Customer Reviews

Vortex

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having read and enjoyed three other novels by Bond, I have been working my way through his previous works. With Vortex, I was not disappointed. Vortex was a very strong effort, albeit not quite as good as Bond's Red Phoenix which was truly outstanding. Bond presents another high-tech military thriller -- in this case set in South Africa. The storyline is entirely plausible, with a key event putting the country in turmoil and setting the stage for all of the fast and furious action that is to follow. As in Bond's other works, character development is solid, diverse and believable. The reader truly understands not only the emotional turmoil of battle, but also the underlying political issues of South Africa and the surrounding region. If you like Bond or the military thriller in general, Vortex will be a worthwhile read.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the end of the U.S.-Soviet confrontation created both a problem and a challenge to "future war" novelists: how do you create believable scenarios in which America and her allies fight against possible real-world enemies? After all, with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the scaling back of U.S. forces in Europe, a Red Storm Rising-class World War III novel was obsolete. But at the same time, the military-fiction genre was still very viable...as long as writers came up with credible adversaries to cause havoc in the world.

Vortex, Larry Bond and Patrick Larkin's second collaborative effort, is set in early 1990s South Africa before the white minority relinquished its death-grip on power. It paints a dark scenario of a desperate Boer-dominated government using its military and police to destabilize neighboring "black" African nations and fight a Marxist-leaning African National Congress and its armed guerrillas.

Vortex starts out, as many techno-thrillers often do, with a seemingly isolated event. In the prologue, a team of South African Army commandos and a black ANC turncoat execute a raid on an ANC safe house/headquarters in Gawamba, Zimbabwe. Led by Capt. Rolf Bekker, the South African commandos wipe out an ANC guerrilla cell and capture a safe full of documents (which they photograph and leave apparently undiscovered), then return to their base without serious loss.

In Bond's alternate history, years of sanctions and diplomatic isolation have failed to end apartheid and white rule of the Union of South Africa. Instead, the Boers (descendants of South Africa's original Dutch settlers) who dominate the government have become more repressive and paranoid. For their part, the ANC's leaders have grown weary of waiting for the West to press for change by peaceful means, and Marxist hard-liners have come up with a campaign code named Broken Covenant. Its goal: to win by force what years of negotiations and international condemnation have not...the end of white rule and the establishment of a black-dominated government. And by the end of the novel, South Africa's internal strife becomes a conflict pitting Anglo-American forces against various opponents, including Cuban Army units sent by Fidel Castro.

Bond's depiction of a war in South Africa now seems a bit of a stretch, but given that he was a former naval intelligence officer (and designer of the Harpoon war game), perhaps his research into apartheid-era South African affairs gave him insights that most of his readers didn't have. At times the depiction of the South African "bad guys" reminds one of Hitler's Third Reich, especially when Bond and Larkin write about the more die-hard racist government ministers; Karl Vorster, a South African Hitler-like figure and Marius van der Heijden, deputy minister of Law and Order, who seems to have studied under Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, so extreme are his racist views. But as in many World War II novels, there are "good" South Africans who, when push comes to shove, find the courage to rise against the injustices that they have previously defended.

Of course, it helps to have a little mix of romance, youthful rebellion and a healthy dose of American firepower, and as in Red Phoenix, American weaponry and military units play a huge role in Vortex's plot. In some ways, it's formulaic and the reader knows things will have a rosy ending, but in other ways Vortex is fascinating. Readers will be surprised to know how puritanical the Boer society was (a friend of mine who visited South Africa in the late '70s said Playboy-style magazines were not sold there) and how tense relations used to be between the Dutch- and English-descended whites. The officers with English surnames are often distrusted by their Boer counterparts and are often more critical of apartheid than is healthy for their careers. But just as there are "good Germans" in WWII fact and fiction, there are also "good Boers" who join forces with American and British troops to end the bloody conflict that threatens to end their country's very existence.

There was apartheid. An evil stain across the face of a great nation. As it started to crumble, Brown wrote about what might happen, if....

It was actually rather nice, if not down-right gob-smackingly amazing - to find apopular U.S. author who specialises in techno-military-thrillers acknowledging that life does exist south of the Equator.

Bond writes good stuff. This a great, galloping read. It proceeds at an enormous pace, like a grass fire across the veldt. Anyone who enjoys a story of sweat, blood, terror, and war... well, this one's for you. Enjoy.

What if a white supremacist brought back apartheid into South Africa and used any means of military force at his disposal to make South Afric make some kind of military gain? This scenario is thoroughly well explored. The format is Larry Bond`s typical format - interesting political background, skirmishes and then the big shooting war! South African forces invade Namibia to regain their old territories, the various guerilla groups in Zimbabwe and Zambia make their views heard and then Cuba, who are occupying Angola take advantage of South African dictator Karl Vorster's invasion of Namibia to pour into his country from Mozambique. The US, worried about this war causing a world recession(South Africa is rich in diamonds and other strategic minerals) decide to take military action, along with various British armed forces, who are well portrayed and represented. The action is first rate, the military hardware is well researched and accurate and the nuclear and chemical attack scenes are vividly done. After I read this book, I heard on the TV news about Pakistan and India's nuclear testing programs, and there was a brief mention of a South African nuclear weapons project . . . spooky! There's even a hint of romance between an American reporter caught up in the war and an Afrikaaner female journalist whose father is on Vorster's committee, which is done very well, better than the pulp romances that dumb housewives feed on. Altogether, this is Larry Bond's best, equal to Red Phoenix, so far. This would make one hell of an excellent movie! If you like your action explosive, this is for you!

Very interesting to learn the geo-political conditions in South-African, like a tension country inside and between the border countries after the collapse of Soviet Unions.

Most wonderful one in this story is, of course, to depict the war strategy of relevant countries. But most disappointing one is too many coincidence is happened. As you konw well, in international relations especially in war engagement, coincidence can be regarded to miracle.

This is the first book I read by Larry Bond. I became absolutly engrossed in this book, and was very disappointed when it came to an end. I started reading Vortex at about the same time that South Africa was going through their elections. With this book Larry Bond has gained a diehard fan. I now read anything that comes out with his name on it. I look forward to see what he does next. Through Amazon.com I have been made aware that there is one Larry Bond book that I didn't read, "Battles of the Third World War", I see that it came out in 1987. I will be sending for it. My only question about Vortex is" when is the movie coming out "? This book needs a movie, if ever a book needed to be turned into movie, this is it. Keep up the very good work.

From Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising collaborator and best selling novelist in his own right, in his first novel Red Phoenix, we are treated to Larry Bond's second masterpiece in military/political thriller fiction in Vortex. Larry Bond once again proves his research capability in his studies of all of the cultures of South Africa and their strengths and differences. He has once again, melded his research, his fluent and poignant writing style into a classical work of fiction. In Vortex, he has essentially taken almost every conceivable aspect of a world crisis situation and crafted it into this masterpiece.

Where Tom Clancy draws all of the accolades and acclaim, Larry Bond continually produces superb military/political thrillers that are of the same caliber and in the case of Vortex, much larger in scope and overall detail.

If you're a Tom Clancy, Harold Coyle, Dale Brown, Stephen Coonts, or one of the many other fine military/political thriller author's fans, you would do well to pick up on Larry Bond and his superior work.

The premise:

Taking into consideration that this novel was written in the late 80's and early 90's, Larry Bond absorbed the headline news of the time to craft a conceivable real world situation where the boiling point of South Africa could've turned into the very Vortex, of the title, and brought the entire worlds attention to its internal struggles. There could've been no more apropos title for this novel than "Vortex." Vortex as defined in the Webster's dictionary (A situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.)

Essentially, Vortex is the story of one man's twisted desires to bring total apartheid to its maximum fruition in Karl Vorster. Through chance and his own machinations, he effectively seizes control of the South African government and begins to bring to realization his perverted dreams of total apartheid and the destruction of his opponents or anyone else who gets in his way. Given South Africa's mineral wealth and that strategic importance to both Western and Eastern powers, this quickly draws their collective attentions.

What follows is a tour de force of flurried action, suspense and outstanding military fiction, which brings many players to the table to include; the United States, Britain, Israel, Russia, Cuba and Libya. Hence the title of "Vortex." Where these many players are all drawn to South Africa and its mineral wealth. {ssintrepid}

I like Clancy. I like Coonts. But Iove Larry Bond's writing. He is well-written without being too techie and never bores the reader. The large cast of characters reminds me of classic war films like The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far. The action sequences are suspenseful and very realistic; the amount of detail put forth is staggering. Without a doubt, you should pick this one up.

This is the best of his for books, in my opinion, but only slightly ahead of "Red Phoenix" and "The Enemy Within". It is an excellently written book about a part of the world that hasn't had any major wars in a while, unlike his other books, but he shows the frightning way wars do happen, and how nations ten thousand miles away and more get sucked into conflicts. When a far-right fanatic seizes control of South Africa's government, all hell breaks loose across the world. Virtually all aspects of land war are explored: infantry, armor, air combat, paratroopers, anti-guerilla, even some battleship action in there (my favorite part). An excellent read

Vortex was definetly an outstanding novel, but there were several places that I felt Bond could have gone a bit further. For example at the end there is a possibilty of a full scale ground war that sort of materializes. But this is countered by the chapter entiltled "Brave Fortune" which was the longest chapter of the book, and contained enough action for it to be the climax of any war novel. But this happened only about 450 pages or so into the book, and trust me, it contains more action than you'll find at the end of the book. Shortly before this chapter, there was bone-chilling suspense that was so thick I couldn't stand it any longer.
Is Vortex Bond's best? That's arguable, but my personal opinion is that while an above average novel, that no it wasn't his best.