CW2 - Hardcover

Heath, Layne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688052657 ISBN 13: 9780688052652

Publisher: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1990

Synopsis

When helicopter pilot Billy Roark returns to Vietnam for a second tour of duty, a mysterious foe with a score to settle hunts him over the jungles of Southeast Asia

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Although Vietnam was a helicopter war, in fiction the men who flew the Army's choppers have been overshadowed by grunts and fixed-wing pilots. Heath redresses the balance with his first novel. In his initial tour in 1969 Army Warrant Officer (CW2) Billy Roark flew slicks--transport helicopters--around the DMZ and the ill-omened A Shau Valley. In 1971 he returns as a scout pilot in the air cavalry to meet a destiny as uncanny as it is appropriate. Heath, a veteran of the fighting he describes, tells the story of Roark and his buddies in a series of loosely connected vignettes, blending the real and surreal in compelling images of a form of war that was new but not unique. Like the airmen of WW II, helicopter pilots in Vietnam staked their lives in machines that offered a thousand ugly ways to die and few chances to escape when things went wrong. Roark's evolution as a "hunter" parallels the development of the earlier war's fighter aces; his story can claim a place alongside such memoirs as Billy Bishop's Winged Warfare and Ira Jones's Tiger Squadron. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

After completing his first tour of duty and finding himself unable to focus on anything but his Vietnam experience, chopper pilot Billy Roark applies for reassignment as a scout. Previously flying a large Huey helicopter used for inserting troops and carrying ammo, Roark now pilots a smaller, faster scout ship, searching the jungle for Viet Cong troops. First novelist Heath's skillful use of dense technical description--the flight and battle sequences are superb--boosts a mediocre story with familiar themes of waste and disillusionment. With appeal to both fans of Vietnam fiction and technothrillers, Heath may rival giants like Dale Brown ( Day of the Cheetah, LJ 6/15/89), and, due to the authenticity of his technical and historical data, be taken more seriously. Military Book Club main selection; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/90..
- Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow and Company, Inc.
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0688052657
• ISBN 13: 9780688052652
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 370