Customer Reviews

Silent Echoes

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GENE BALDWIN HAS DONE IT AGAIN. WHILE "A MATTER OF DESTINY" WAS GREAT, THIS NEW BOOK IS EVEN BETTER. WITH THE FOCUS BEING ON THE WAR IN VIET-NAM, THE READER IS CAUGHT UP IN THE INTRIGUE AND POLITICS FOUND IN THE ARMED SERVICES. EXPERIENCE IN THE AIR IS MEANINGLESS WHEN FACED WITH A COMMANDING OFFICER WHOSE EGO IS ALL CONSUMING. PILOTS ARE FORCED TO EMBARK ON MISSIONS WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THEY ARE ALMOST CERTAIN TO FAIL. THE UNDERCURRENT THEME OF PERSONAL PROBLEMS LEFT AT HOME CONTINUES TO PLAGUE THE MAIN CHARACTER. HE STRUGGLES TO WALK THE LINE BETWEEN EXPECTED MILITARY ADHERENCE TO COMMAND AND THE INCREASING REALIZATION THAT THOSE IN CHARGE ARE INCOMPETENT AND EVEN DANGEROUS. WELL WRITTEN WITH A MATURE THEME OF INTEREST TO ANYONE WHO HAS EVER SERVED IN THE ARMED FORCES OR HAS A LOVED ONE WHO HAS ANSWERED THE CALL TO ARMS.

Gene Baldwin's Lt. Col. Douglas Patrick Norwood and Herman Melville's Captain Ahab are indistinguishable: evil. Baldwin lets the Great White Whale aka David Barfield narrate. Barfield with supporting cast do so in a superb manner, especially through ingenious dialog which carries this poignant story of the War in Vietnam. Leslie Herrinton Barfield is surely descended from James Joyce's Mrs. Bloom. This is a compelling account of a time when honesty, intergrity, and other qualities of leadership were viewed and advocated by the media as subordinate to political correctitude and denial of life's realities, of a turning point in America's existence as a world power---well written, awesome, spellbinding.

This powerful book thrusts you into the mental conflict of integrity versus duty. The love that seems so vulnerable carries Captain David Barfield through the entanglments of dealing with his own vulnerability.