Maj. Sam Brooks, forbidden to fly fighters by his nemesis Col. Jack Jones, earns the Silver Star flying reconnaissance flights and subsequently becomes involved in a dangerous ground mission with the Green Berets. By the author of Cadillac Flight.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Harrison ( A Lonely Kind of War ) has grounded his second technothriller in his tour of duty as a forward air controller in Vietnam. The novel opens in 1964, when U.S. involvement in Vietnam is still restricted to the efforts of a handful of professionals: Green Berets, pilots and the forward air controllers, whose Piper Cub-like 0-1s direct the strikes. Maj. Sam Brooks is an unwilling FAC, hounded into the role by Col. Jack Jones, with whose wife he was once intimate. Instead of getting killed, as Jones hopes, Brooks wins three Silver Stars for heroism, finds love with AID (Agency for International Development) official Lee Roget, and sets the stage for a sequel. Harrison tells a rousing story of male bonding and military adventure; the dialogue is crisp and convincing and the action is nonstop. Vividly described high-risk forward air control missions and Special Forces raids climax in a CIA-sponsored (but completely unauthorized) operation in Cambodia, during which Brooks rescues the brave and sexy Roget. He and his swashbuckling comrades are refreshingly free from the angst that dominates so many Vietnam novels. Harrison sidesteps the search for the war's meaning, instead offering readers plenty of action and entertainment.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
The tale of a forward air controller, or FAC, in the early days of the Vietnam War--from the author of the novel Cadillac Flight and A Lonely Kind of War. Major Sam Brooks is a fighter pilot, which should give him high status in the Air Force. Instead he's at the end of his career because of a brief affair with his commander's wife. The commander, a Colonel, has dogged Brooks and prevented promotions, despite the fact that Brooks is a fine pilot. Brooks comes to Vietnam with an attitude problem, and, sure enough, runs into his nemesis, who assigns him to a mucky, VC-infested outpost deep in the Mekong Delta, and who turns him into a FAC as well. A FAC guides jets into the target rather than piloting them himself; not only does this seem inglorious to Brooks, but it also seems as though his old enemy is trying to get him killed. Worse, Brooks is insubordinate to superior officers and impatient with garrison routines, so that's it's clear he brings most of his troubles on himself. There are compensations: a pretty civilian trying to introduce miracle rice to the Vietnamese, and the fact that Brooks begins to like flying the little Cessnas. Brooks is an attractive character: a lonely man, not truly a tough guy, and shy around women; his inadequacies for ground combat provide comic relief. But where Harrison, a former FAC pilot himself, shines is in his gripping descriptions of combat flight. The detail is unimpeachable: every creak in the struts, every hard right to dodge .51 caliber fire- -even the grease-pencil mark on the windshield, there to aim the hand-fired rockets. No politics at all here: just men working their machines, and yet when Brooks swoops low and for an instant sees a burning VC, he feels horror at what he's done. Brooks's love affair with Lee is predictable, but he himself is likably troubled, and the air scenes are nothing short of stunning. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
is this the same war?????,
By old flyer (nocal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Delta (Hardcover)
previously read the authors tales of his actual time in ov-10s in 'nam ( alonely kind of war)exciting--well described...his fictional account of 0-1 missions in 4 corps are quite unlike mine..(in '68).. accurately described landmarks add to credence. the description of the 'uminh forest" ---i'm from the great n'west..a forest is composed of TALL disciduous and e'greens in close quarters.. imagine my reaction on not sighting a 'forest' but a rag-tag collection of shrubbery--and not dense!!! a good tale of romance and adventure which may have been experienced by very few of the thousands of FACS !!!!! light-relaxing reading anyway!!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read!,
This review is from: The Delta (Hardcover)
I've read this book several times and really enjoy it! Highly recommended as are the other books by the same author.
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