Mongoose R.I.P. [Import] [Hardcover]

William F. Jr. Buckley (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 322 pages
• Publisher: Random House (1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0091735386
• ISBN-13: 978-0091735388
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,163,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buckley's "Mongoose, RIP" entertainingly provocative, December 19, 1999

By 

dave vaughn (ashland, new hampshire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mongoose, RIP (Blackford Oakes Novel) (Paperback)

As someone with little knowledge of the Kennedy years in the white house, given what we now know of the geo-political climate of the time, this book reads like a genuine, behind-the-scenes look into the Kennedy / Castro conflict. With ingenious characters and subplots, Mr Buckley provides the reader with an immensely entertaining, can't put the book down thriller. Blackford Oakes is a much more believable secret agent than that we are served up in any James Bond movie, more along the lines of a Jack Ryan, tenacious in persuing the aim of his mission. The flow of the story is exquisitely smooth and the surprise plot twists are most intriguing. Could these things have actually happened? Seems credible in hindsight...and a great read!

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent 'What If?' Treatment of a Turbulent Time, March 7, 2007

By 

zorba (Bala Cynwyd, Pa USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mongoose, RIP (Blackford Oakes Novel) (Paperback)

This Blackford Oakes tale is a notch above Buckley's other books about the indomitable CIA agent, providing some rare (for Buckley) suspense and excitement. Usually Buckley's Oakes thrillers aren't exactly thrilling. They are, rather, Cold War period pieces in which real historical figures prance and parade around the global landscape. Oakes always seems to be there as the Cold War ebbs and flows. In this one, however, there is a compelling plot which moves along nicely and somewhere around the middle of the book, the plot takes off (literally) like a rocket. I found it to be a most satisfying read -- more so than his other Oakes novels.

1 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The hero scarcely appears, December 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mongoose, RIP (Blackford Oakes Novel) (Paperback)

Chapter after chapter is devoted to Nikita Khrushchev's point of view, or Fidel Castro's, who are as cardboard as you might expect; thus any emotional "through-line" is lost. Blackford Oakes, the hero, shows up so infrequently -- I'd guess we see him in no more than one out of every six chapters. Which makes for a tedious read. Sorry.