The Price of Blood - Hardcover

Logan, Chuck

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060174927 ISBN 13: 9780060174927

Publisher: Harpercollins, 1997

Synopsis

Twenty years after the end of the Vietnam War, the daughter of a dead court-martialed soldier discovers evidence that could clear her father's name and lead to ten million dollars in gold, and joins forces with Decker, an undercover cop, to uncover the truth

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Reviews

An ex-soldier who was among the last Americans to escape Vietnam before the Communist takeover returns to Southeast Asia in search of a fortune in gold that disappeared on his last mission. Two decades after the fall of Saigon, Phil Broker is again a lieutenant, this time with Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. A divorced loner who keeps to himself, the undercover cop experiences a severe culture shock when Nina Pryce bursts into his life. A decorated heroine of the Desert Storm campaign, she's the daughter of a dead Army officer whose memory remains tarnished by the abortive gold hijacking that was the real purpose of the evacuation operation in Vietnam during which Broker nearly lost his life. Determined to clear her father's name, Nina wants his sometime subordinate to help her unearth exculpatory evidence and the bullion lost in country. Although appalled at the prospect of raking up the past, Broker (who could use some money to save the resort his parents run on Lake Superior) joins forces with Nina. On medical leave from the BCA, he meets with his former commanding officer Cyrus LaPorte, a buccaneering pillar of New Orleans society who wants the missing ingots for himself. Despite the best efforts of LaPorte's homicidal minions, Broker and Nina make it to Vietnam with crucial information on the whereabouts of the gold. Once there, they link up with Nguyen Van Trin, a hard-drinking ex-ARVN colonel who's not prospered under Red rule, and they locate the buried treasure as well as proof of Pryce pŠre's innocence. Doing so, however, the Vietnam vet and the woman he's come to love must deal with latter-day betrayals, making a last stand against dangerous mercenaries in the employ of LaPorte. An admirably flinty, adroitly plotted, and worthy successor to Logan's first hard-boiled thriller (Hunter's Moon, 1996). ($50,000 marketing budget; regional author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Logan dishes up a blood-and-guts action adventure about a Vietnam vet and a female ex-soldier with a chip on her shoulder. Late in the Vietnam War, Phil Broker was involved in a scam to steal $10 million in gold from the Vietcong. The operation went sour, the gold was lost, and Phil's commanding officer, Ray Pryce, died in the shootout and was posthumously court-martialed for his role in the debacle. Thirty years later, Broker is approached by Pryce's daughter, Nina, who has a lead on the missing gold and wants to prove that her father took a fall for someone else. Broker agrees to go to Vietnam with her to find the gold, unearth the truth about her father, and enjoy the sweet rewards of revenge. Not for the faint of heart, Logan's novel offers genuine suspense, stomach-turning violence, a devilishly twisted plot, and larger-than-life characters. Riveting reading for unsqueamish adventure fans. Emily Melton

Edition details

• Publisher: Harpercollins
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060174927
• ISBN 13: 9780060174927
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 392