Customer Reviews

Perestroika Sunset

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A book about prisoners of war is usually regarded as a man's book; however, this is a woman's book, too. For men, there is the grittiness of the Vietnam war - the dirt, heat, fear - I felt as if I were with those men in Vietnam before, during and after they were captured! For the women, there is the identification with the heroine, Gay, a college professor and Olymipic gold medalist, who searches untiringly for her father. We can also identify with the women who were the mothers, wives, daughters and sweethearts of those lost in Vietnam; their unrequited love, their years of frustration working with stonewalling government bureaucrats and politicians, and their feeling that they have been lied to all along.

Alan Stang brilliantly weaves a story from threads of duty, honor, country, love, and history with those of political deception, treachery, and villianry. Perestroika Sunset brings out many of the reasons why America became involved in the Vietnam War and why it was never resolved.

I never mark a book while reading it; however, my copy of Perestroika Sunset is heavily marked in the margins with notes, key phrases, and Alan's clever turns of phrases.

Perestroika Sunset alternately made me cry, laugh and be outraged over the government's lack of regard for our servicemen and their families. I was on the edge of my seat and cheered when the villians received their just reward.

Perestroika Sunset will stay on my list of all-time favorites. In fact, I have purchased several copies already and given them to friends.

For those who liked Mel Gibson in "Braveheart" and "The Patriot", you will agree with me that "Perestroika Sunset" should be his next movie.

Alan Stang delivers a scathing denouncement of the United States Government and its part in the MIA/POW cover-up and related issues during the Vietnam war and the Communist plot to block efforts to search for these men. We have already heard rumors that such a plot existed, and at least one politician in this story has to be based on a real person. Read the book, you'll recognize him. I came away with a whole new perspective of our involvement in Vietnam.

This was a very difficult book to read because of the subject matter and the psychological issues, but I couldn't put it down. Alan Stang takes us relentlessly to the surprising conclusion. The story is about the men who were missing in action, but also about the women who waited at home and their years of frustration, and knowing that they have been the victims of lies. Gay Fawkes is the daughter of the main character, Jason Fawkes. She's a college professor and Olympic gold medalist who lost her father at the age of eleven. This is the story of her heroic search for the father who was a prisoner of the VietCong for twenty-two years.

The battle scenes are realistic and bloody. The revenge scenes will have you cheering out loud. Stang's craftsmanship and storytelling is awsome. The characters are well developed; you'll feel their disappointments and pain. Stang has written ten books, mostly non-fiction dealing with scams and cover-ups. He's an author to watch for.

"Perestroika Sunset" is a godsend for our beloved Country. This book will reinvigorate the patriotic devotion Americans hold for our soldiers and especially those who were left behind as Prisoners Of War or those listed as Missing In Action. Alan Stang presents a facinating drama of a woman's unrelenting and life long quest to free her Marine father from his North Vietnamese captors. Intertwined in the story line are powerful history lessons that I pray my countrymen will learn. When learning how cruelly our fighting men are treated and how the "leaders" of America betray and abandon them, one becomes flush with anger and shame and wonders what has become of the land of the free and the home of the brave. The book is so realistic that I wanted to go and help liberate these courageous soldiers. There are a lot of exciting twists and turns and the reader remains enthralled with the action in this book. The probability that some of our men are still being held and are undergoing torture is gut wrenching. My prayer is that "Perestroika Sunset" is read and discussed by freedom loving patriots all around the world. May God bless Alan Stang for this wonderful work!

Bernard J. Kunkel

Anybody who wonders how U.S. Domestic Duplicity might work under Patriot Act 1 and 11 guidelines will find a 'how to' outline guide in Pestroika Sunset, as concerns the Century Long Prisoner of War Abandonment Policy aptly and historically told in a blockbuster gut wrenching fiction plot by master story teller Alan Stang.Well read students of this subject matter will find all the factual details woven into a 'can't put it down yet' book that angers and saddens as it unwraps the evil designs of which New World Order devotees are capable. Get this book, have ten friends read it, and you will have replaced another brick in the wall to rebuild the U.S. Constitution.A conspiracy cannot survive if enough free citizens are alerted and take effective action to see it exposed to the light of freedom.

Alan Stang has once again brought historical truth to the forefront through the format of a fictional novel.

As one who has covered the POW topic for years as a talk radio host, I found the information in the book to be very believable and reliable.
I am a Vietnam era veteran, having served the National Security Agency as a U.S. Naval Communications Techinician. Our people used SIGINT, Signals Intelligence, COMINT, Communications Intelligence, and ELINT, Electronics Intelligence to monitor the movement of POW,s from Vietnam to the Soviet Union and other locations.

Alan Stang has stirred up my emotions as I confronted once again the horrible fact that our government has intentionally left our POW,s behind for political reasons.

I loved the reality of this emotional and intrigueing novel.

What a read! I have to admit to not being a big fan of fictional writing, but Mr. Stang so masterfully interweaves actual historic names, dates and events throughout a story so incredibly riveting, that I was absolutely swept away. Mr. Stang reveals the absolute and unconscionable betrayal of our nations military by self serving, opportunistic politicians whose only agenda is the promotion of their own careers. The reader is confronted with the absolute horrors of war, and the infinitely more horrific abandonment of those whose lives and families were intentionally sacrificed to promote the most Godless of all objectives. Thank you Alan Stang for a book that is as gutwrenchingly challenging and inspirational as it is entertaining.

An excellent book for understanding the POW/MIA tragedy by our U.S. Government in leaving men behind in Vietnam. It is a real page turner and I couldn't put it down.

Tears, frustration, excitement, disappointment, anticipation, and downright impatience at my slow reading speed were only some of the emotions I experienced while consuming this full course book. It is an awesome read. It will arouse the 'right' in you. In a day where the division between it and 'wrong' is purposely being blurred on all fronts it is refreshing to come up for air. Yes, the air is polluted with our shameful abandonment of our missing soldiers but it still feels good to breath (and be entertained at the same time). If you know a vet who meant what they said, get 'em this book.

Always faithful

This book is especially interesting for anyone familiar with the Vietnam conflict and its aftermath. The characters are every bit as enchanting as those in Les Miserables or A Tale of Two Cities. Alan Stang weaves together the POW/MIA issue and communist deception (perestroika) in a masterful way, illustrating the gangsterism and skullduggery that is so much a part of Washington D.C. power politics. An excellent companion volume is The Men We Left Behind, by Mark Sauter.

It's sunset. You are in a quiet Georgetown neighborhood in
Washington, D.C. Leaves rustle in a gentle summer breeze. Evening
traffic murmurs. Nocturnal creatures serenade the oppressive
humidity. Humans make dinner. But this is a Perestroika sunset,
because a deep-cover Soviet GRU agent tries to kill the daughter of a
US Marine Captain Missing In Action in Vietnam. Gay Fawkes is the
leader of a POW/MIA group, and she's beginning to uncover information
certain politicians want to hide from the American people.

(By the
time I got past Perestroika Sunset's third chapter, I was so intensely
involved in the story my hands kept doubling into fists, I could taste
stomach acid, and I couldn't take a deep breath.)

In the next
several chapters you'll hump through the boonies of Vietnam, carry an
AK-47 or a shotgun, pull leeches out of your crotch, and, if you
respond as I did, be physically and emotionally exhausted after your
meetings with "Charley," the Vietcong.

Then you'll
participate in a critically important, dangerous and illegal mission
in North Vietnam, where NVA regulars wipe out most of your team and
capture your leader, U.S. Marine Captain Jason Fawkes. His Soviet
interrogator tortures him unspeakably, but he endures, beating his
tormentors in a deadly, mental game. By now, he has lived in
captivity, abandoned, for 22 years.

But Perestroika Sunset is not
just another novel about combat. At home, Fawkes's wife, valiantly
trying to keep her truncated family together, is driven to despair,
alcohol and worse. Their daughter, Gay, savagely abused, struggles
against government corruption, Soviet cunning, public apathy and
ignorance, compounded by the dominant media's vulgar treatment of the
POW/MIA issue.

All this is merely the start of probably the most
exciting, ingenious, and realistic novel ever written about one of
America's most heartrending issues: the men we left behind in Vietnam.

Later, a Soviet-trained seductress sets her sights on a memorably
sleazy Member of Congress, a literary character you will not soon
forget. Then the Soviets shoot down a commercial 747. It ditches
safely in the Sea of Japan, they capture its crew and passengers,
including a U.S. Congressman - and claim that there were no
survivors.

And a former Conscientious Objector becomes a savage,
calculating combat operative dedicated to solving a mystery that
threatens the Free World. First you join this ex-CO in an
assassination assignment in Laos and North Vietnam. Then you join him
and Gay Fawkes in high intrigue in Hanoi, and in the hills of western
Vietnam and Cambodia, in firefights with Pathet Lao and Spetsnaz
forces. Your travels then take you through a Hmong village, next
through Bangkok, and finally back to Washington, D.C.

I think
this book's savvy - street, technical, especially political -
tops Tom Clancy. The author's understanding of international affairs,
world history, and geography is immense. The subject is complicated.
It is easy to see why it took so long to write. His knowledge of KGB,
GRU and Politburo tactics is truly encyclopedic. (Caution: Because he
describes these things in detail, this book should be considered
unsuitable for children.)

But those things defer to the fact that
Alan Stang is a masterful storyteller. Perestroika's dialogue is a
delight, the humor subtle and irreverent. It builds to a totally
surprising climax unlike anything I have ever read. Women will love
Perestroika Sunset because it shows how real men think. It will
deepen every reader's understanding and appreciation of the words
duty, honor, and country. And Perestroika.

This book helped me in
one special way. It reminded me of how blessed we Americans are to be
Americans, living in the land of the free and the home of the
brave.

God bless America. Semper Fi.