The Silent Men - Softcover

Dickinson, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142003395 ISBN 13: 9780142003398

Publisher: Penguin Mass Market, 2003

Synopsis

Jackson Monroe is the finest American sniper in Vietnam's treacherous Mekong Delta. The Viet Cong call him "Black Ghost." Dispatched for a classified "illegal" mission on the Cambodia border, Monroe succeeds beyond expectation, only to be abandoned behind enemy lines and left for dead by his superior officers. Suddenly, the hunter becomes the hunted when Monroe discovers that a VC assassin-an expert marksman like himself-is intent on eliminating the legendary Black Ghost before he compromises the North Vietnamese Army's carefully planned Tet Offensive. With superb writing, brilliantly realized characters, and nonstop action, The Silent Men introduces readers to a new hero in the first of a series of thrilling adventures.

About this title

About the Author

A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an Air Force veteran, Richard H. Dickinson has worked as a hurricane hunter and air traffic controller.

From Publishers Weekly

Air Force veteran Dickinson debuts with one of the most authentic Vietnam War novels since Tim O'Brien. Marksmen Tobias Patterson and Jackson Monroe are the only two blacks among their secret squad of "silent men"-snipers who prowl the jungle in pairs to pick off enemy targets. The two men would not normally be friends, but their pairing in the jungle and segregation from their colleagues bonds them. Dickinson captures the grit and intensity of the war by getting inside the soldiers' heads, without politicizing or moralizing. Monroe and Patterson are assigned the difficult (and unauthorized) mission of taking out their Vietcong counterpart, a shadowy man named Dac. As nondescript as the Americans are distinctive, Dac is known as the Black Ghost for his ability to camouflage himself. With Dac in his sights, Patterson blows the mission by instead shooting an important Vietcong general named Cho. Dac responds instantly, wounding Monroe. Patterson is forced to flee, leaving Monroe to fend for himself in the jungle. The officers who engineered the mission invent an implausible story for the killing of General Cho, which reporter Dan Brady threatens to expose. The story loses momentum when it expands to include the perspectives of Brady, Dac and others, but the riveting depiction of Monroe's struggle to survive and reach safety augurs well for future installments of this proposed series.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Mass Market
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0142003395
• ISBN 13: 9780142003398
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 320