappears. Alex should know better than to return to a haunted house, but when one of his team disappears, he leads the rest on a rescue mission. It doesn’t end well.
The novel captures the frustration of miliary life. John Milas establishes Alex’s backstory and insecurities effectively. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to the novel. Perhaps Alex is under the influence of the supernatural. Perhaps he’s gone off his nut. Whether the supernatural threats are meant to be taken seriously or are the product of Alex’s disturbed mind is never clear, although the reader sees little to suggest that Alex has any reason to be haunted by war. For that reason, the story feels insubstantial, even a bit pointless, despite some vivid images.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS