The General [AUDIOBOOK] [UNABRIDGED] (Audio Cassette)

by Patrick A. Davis (Author), Jim Bond (Reader)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Davis draws from the well of Vietnam-era demons to make his debut in the murder-in-the-Pentagon sweepstakes. As in State of the Union by David Callahan and Sweepers by P. T. Deutermann , the killings here are linked to murky business during the Vietnam War. Stock characters are customary for this genre: top-ranking brass who quash embarrassing investigations (in this case, into the murder of the U.S. Air Force chief) and an investigator who tenaciously pursues all leads. The investigator is air force officer Charles Jensen, whose initial step into the quagmire reveals that the chief, tortured and murdered with a signature North Vietnamese m.o., had been inquiring about the fate of POWs at a camp from which only the now-chairman of the Joint Chiefs and presidential aspirant General Holmes had escaped. Before Jensen can connect these two men, he and his ethnically diverse team ponder an ever-increasing body count. Davis plants enough clues in the activities of the victims to create uncertainty about what Holmes is concealing, but he clarifies the motive via a dramatic trick in which one "dead" man reappears very much alive, wreaking beaucoup mayhem on behalf of Holmes. No doubt a market exists for extravagant exaggerations of the Pentagon's actual scandals of turpitude or embezzlement, yet this tale goes so far beyond reality as to belong in science fiction. Still, initial demand is likely. Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Routine military whodunit set in the dusty warrens of the Pentagon, from a former Air Force major. Shortly after putting the dinner dishes in the sink, Colonel Charlie Jensen, a contented family man who is also commander of the Air Force's P-Directorate, an elite criminal-investigations unit that handles only the highest profile cases, gets a phone call. The corpse of Air Force General Watkins, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been found at home in his study, his skin brutally slashed in a torture-style execution commonly used many years ago by the Vietcong. Though he would normally lead the investigation, Jensen is ordered to play second fiddle to Colonel ``Tip'' Tippett, a heroic veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm, as well as a Jensen family friend, who has been hitting the bottle since he was passed over for a general's star. Almost by accident, Jensen discovers that Watkins's last call was to a Vietnamese restaurant on 14th Street near Washington's red-light district. The general's aide, the drop-dead gorgeous Major Talia Swanson, confirms that though her boss had served in Vietnam and recently visited former prisoner-of-war camps there, he was no fan of cracked rice and spring rolls. In fact, just before he died, Watkins was about to stop the current President's plans to normalize relations with Vietnama move that Watkins's rival, General Holmes, supports. The body count grows: Vietnamese and American Air Force officers, who may know something about a secret massacre in a North Vietnamese prison camp from which General Holmes conveniently escaped, are stabbed, shot, sliced to pieces, or blown up. In the process, Davis's dialogue-heavy narrative moves quickly, but its lack of descriptive detail and distinguishable characters lends an artificiality to the plot, which is yanked along by plug-in melodramatics like kidnappings and faked deaths. A terse, gung-ho military-thriller debut sans the usual high-tech hardware. Lots of action, but not much else. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Unabridged Library Edition; Library edition (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567405924
• ISBN-13: 978-1567405927
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,136,450 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A really exciting pageturner!!, September 28, 2000

By	Robert Marsh (Vero Beach, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The General (Paperback)

The General is an exciting military-based thriller written by a talented storyteller who knows his subject well and has the ability to make the reader a participant. This is Patrick Davis' first novel, and while he will no doubt become better at character development and scene description, the reader of this remarkable story will not be disappointed. The earlier reviewers who say that the author does not know the military are simply wrong; I'm a Naval Academy graduate, and I served with officers just like the author describes (villains excluded, of course). Those who say the plot was easily guessed are either not being truthful or are unusually perceptive. The plot is intricate yet completely believable as it unfolds. I had to force myself to put the book down so I could get some sleep. Hardcover fiction prices are too high, but as soon as this exciting author's current novel, The Passenger, makes it into paper, I'll spring for a copy. If you are looking for a really exciting pageturner (at a fair price), pick up a copy of The General now.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN AWESOME ATTENTION GRABBER, December 28, 2002

By	"lil_dusty_2002" (Mt. Shasta, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The General (Paperback)

ALthough Patrick A. Davis is my uncle, I do not read his books purely for that reason but because they are some of the most exciting books out there to read in my opinion. In this book, The General, Patrick's sense of the government, and his great knowledge helped him to write a very gripping book. There is homicide after homicide, and an exciting twist that pretty basically no one saw coming! It grabs your attention and you cannot turn away from it. You are stuck doing guesswork, trying to fit all of the puzzle pieces together to form an overview of the story, and also to try and figure out who is behind the vengefull, meaningless murders. You will never know unless you read the book just how great it is and I would definitly reccomend this wonderful pageturner to anyone who has had a military experience, who is into homicides, crime scene investigations, and putting the puzzle pieces of a book together. If you have read/ would like to read any of W.E.B. Griffin's books, I also highly reccomend this book to you, and if you do not like it, I guarantee it will not be bacause of the writing ability of the author but merely because you did not WANT to like it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great first thriller, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The General (Paperback)

I was reading John Grisham when I picked up Patrick Davis' THE GENERAL. I think the fact that I never got back to the Grisham until I'd finished Davis' book says it all. (And I'm a Grisham fan.)