Red Heroin [Paperback]

Jerry Pournelle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1980

When engineer and army vet Paul Crane agrees to accompany his police officer friend on a night cruise, he never expected a deadly shoot-out would lead to his being recruited in a CIA sting operation involving China and the heroin trade. There is high-voltage suspense from start to finish in this novel by Jerry Pournelle, author of many Co-Dominium novels and co-author with Larry Niven of THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE, LUCIFER'S HAMMER, FOOTFALL and more. Robert A. Heinlein called it "A hell of a good yarn ... the most realistic counter-espionage story I've read in a long, long time." Includes a new Afterword by the author.

"A hell of a good yarn ... the most realistic counter-espionage story I've read in a long, long time."
- Robert A. Heinlein

"Jerry Pournelle's trademark is first-rate action against well-realized backgrounds of hard science and hardball politics."
- David Drake, author of HAMMER'S SLAMMERS

On FOOTFALL: "Rousing ... The Best of the Genre"
- The New York Times

On LUCIFER'S HAMMER: "A megaton of suspenseful excitement."
- Library Journal

Jerry Pournelle is the author of the popular Janissaries and CoDominium series and co-author with Larry Niven of several bestselling science fiction novels, including INFERNO, FOOTFALL, LUCIFER'S HAMMER, OATH OF FEALTY, THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE, THE GRIPPING HAND, THE BURNING CITY, BURNING TOWER and ESCAPE FROM HELL. Dr. Pournelle has advanced degrees in engineering, political science, statistics and psychology. As an aerospace Systems Analyst he participated in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Following a brief tour in academia he was the Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Los Angeles. He was the Science Editor for Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine. He has written columns on political and technology issues for decades, in addition to his career as a fiction writer. His columns for Byte magazine have been an internet staple for many years. The author has been involved in the development of government policy on space enterprises and defense, and he is active on several committees for the advancement of science and space exploration. www.jerrypournelle.com

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Berkley (April 15, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425041956
• ISBN-13: 978-0425041956
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,540,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write science fact and fiction. Themes range from trivial amusements to how to save the world. In 1980 I predicted that by the year 2000 anyone in Western Civilization would be able to get the answer to any question that can be answered; that happened a bit faster than I thought it would. My column in BYTE is the longest running column in the computer industry.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pournelle's first novel is a great cold war thriller, August 1, 2011

By 

Fritz - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Heroin (Paperback)

Red Heroin is Jerry Pournelle's first novel, originally published under the pen name Wade Curtis. It is a tightly crafted cold war thriller written in the style of Donald Hamilton. The Kindle edition includes an afterward by the author which is almost worth the price of admission by itself.

8 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A good book but some people should NOT read it, May 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Red Heroin (Paperback)

Overall, this book is a well written, readable adventure. The protragonist gets involved, unwillingly, in something to do with the smuggling of Heroin from Red China.

Possible plot spoiler follows: However, in the first part of the book, the author introduced a love-interest character. She was sweet, intelligent and the protagonist (and I) fell in love with her. Then she was killed simply to show that the bad guys are bad guys and that the protagonist should fight them.

This damaged the story so much that I hated finishing it and am still angry with Pournelle about it 11 years later. I kept reading it at the time, trusting that Pournelle would not spoil the book this way and she would be OK in the end but I was disappointed. I've read most of his other books and he's never done this to me again. But beware -- if this sort of thing bothers you, skip this book