Dark Wing - Hardcover

Herman, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671873067 ISBN 13: 9780671873066

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1994

Synopsis

In the years after the Cold War, civil war breaks out in China, threatening the world's stability and thrusting Colonel Matt Pontowski, commander of the 303rd fighter squadron of the Reserves, and his men into the center of the action.

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Reviews

The A-10 tank-killer aircraft, so effective during Desert Storm, is nicknamed the "Warthog" in affectionate recognition of its stubby but powerful lines. Herman's latest tribute to Air Force machismo (after Force of Eagles ) takes an A-10 squadron into Southeast Asia in the near future, as civil war erupts in China. Colonel Matt Pontkowski, grandson of a former U.S. President and a featured player in earlier Herman novels, takes command of the motley but earnest group common to this genre, including beautiful and skilled female pilot Skeeter Ashton and a band of resourceful scavengers known as "The Junk Yard Dogs." At the same time, the Chinese rebel leader has rescued a Rambo-like Hawaiian MIA from a Vietnamese prison; joined by a young Chinese woman with ESP, they launch their own plan to save China from succumbing to a brutal military dictatorship. The large but stereotyped cast of characters only just manages to stay in control of the situation and one another; particularly unfortunate is the author's assumption that unattached men and women thrown together in crisis will necessarily fall in love. Herman's speculations about possible future conflicts are interesting but unsurprising, while his prose is serviceable but forgettable, weakened by reminders of his previous books and hints of more to come. Overall, this is a weak entry that matches the Warthog's inelegance but not its power; meanwhile, the workhorse of Desert Storm awaits a more imaginative champion.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The saga of the Pontowski clan from Firebreak (1991) and Call to Duty (1993) continues as Matt Pontowski becomes a player in a potential military conflict looming in the Far East. The factional People's Liberation Army in southern China, led by the ruthless Kang Xun, is wrestling for power with the central Chinese government and going after Hong Kong, the first conquest in a dream to control all of Asia. United States National Security Advisor Bob Carroll, eager to stop Kang right away, assembles a China Action Team of the brightest and best-connected in Washington, including Mazie Kamigami, the frumpy Asian specialist, and the preppy Wentworth Hazelton, who grudgingly joins as Mazie's assistant. The dark wing--the plane that emerges from the shadows to surprise the enemy--is found in Pontowski's 303rd Fighter Squadron, a Reserve squadron in Missouri whose ugly, slow, yet fatally precise A-10 Thunderbolt II planes (Warthogs) are in danger of becoming obsolete only to be rescued from the peace dividend because of their compatibility with AWACS, the airborne warning and command system the military would like to test in combat. The pilots of the 303rd resign from the Air Force to join the American Volunteer Group, becoming mercenaries for a dissident movement of the Zhuang people of southern China who are under the leadership of 28-year-old Zuo Rong. Zuo has arranged the release of American POW Victor Kamigami, Mazie's father, from the Vietnamese Army in the hopes of acquiring a general for his own army. The megalomaniacal, sexually deviant General Von Drexler is the head commander as these groups converge upon the southern Chinese theater. The characters are adroitly assembled as they fight in cities throughout southern China on land and in the air, creating such an engrossing tale of war that one is eager to read about the fate of the next generation of Pontowskis. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The last of a long line of military men, Pentagon desk jockey Col. Matt Pentowski wangles his way to command of the 303rd Air Force Squadron, flying A-10 Warthogs. Upon his arrival, Pentowski must choose between deactivating the 303rd or volunteering for a clandestine operation, code-named Dark Wing. His mission is to provide air support for Chinese rebels battling the Communist government in Beijing. Along with his friends Tango, Ripper, Maggot, and the Junkyard Dogs, he's in his element in a Warthog cockpit. At the same time, he must fight political battles with the rebels, his superiors, and Washington, D.C. The Warthogs finally turn the tide of battle, forcing Beijing to negotiate a peace with the rebels. Herman captures Air Force life and combat tactics well, as he takes the reader through the crisis from several characters' viewpoints. He commands the reader's attention until the last page. A high flier that is highly recommended for all fiction collections.
Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., Metamora
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A brilliant fighter pilot, Col. Matt Pontowski is weary of his duties in the Pentagon and transfers to the air force reserve to command a squadron of ground-attack aircraft about to be phased out as obsolete. When civil war breaks out in southern China, however, the supposedly outmoded planes become the key to an American intervention. In order to fulfill his mission and return his troops to their homes, Pontowski must fight not only the enemy but rivals jealous of his success within his own alliance. Herman's background as an air force fighter pilot lends credibility to the electrifying battle sequences. Dennis Winters

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671873067
• ISBN 13: 9780671873066
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 413