The Blue Deep

Description

From Publishers Weekly Set during the last days of French rule in Vietnam, before the country was divided into northern and southern portions, this military thriller by a former helicopter pilot ( CW2 ) offers skillfully researched material and military minutiae that convey authenticity but that often slow the narrative. A U.S. squad arrives in Hanoi, purportedly sent to aid the French by training helicopter pilots for emergency evacuations. But the detail's honest major, Marsh McCall, has also been ordered to look into any gunrunning or other black-market corruption in the weapons supply chain. As McCall uncovers evidence of massive provisioning of the enemy, his line is suddenly cut. The mounting tension that Heath's use of detail could have provided in a terser context does not develop, however; the covert investigation slows the pace of what is otherwise an account of a suicide mission. Several mysterious subplots inject spurts of energy: they involve a young helicopter pilot, a native-born Eurasian nurse, the madame d'affaires of the Cafe Ho Tay and McCall's shadowed past in Korea. The inevitable bloody ending is the best part of the book; its unflinching honesty is wrenching. Major ad/promo; author tour. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more From Library Journal This novel takes us to the beginning of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, when the French were in the midst of betrayal and death at Dien Bien Phu and the only Americans were unofficial "volunteers"; when exotic restaurants and women and ex-patriots were financed by the black market. Marsh McCall and his men have been sent to Vietnam ostensibly to train French helicopter pilots, but almost at once McCall scents an underground traffic in weapons. With the help of the beautiful restaurant owner Su Letei, McCall sets out on his investigation. At the same time, young Code West, crackerjack pilot, falls in love for the first time and risks getting shot by his young lady's father. Soon the war heats up, men begin to die, and the already dark shadows of what would soon become America's most dismal military adventure begin to cover the land. The author, himself a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, has written a book rich in autobiographical detail. The location, the culture, and the people are vivid. The tangles of espionage are cleverly woven into the story. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/92.- Elsa Pendle ton, Boeing Computer Support Svces., Ridgecrest, Cal.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more From Kirkus Reviews Helicopter pilots leave the Korean War to go after black- marketeers in Hanoi during the final days of the French rule in Indochina. Author Heath (CW2, 1990), having served two tours as a chopper pilot in Vietnam, knows what he's talking about. Ostensibly in Hanoi to train French helicopter pilots, Major Marsh McCall actually has secret orders from an old mentor--a colonel who, perhaps, has been in the Orient a little too long. McCall and a small crew of pilots and technicians are to try to uncover the beginning of another black market in the goods of war that America has shipped to their French allies. The major is well motivated, his own son's death in Korea having been caused by black-market weapons. Trouble starts for the fliers the day they arrive. A gang of longshoremen beat them up and steal their jeeps- -but it's not a straightforward crime. One of the pilots, hot on the heels of the thieves, gets mysterious help that leads him to the stolen goods. Settled uncomfortably on a French air base, the men begin to fly escort to motor convoys and then have to watch helplessly as entire trucks are hijacked. When they are off duty, McCall and his men spend considerable time at the Cafe Ho Tay--a neutral spot where Chinese criminals, French colonials, insurgents, and American technical help can get together to eat and gossip. It is there that McCall runs into an old Alsatian chum who surprisingly snubs him and a dying CIA operative who may have gone professionally rotten. As McCall sniffs out more and more corruption, young pilot Cody West takes up with a cranky but dedicated colonial nurse; a renegade spy pulls invisible strings; and the fatalistic French mass for a big battle in the country at a place called Dien Bien Phu. A successful mix of battle action and offstage skulduggery. Grim--but what else? -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Read more