Walking K [Hardcover]

Wes DeMott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999

Former Vietnam POW Jacob Slaughter is sent to Hanoi to negotiate a trade agreement on behalf of the United States. Back in-country, he is escorted to a rotting building where he is outraged to find his former cellmate and friend, Captain Charles Wooten, still being held. Wooten's condition is pathetic but he's alive. How much longer is up to Slaughter. Slaughter returns to Washington and fights for the trade concessions Vietnam has demanded before they' will give Wooten and twenty-two other American soldiers their freedom.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this first novel by a former FBI agent, ex-POW Jacob Slaughter is back in Vietnam to improve trade relations. Late in the negotiations, the Vietnamese show him a prisoner, a cellmate long supposed dead, and the dossiers of 22 more. Not much to our surprise, when he tries to get the men back, he discovers that shadowy political forces oppose admitting that there might be living prisoners. Slaughter gets obstinate, and a succession of cardboard villains, ranging from a Mexican assassin to the vice president, try to do him in. Eventually, he bows to the wishes of the real rulers of America (not, as you have guessed, the elected ones) and works out a compromise to save everyone's face without abandoning the POWs. This novel reads like an episode of The X-Files, but it suffers from predictability, self-righteousness, and uninspired writing. A low-priority purchase for public libraries.?Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

. . . a well-written novel about a subject dear to all combat vets. An intriguing plot that will keep you riveted. -- United News Service

DeMott, a former FBI Agent, writes movingly of ex-POWs' struggle with wartime horrors. -- Publishers Weekly, October 20, 1997

If you're patriotic enough to get goose-bumps when "The Star-Spangled Banner" plays, you'll love Wes DeMott's debut novel Walking K. -- Naples Daily News, January 11, 1998

Walking K is a fast-paced and engrossing read. It hits the ground running, with a plot which engages the reader. -- Senator Larry E. Craig (R-ID)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: Admiral House Publishing; 1St Edition edition (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965960269
• ISBN-13: 978-0965960267
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,422,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard-as-nails hero makes great reading, February 11, 2008

By 

Art Tirrell - "The Vitaman Effect" (upstate ny) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking K (Hardcover)

Despite some overdrawn scenes early on when the narrator, a former POW named Slaughter, a negotiator in Hanoi at the specific request of the Vietnamese, is taken under guard to a rundown building where his former Captain, still a prisoner after more than 20 years, is dragged into his presence in chains. Walking K by Wes DeMott soon calms down and takes on a more believable tone.

The Vietnamese reveal that they still hold 22 more American prisoners, to be released only upon the granting of most favored nation status by the US. Slaughter must get them out or die trying.

The pace of the read accelerates as he reports what he's learned to his boss, the Secretary of State - who despite Slaughter's statements seems anxious to deny the possibility of any prisoners remaining alive.

The Department of Defense too, and maybe even the White House, play their own private hands, and everyone Slaughter goes to flatly rejects the possibility that Americans might still be held prisoner.

Slaughter is a hard one, though, completely honest and sincere. With live-in psychiatrist Laura, who once cured him of the nightmares only now beginning to haunt him again, on his side, he's not backing down, no matter what. Slaughter knows the response to his refusal to desist might be terminal, and begins to take precautions. Sure enough, he's fired. Soon, his bank accounts, credit cards, driver's license all disappear. So far as officialdom is concerned, he never existed. Slaughter must hurry. There will be an assassin too. He's out of time.

At this point, the reader is totally immersed in author DeMott's story. What began with difficulty is now a roaring juggernaut. I won't spoil the ending, but men who like hard-as-nails adventure will share my enthusiasm for this work.

Art Tirrell is the author of The Secret Ever Keeps

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fast moving, engaging plot. More than worth the time., April 4, 1999

By 

Matt Auman ([e-mail]) (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking K (Hardcover)

After quitting on the last "thriller" I was reading, this book was quite a welcome surprise. It pulls you in on the first page and it doesn't let you go until the conclusion. The characters are exciting, very real and believeable and easy to relate to. I found myself siding with Slaughter's cause, admiring his courage and rooting for him in the end. Without giving away the plot, it disturbed me very deeply and made me question the line between DeMott's fiction and reality. The writer came across as a very credible source, although the book jacket did not mention him as a former POW. I have already bought his second book, Vapors. I'll review it when I'm finished. You shouldn't miss Walking K. Hope DeMott does well. Be cool.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK, January 26, 2003

By 

Dan Riebesell (The Bubble Of Florrida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking K (Hardcover)

Wes Demott has written a great book and that is all there is to it. Wes Demott is also my neighbor but that is not why i am writing this review. I remember when he was writing this book i always want to read it but i was to young. I just finished it after a couple of weeks and absolutely loved it. I am yet to read Vapors and hope that he will write again. So overall i am just telling you to READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!