“Murder in the Barracks” by Tamar Anolic

Murder in the Barracks

Tamar Anolic‎            
Independently published (2026)
ASIN: B0GX2SVDYY
Reviewed by Paul Knobloch for Reader Views (05/2026)

There is a lot going on in Tamar Anolic’s taut new military thriller, Murder in the Barracks. The novel is narrated in the first person by cadet Brooks Jensen, the lover of murdered cadet Jed Figueroa. Not satisfied with the pair of Army investigators sent over to West Point, Brooks takes it upon himself to ensure that the murder is solved. There is only one problem: in doing so, he will have to out himself.

Here we have a pristine metaphor for the book’s central thematic concern: Have we really accomplished anything since “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” or do our institutions continue to function in discriminatory ways despite legislation and the best efforts of the queer community to enact change? More importantly, how do we read Brooks’s reluctance to come out, especially in this particular context?

The story unfolds at West Point and involves a group of professors and students within Brooks’s immediate circle. Brooks, who is actually the first to discover Jed’s body, has yet to come out, and this becomes one of the novel’s central ironies. If he is to uncover the truth behind Jed’s murder, he will eventually have to reveal secrets of his own.

As the investigation moves ahead, detectives Hill and Allen from ACID begin questioning Brooks and his friends. For a time, suspicion even falls on the two women whom Brooks and Jed used to escort to formal campus events. Mara and Allison, both female cadets, essentially served as “beards,” if you will, so that no one would suspect Brooks and Jed were romantically involved. Thus, Anolic makes it clear that institutions are often slow to change, regardless of whatever laws have been passed.

During Jed’s funeral, we meet his entire family, and Brooks forms an instant bond with his brother Gabriel, a dead ringer for Jed. We learn a bit about Jed’s upbringing and get an inside look at the dysfunctional family he comes from, but the novel soon veers toward establishing its two primary suspects: one a former student, the other a current professor.

The novel continually circles the idea of visibility: military surveillance, institutional discipline, hidden sexuality, public performance, and masculine conformity. At times, these themes are conveyed through direct exposition and ideological discussion rather than dramatic complexity. Still, the book offers readers a unique glimpse into the machinery and behind-the-scenes realities of life within a military academy like West Point.

Ultimately, Murder in the Barracks, part of The Colonel Zac Madison series, is less concerned with offering a deeply psychological exploration of queer identity within military culture than with using those tensions to construct an accessible and fast-moving procedural thriller. The novel repeatedly returns to questions surrounding secrecy, institutional pressure, masculinity, and the lingering shadow of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” While some of these themes are handled more through exposition than emotional introspection, Anolic nevertheless succeeds in creating a compelling atmosphere of tension and concealment, particularly within the rigid social structure of West Point itself. Brooks’s fear that solving Jed’s murder may ultimately expose his own hidden life gives the novel a strong central irony that continues to drive the narrative forward.

Anolic also deserves credit for crafting a premise that immediately generates suspense and momentum. A murder investigation unfolding inside one of America’s most tradition-bound military institutions is inherently compelling, and the novel offers readers an interesting glimpse into the rituals, hierarchy, and pressures of academy life. Although some readers may wish for greater emotional nuance and more fully developed characterization, Murder in the Barracks remains an engaging military thriller built around timely themes and an undeniably intriguing premise.