At it's heart, Republic Commando: Hard Contact is a story about coping with loss in the face of crisis. Each of the five main characters in this novel have lost everyone they hold dear, and they must now learn to work well with the people they know nothing about. In spite of all this, they discover that it is possible to form new attachments, and they can trust people who they didn't previously know.
With this book, Karen Traviss enters the world of Star Wars with a bang. I felt it was a well written book, and it focuses on minor characters who never got a mention in the movies. This is a tie-in to the Republic Commando video game, and I thought it did a good job of portraying life for the soldiers in the Grand Army of the Republic.