Digger - Hardcover

Flynn, Joseph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0553105248 ISBN 13: 9780553105247

Publisher: Bantam, 1997

Synopsis

Once in a lifetime, a man may find himself in a desperate battle for everything he holds dear.  But in this powerful, explosive, utterly  unforgettable new thriller, that all-out war has come twice for John  Fortunato.  Once for his country--and now to save his hometown and the woman he loves.

Twenty-five years ago John Fortunato was a soldier in Vietnam, fighting in  the crushing darkness of the tunnels of Cu Chi, from which the Vietcong  launched their deadliest operations.  When he got back to his hometown of Elk  River, Illinois, he secretly re-created those hellish tunnels.  Partly a memorial, partly a kind of exorcism, they now lie hidden  beneath the town's  peaceful streets.  John traded his M-16 rifle for a Nikon camera and built a  career as a successful photographer.  He thought he had put the war and the  bloodshed behind him, but a powerful new enemy has other plans for John Fortunato.

On a quiet April night, Fortunato witnesses the brutal sidewalk shooting of  an innocent man.  The vicious crime is but the first assault in a struggle  that will erupt into a full-scale battle for control of Elk River, a struggle  that will divide neighbors and tear families apart.

On one side is a tough, beautiful labor lawyer; on the other is a man who  will stop at nothing to control the entire town.  And on the front line is  John Fortunato, whose secret tunnels will provide the battleground for his  own war, a war that revives the killing grounds of Cu Chi in a way he could  never have imagined.  But as everyone is about to learn, when this veteran warrior goes down, he's just begun to fight.

From the terrible intimacy of tunnel combat below the steaming jungles of  Vietnam, to the brutal battles on the streets of the American heartland, to  the unyielding courage of a man and woman prepared to sacrifice everything to  make a dream come true, Digger is a harrowing, powerfully written novel that breaks all the rules.

About this title

Review

Ideas and plot gimmicks explode like land mines in this innovative thriller about a Vietnam vet who recreates the tunnels where so many of his buddies died under the streets of his Illinois hometown. From this unique perspective, John Fortunato watches the start of another war--a struggle for the control of a local labor union. Mix Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest with The X-Files (Fortunato has paranormal powers of perception when he's underground)--and you'll get some idea of how original this concept is, especially in the current thriller market.

From the Publisher

"An engrossing read that offers nonstop action and original plot, offbeat humor and rapid-fire suspense."
--Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of The Burning Man

"An exciting, gritty, emotional page-turner."
--Robert K. Tanenbaum, author of Falsely Accused

"A multileveled story of murder and revenge, rage and forgiveness...A straightforward pulse-pounding action novel that starts with the force of a flash-bang and never lets you get your bearings back. A forceful, hard-boned book."
--Carsten Stroud, New York Times bestselling author of Deadly Force

"Rambo meets The Great Escape."
--Los Angeles Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0553105248
• ISBN 13: 9780553105247
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416