The Trials of Adrian Wheeler
Private Adrian Wheeler must deal with nothing less than his own court-martial trial, PTSD, sexual inadequacy, AIDS, and an unrelenting father—
The Trials of Adrian Wheeler, a true-to-life account of a young man’s ascent to manhood as he finds himself at the center of the most important court-martial trial of the Iraqi war while battling PTSD and the other demons lurking within the shadows of his injured recollection; all this as he fights to win back beautiful Rachael Levi in and outside the bedroom; as he struggles to break away from an overbearing father; and as he strives to keep his sister’s HIV from progressing.
Private Adrian Wheeler returns from Baghdad with a mangled knee and no left arm, ever mindful of a tormented past and even bleaker future. His brother, John Mike, didn’t return at all. Both participated in a reconnaissance mission that tragically failed one chilly morning in February, a mission in which innocent women and children died along with John Mike and other combatants. As the sole survivor (or so he thinks), Adrian carries the details of that trauma deep within his subconscious, and drinks himself half to death in hopes of hiding from the boogymen that come late at night. His domineering father, a retired Vietnam veteran who bullied Adrian into joining the Marines in the first place, is one such visitor, and another is Rachael, his girl since first grade. In his mental state and physical condition, he does everything he can to avoid her.
Just when he begins to take control of his life, Adrian is charged with the murder of all those women and children. His only hope is to get beyond his trauma and the terrible secret that lies deep within the cellar of his psyche, and remember exactly what happened that chilly morning in February.
