A Bitter Peace [Paperback]

Michael Peterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1997

The sequel to Peterson's Vietnam War classic, "A Time of War". Presidential envoy Bradley Marshall's mission to achieve peace with honor in Vietnam is doomed to failure--and it will haunt him for years to come. Here is a novel of wrenching insight and unremitting suspense, set in a world that sends a man of conscience after the only goal worth pursuing--personal redemption.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Diplomat Bradley Marshall, who-as depicted in Peterson's A Time of War (1990)-tried in the late 1960s to end the conflict in Vietnam, returns for another go. Now it's 1972, and Marshall is asked by Nixon and Kissinger to persuade the South Vietnamese to sign the peace treaty that ultimately will leave them defenseless. In Saigon, Marshall runs afoul of CIA agent Wilson Lord, an old nemesis, when he is approached by a North Vietnamese diplomat who has conclusive proof of General Giap's secret plans to overwhelm the South once the Americans are gone. The narrative then jumps ahead six years. As the Shah of Iran lies dying of cancer, Marshall is sent by Jimmy Carter to Paris in order to contact the Ayatollah Khomeini. Once again, Marshall comes up against Lord, as well as a man who wants revenge for something the diplomat did in Saigon six years before. These two plot lines are structured to highlight well-portrayed conflicts among duty, honor, patriotism and personal loyalty. Narrative flow is impeded, however, by other, melodramatic elements-Marshall's family problems, the revenge plot. Peterson seems to be trying to do for recent U.S. history what Alexandre Dumas did for the history of France-to ennoble and illuminate it through a dramatic "secret history" that portrays the truth behind the facts. It's a mission he performs well, when he sticks to the political; it's only when the personal takes over that his storytelling falls flat.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

In a sequel to A Time of War (1990), former LBJ emissary Bradley Marshall takes on a diplomatic chore for Nixon: trying to persuade the South Vietnamese to sign a peace treaty that sells them out. Marshall's the right choice for this miserable job because the South Vietnamese trust him. He has hardly landed in Saigon, however, when he learns of a highly placed North Vietnamese defector who has a copy of General Giap's plan to invade the South immediately after the accord is signed. Such a plan will surely scuttle the treaty and also jeopardize the one remaining American interest: release of the POWs. In moral agony, Marshall proceeds to make contact with the defector--as does his old nemesis, CIA operative Wilson Lord. All bets are off, though, when the defector is killed; in the action, a young Marine officer, Luke Bishop, is seriously wounded. In Marshall's haste to get Bishop to a hospital, his car runs down a toddler, the only daughter of an old Chinese, Chien Lin Huong, who has been an American ally. Next scene: six years later, and Jimmy Carter sends Marshall on another impossible mission, this time to Paris to make peace with the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, since Carter knows the Shah is about to fall. Marshall brings along Ron Mean, his bodyguard from A Time of War, as well as the recovered Bishop--and the two are soon fending off the obsessed Huong, who lost his fortune, his wife, and his mother to the Communists, and who now blames Marshall. Enter Wilson Lord once again, combatting the fuzzy liberal thinking of Carter and his emissary, enlisting Huong in a plot to assassinate Marshall and thereby block rapprochement with the Ayatollah. Peterson's presidents never come alive, but his politics are shrewd and he spins a fine intrigue: Herman Wouk, say, by way of William F. Buckley. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Pocket; 1ST edition (December 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067172696X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671726966
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,177,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, January 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Bitter Peace (Paperback)

A captivating novel that can't be put down. Destined to be a classic. Nearly equal to Peterson's second book, A Time of War....which should be required reading.