The Vets: The Vets
Stephen Leather. Pocket Books, $5.99 (544pp) ISBN 978-0-671-74304-8
Fourwar-scarred veterans return to Vietnam on a daring criminal mission. (Sept.)
Details
Reviewed on: 08/29/1994
Genre: Fiction
- Amazon
- Apple Books
- Barnes & Noble
- Bookshop
- Share
- Tweet
- Copy Link
More By and About this Authorchevron_right
- The Tunnel RatsStephen LeatherIn Leather's latest American release, British Transport Police Sergeant Nick Wright gets territorial when the mutilated body of an American news photographer turns up in an abandoned railroad tunnel. Continue reading »
- The ChinamanStephen LeatherA series of vicious bombings in London propels this timely, action-packed fourth novel from former journalist Leather ( Hungry Ghost ). The IRA claims responsibility for the violence, although Liam Continue reading »
- The Fireman: A Novel of IntrigueStephen LeatherA Hong Kong on edge about its scheduled reversion to Chinese rule in 1997 is the setting for much of this suspenseful mystery. The nameless narrator was a ``fireman,'' i.e., a trouble-shooting Continue reading »
- Chinaman: ChinamanStephen LeatherA series of vicious bombings in London propels this action-packed novel. Continue reading »
- The VetsStephen LeatherFive Vietnam War vets--pilots, mechanics and seasoned soldiers--are brought together in Vietnam for what they think is a reconciliation program. What they don't know is that they are about to be Continue reading »
- Fair GameStephen LeatherWhen intelligence agencies get their wires crossed in Leather’s middling eighth action thriller featuring superhuman British spook Spider Shepherd (after 2010’s Rough Justice), Shepherd is forced to Continue reading »
- MineRobert R. McCammonA psychotic leaves a trail of murder victims in her wake after she kidnaps a newborn child and goes off to join a revolutionary group to which she belonged during the '60s. Although McCammon portrays Continue reading »
- Duel of AssassinsDaniel PollockReaders will be both impatient and sorry to finish this espionage thriller about two agents, once close friends, pitted against each other in a plot to assassinate the Soviet president. Continue reading »
- Lady BossJackie CollinsLucky Santangelo hopes to surprise her husband by purchasing a film studio in this ``hilarious satire of Hollywood passion, porn and politics.'' Also featured is lusty singer Venus Maria, whose macho Continue reading »
- Cazalet Chronicles: Light Years: Cazalet Chronicles: Light YearsElizabeth Jane HowardThree generations of an English clan summer at their estate during 1937 and 1938, troubled by threats of war and less significant matters, including the chauffeur's sluggish driving and a treed cat. Continue reading »
- Body Scissors: Body ScissorsJerome DoolittleWhile performing a routine background check on a potential Secretary of State, freelance researcher Tom Bethany turns up information on the man's murdered runaway daughter, an alleged whore and drug Continue reading »
- Possessing the Secret of JoyAlice WalkerPulitzer Prize winner Walker illustrates the truism that violence begets violence in this strong-voiced but often strident and polemical novel, a 17-week PW bestseller, which focuses on the practice Continue reading »
- Marking Time: Marking TimeElizabeth Jane HowardWith great historical accuracy, this second installment in the Cazalet Chronicle follows The Light Years . Continue reading »
- Loose Among the Lambs: Loose Among the LambsJay BrandonSan Antonio DA Mark Blackwell returns in this high-powered, courtroom drama involving a well-connected attorney accused of child molestation. Continue reading »
- Ruling PassionJudith Michael, MichaelRivals since their college days, two women clash anew when one digs up dirt on a televangelist show the other has launched. This ``plodding riches-to-rags and rags-to-riches tale'' with its Continue reading »
- A Cast of ThousandsSteve ShaganA sort of cinematic souffle, the latest offering from the author of Pillars of Fire and The Formula is a tasty treat that readers may want to devour in one sitting. This behind-the-scenes view of Continue reading »
- Marking TimeElizabeth Jane HowardReaders of The Light Years , Howard's earlier novel about the numerous members of the upper-class Cazalet family, their servants, friends and relatives, will find satisfaction in this well-written Continue reading »
- Double Life: The Shattering Affair Between Chief Judge Sol Wachtler and Socialite Joy SilvermanLinda WolfeWolfe ( Wasted: The Preppie Murder ) here presents an involving, sympathetic if not fully reflective account of a case that became a tabloid drama. Former New York State Chief Judge Wachtler, Continue reading »
- Fame's PerilMartha Smilgis, Martha SmiligisWritten by an insider (Smilgis is a show business correspondent for Time ), this first novel trenchantly details life in the fast lane and the dangers of fame. While big-time film director Robert Continue reading »
- Buffalo GirlsLarry McMurtryYearning for the excitement and good hunting of the pk Wild West, two mountain men and an old Indian scout dejectedly roam the prairie; an aging Calamity Jane composes brooding letters to her Continue reading »
- The Light YearsElizabeth Jane HowardIn her charming but unwieldy eighth novel, the author of Odd Girl Out and Getting It Right portrays three generations of an upper-class English family summering at their Sussex estate in 1937 and Continue reading »
- Body ScissorsJerome DoolittleIn this realistic, sharply penned mystery, freelance ``researcher'' Tom Bethany, hired to ferret out potential embarrassments in the life of a Boston Brahmin, turns up the perpetrator of an Continue reading »
- Darkness FallsAnne Larason Schneider, Joyce A. SchneiderA psychologist and her lover, a medical examiner, investigate the murder of one of her patients, a young girl, while victims continue to pile up in their Connecticut town. ``Schneider's second novel Continue reading »
- The Perdue Chicken CookbookMitzi PerdueThe Perdue name will lend credibility to this collection of chicken recipes. Written by Mrs. Frank Perdue, it neatly delivers what it promises: a variety of recipes complemented by nuggets of useful Continue reading »
- Blood of Our FathersSonny GirardThough his prose is sometimes unpolished, the pseudonymous Girard, who wrote this first novel while serving time in a federal prison for violation of the RICO act, shines as a storyteller, especially Continue reading »
- Surrender the Pink: Surrender the PinkCarrie FisherBy making a dismal attempt to conform to her ex-husband's expectations, soap opera scriptwriter Dinah Kaufman tests her ``pink'' girlish fantasy that the right man will secure her happiness forever. Continue reading »
- Rules of EvidenceJay BrandonJust as cops break the rules to fight crime in the streets, lawyers may disregard them completely in their search for truth in the courtroom--and feel pious about doing it. Raymond Boudro, the Continue reading »
- The Boy, the Devil and Divorce: The Boy, the Devil and DivorceRichard FredeA 10-year-old boy hires the toughest attorney in the nation and sues his parents to not get a divorce. Continue reading »
- Night Woman: Night WomanPrice, Nancy PriceWell written and engaging, Price's ( Sleeping with the Enemy ) new romantic suspense novel posits an intriguing situation. Mary, the outwardly mousy wife of prizewinning author Randal Eliot--a Continue reading »
- Moscow TwilightWilliam E. HollandDuring what seems to be the botched holdup of an expensive, private Moscow restaurant in 1989, CIA station chief Charles Hutchins is murdered; his body is found mysteriously absent of identification, Continue reading »
- Bear Hug: A Tom Bethany MysteryJerome DoolittleDoolittle ( Strangle Hold ) drops Boston PI Tom Bethany into a shark tank of S & L looters who gathered under deregulation and slipped through the federal (read Republican) net with the cash clenched Continue reading »
- Strangle Hold: Strangle HoldJerome DoolittleBoston wrestler and occasional private eye Tom Bethany looks into the death of a wealthy young man. Giving Spen ser a run for his money, he proves that Boston is a two-PI town. BOMC alternate in Continue reading »
- Broadway: Day & NightKen MarsolaisAlong with a broken heart for every light on Broadway (as an old tune has it), there's also a story. Producer Marsolias and AIDS activists McFarlane and Viola here collect tales from those who work Continue reading »
- Devil's JugglerMurray SmithHis first time out, British TV writer Smith has produced an exhilarating thriller in which astute characterization, a breakneck pace and an assured narrative technique result in a riveting read. Continue reading »
- Circumstances UnknownJonellen HecklerAlthough Heckler ( Safekeeping ) identifies the murderer and his intended victim on the first pages of her new mystery, she sustains chilling suspense as the killer's psychotic personality steadily Continue reading »
- The Boy, the Devil, and DivorceRichard FredeIn his 11th novel, Frede ( The Interns ) spins a sprightly tale of a 10-year-old boy's attempt to stop his parents' divorce. Gamble and Skip are exemplary parents, well-to-do New Hampshire Continue reading »
- Free to LoveIvana TrumpThe ennui of the rich and recherche proves contagious as Trump ( For Love Alone ) unpacks a steamer trunk of scandals already over-familiar to gossip-column readers. Katrinka van Hollen, beauteous Continue reading »
- Loose Among the LambsJay BrandonFirst introduced in Brandon's Edgar-nominated Fade the Heat , San Antonio district attorney Mark Blackwell has his back to the Alamo when he prosecutes a well-connected attorney for child molestation Continue reading »
- Uncommon KnowledgeJudy LewisBorn in 1935, Lewis was a mother herself when she learned what her friends and acquaintances already knew--that she was the offspring of a single mother and a married father. Her parents were Loretta Continue reading »
- Killing Me Softly: A Gideon Lowry MysteryJohn LeslieGideon Lowry, the featured PI in Leslie's ( Blood on the Keys ) new series, is caught in two small worlds: one--Key West, where he also plays at a piano bar--he's content to stay in; the Continue reading »
- The Winter Women Murders: A Wyn Lewis MysteryDavid A. KaufeltAn undemanding plot and a campy narrative laced with trendy names make this second Wyn Lewis mystery, following The Fat Boy Murders , ideal reading for a beach, especially one on Long Island, the Continue reading »
- Deadly SweetSterling WatsonWatson (Weep No More My Brother) has created a stunning, intricate bit of Florida noir in this story about Eddy Priest, a non-practicing lawyer aiming for the simple life as a sailboat salesman on Continue reading »
- Stone DancerMurray SmithEven though this far-flung, fast-moving second novel features a higher body count and more betrayals than most Jacobean melodramas, Smith's control of his narrative remains impeccable throughout. The Continue reading »
- Half NelsonJerome DoolittleThe fifth round for Doolittle's tough-talking, softhearted hero Tom Bethany-wrestling champ, Vietnam vet, PI and lover of Hope Edwards, head of the Washington, D.C., branch of the American Civil Continue reading »
- The Wheel of JusticeWilliam E. HollandA fairly conventional beginning--an American businessman is caught in the Russian financial and police bureaucracy--turns into a riveting story of greed, betrayal, lost and almost-lost love, and Continue reading »
- The Hidden Life of DogsElizabeth Marshall ThomasThomas's multifaceted discussion of canine life was a 28-week PW bestseller. Continue reading »
- A Bitter PeaceMichael PetersonDiplomat Bradley Marshall, who-as depicted in Peterson's A Time of War (1990)-tried in the late 1960s to end the conflict in Vietnam, returns for another go. Now it's 1972, and Marshall is asked by Continue reading »
- Total EclipseLiz RigbeyWhen beautiful Julia Fox is accused of murdering her husband and stepdaughter, her lover, an astronomer named Lomax, assists the defense team investigating the crime. But to his dismay, Lomax Continue reading »
- Don't ExplainDallas MurphyAlthough it starts with the delightful premise of somebody stalking a celebrity dog, Murphy's third Artie Deemer mystery (Lover Man and Lush Life) slackens, ultimately done in by a casually Continue reading »
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR
THE BEST NEW BOOKS
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR THE BEST NEW BOOKS
Featured Fiction Reviews
On the Calculation of Volume (Book I)
Solvej Balle
Balle (According to the Law: Four Accounts of Mankind) launches a speculative septology with this astounding chronicle of a rare book dealer’s struggle over the course of one Continue reading »
Gliff
Ali Smith
Smith (How to Be Both) delivers an ingenious speculative novel in which two children come to terms with the mysteries of their unnamed country, which carries a whiff of Continue reading »
Something Rotten
Andrew Lipstein
Lipstein (The Vegan) explores contemporary masculinity and culture clashes in his fascinating latest. Reuben, an NPR host, loses his job after he accidentally leaves his camera Continue reading »
Sister Snake
Amanda Lee Koe
Koe (Delayed Rays of a Star) draws on Chinese mythology for this brilliant story of two sisters who were born as snakes in 815 China and live as women in contemporary New York Continue reading »
chevron_right
