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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Electrifying War Drama, February 15, 2003
This fast-paced, turbulent novel focuses on passionate men and women, both American and Vietnamese, caught in a seemingly surrealistic web spun by the war in Vietnam during its intensity of the late sixties. From the author's own firsthand experiences, Lupo skillfully captures in the characters and plot that unparalleled ferocity of close combat---the dread, fear, and doubt---the despair and depravity---that creates a special camaraderie making the horror almost bearable for mortals thrown like coal into the very bowels of a burning hell on earth.Ominous events unfold in War Zone C (Tay Ninh Province) just miles northeast of Saigon near the Vietnamese-Cambodian border. Three young 25th Infantry Division soldiers befriend some local brothel girls in Tay Ninh City; the hometown of the Buddhist 'Cao Dai' militant sect and prime strategic target for local 'Charlies' and their NVA comrades, infiltrating like ants to honey through the infamous 'Dog's Head' border crossing tributary of the Ho Chi Minh trail. The GI's are told by the commie-hating girls of a plan to attack the 'Holy See' Cao Dai temple in Tay Ninh when South Vietnamese President Thieu is scheduled to give a political speech. This bit of round-the-bout intelligence sets the stage for the decimation of the crack NVA 350th Regiment in a monumental battle with few US loses. Great stuff for starters, as Lupo leapfrogs events into an intriguing, page-turning story. The three GI's: Doc Luane, James Jaggers, and Pee Wee Anson, are promoted for outstanding 'undercover' work (no pun intended), and, as things often work in the 'Green-machine,' their boss and guardian-angel, Colonel Anson, is promoted to general and assigned to Saigon. Under the circumstances, this couldn't have happened at a more convenient time it seems with Luane, Jaggers, and Pee Wee fighting for their lives against the VC while managing to get married to their Vietnamese heartthrobs. The good general has them transferred to the relative safety of Saigon, just before Tet of 68'. We all know what erupted then. During all this melee, the girls become pregnant, and Lupo explores the unique personalities of Luane, Jaggers, and Pee Wee Anson now rubbed raw with primeval instincts bared. This is staged against a testy background of racial tensions and negative feelings surfacing against the war, coupled with the bitter catalysts of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy's assassinations back in 'The World'. Doc Luane with his death-wish, Jaggers killer-instinct, and Pee Wee's hatred must somehow be resolved for good to prevail over evil. They bond together in a common goal of somehow getting their expectant brides out of harms way by whatever means possible---even if it means working in the rather shady backdrop of CIA vagabond, Bill Jenkins. Without giving the poignant ending away, I just might say that the author makes the adamant point of America being at war thirty-five years ago while still rattling its sabers in 2003 against an evasive enemy in which there can never be a clear-cut victory---a 'Buffalo's Revenge,' so to speak. From both a literary and editorial perspective, the book is well organized in placement and sequence of characters and events. Diction, idiomatic construction, and maintaining a proper tone with difficult subject matter deserves special mention. The dialogue is excellent! Mr. Lupo has a talented ability to reproduce everyday speech---both American and Vietnamese---especially the half-humorous and half-hostile exchanges of men who live and work together in constant fear. Conversion of the text to that of a screenplay would give full justice to the author's literary finesse of brilliantly creating a catharsis out of the dismal abyss created by all wars. A 'dang' good Vietnam war era read---highly recommended!
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