Customer Reviews

Mekong!

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I read this book shortly after publication in the 1980's. This is one of the best accounts of navy seal ops in viet nam. next to 'the five fingers", it is probably one of the best novels about the war period:I was there. This one is full of action.

While above reviewers apparently were concerned enough to try and verify this person was a SEAL, they must have forgotten the disclaimer that name, places , etc. were changed and embellished. The take i got was it seemed like a combination of
many different seals stories. Much like what Oliver Stone did with his movie Platoon, and Richard Marcinko did with his books. Actually i felt it had a Richard Marcinko feel to it. Realistic and very action packed.

Contrary to some reviewers, the author did claim he was a SEAL in Vietnam. Co-author Reeves said all the names were changed(except for SEAL narrator Taylor of course) and some incidents were mixed together, but these type of things did happen in his SEAL team he insists(shooting kids, smoking dope on patrol, openly being racist,etc.). Reeves further claims that Taylor's nightmares were reduced by telling his story. As we know now, James C. Taylor was never a SEAL or in Vietnam, let alone a SEAL in Vietnam. He was a Navy mechanic stationed here in the U.S.Military records confirmed this in Stolen Valor .Furthermore, the comparisons to Marcinko's books is also wrong. Those are books of heroism, teamwork,reality, and humor. In other words this book is a sham.

James Taylor has never set foot in Vietnam but does manage to write as though he knew combat first hand. Even though James Taylor was a mechanic in the Navy and definitely NOT a SEAL he makes you feel as though he was actually there. I found this book to be entertaining at times but obviously a piece of fiction that gets a little too carried away with "Rambo" type bravado to be taken seriously.