Fiction / Vietnam War
501 pages / 1393 KB
5 Stars
Legalities first: I received a free electronic copy in
exchange for an honest review.
I have been enjoying McQuinn's novels for several years.
Mostly, I read his space operas and fantasies, recently I've discovered some of
his war novels. Oh, what a discovery I have made!
Targets follows Charles Taylor, MAJ, USMC during a year's tour
of duty in Saigon during the Vietnam war. This is not a story of shoot –'em up
bang bang out in the jungle type of episodes. No, this is a much more
thoughtful, and thereby fear inducing, of life and love in war-torn Saigon.
There are the guys who just want to survive and get home, the guys who want to
make a positive difference, and the ones who want to stab a few of the others
in the back. And through it all are the Vietnamese who just want the war to end
and everybody to go back home.
This is not the first story of that war I've read, but it is
the first story of that war I've read where the Vietnamese play a major, and
positive, supporting role. While this is not a novel of battles in the rice
paddies or jungles, there is enough violence in the city—assassinations and
attempted assassinations, back alley beat-downs, and kidnappings—to keep anyone's
adrenaline flowing smoothly.
McQuinn also shows the world that a good yarn can be twisted
without peppering it with profanities. The yarn is stronger, the twist tighter,
and the woven story superb!
If you like a well-written novel, read Targets.
If you like a good story, read Targets.
If you want to know what war is about, read Targets.
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