- Audio Cassette
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (a); Abridged edition (July 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0671866419
- ISBN-13: 978-0671866419
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 12.2 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 113 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,071,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Fans will no doubt lap up the latest techno-thriller from Bond and Patrick Larkin, the team responsible for Vortex and Red Phoenix . In late 1997, world order has been destabilized by recession and extreme nationalism. The French foreign minister creates "EurCon," a European Confederation led by France and Germany that will rule Europe. EurCon's attempt to assimilate Eastern Europe meets with resistance, particularly from Poland, and soon the U.S. and Britain are pulled into the struggle. The war and its build-up are reported by various observers: the senior CIA field man in Moscow, the private advisor to the U.S. president, a French intelligence agent, a Hungarian police commander, a Russian intelligence man, a CIA economist (the lone woman and hence the "like" interest) and officers of the American, German and Polish armed forces. The French are definitely the bad guys here, albeit dim ones who don't see the writing on the wall when the Americans wipe out their nuclear capability two-thirds through the book. The prose serves the galloping plot and technology well, if humorlessly; maps, dramatis personae and a glossary also help. But the last chapter--"New Beginnings"--is too warm and fuzzy and should have been dropped. Major ad/promo.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
With Germany and France locked in a deadly battle against the United States, massive dogfights occur in the skies, and the U.S. Navy struggles for survival in waters alive with U-boats.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Europe turns into a "Cauldron" of war in this novel....,
By
This review is from: Cauldron (Mass Market Paperback)
The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a blessing in disguise not only for the Pentagon but for writers of military fiction. Just as the armed services have had to develop new doctrines, strategies, tactics, and weapons systems to contend with new enemies (potential and real), authors such as Tom Clancy, Stephen Coonts, Harold Coyle, and Larry Bond have had to look at the world situation, read the proverbial "tea leaves," and write plausible scenarios pitting American soldiers against foes that are very different from the by-now all-too-familiar Soviet "Ivan."The writing team of Bond and Patrick Larkin (Red Phoenix, Vortex) was one of the earliest practitioners of "the-Cold-War-is-ending, let's-look-at-other-story-possibilities" idea. Although the Soviet Union was still in existence when their first two novels were published in the early 1990s, its role in Red Phoenix (about a second Korean War) and Vortex (conflict breaks out in South Africa) is very limited...think of it as an old Mafia don giving limited amounts of money and guns to a younger up-and-coming capo. In Cauldron, the international situation is very different. NATO has dissolved, its mission as Western Europe's shield against a massive Soviet invasion having been achieved. France and Germany have formed a loose military alliance, and right-wing elements now begin reviving the old empire building instincts most Europeans thought had died out with the end of the Second World War. But the wars in the Balkans and greed in the hearts of many government officials in France and Germany -- and even impoverished Russia -- have awakened the old demons of imperial ambitions and diplomatic arrogance. And when the new Franco-German alliance starts bullying the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe for financial gain, Hungary and Poland soon become the first victims of full-scale aggression. Only the United States and Great Britain, aided by a few other smaller European allies, stand in the way of a Third World War. Long time readers of the genre -- and of the Bond/Larkin novels in particular -- know that the eventual outcome is never really in doubt. The techno-thriller, in some ways, is sometimes just as predictable and conventional as a Harlequin Romance novel....only instead of ripped bodices and heaving bosoms there are camouflaged fatigues and flying missiles. Still, the premise of American and British troops facing off against former allies is (while far-fetched) intriguing and a bit disconcerting.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Think it couldn't happen...guess again!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Cauldron (Mass Market Paperback)
....It makes you wonder if Larry Bond has a crystal ball. I found this to be one of my favorites of Larry Bond books right after Red Phoenix and Vortex. At the time I read it, I also thought it was a bit far fetched. But, now I think Larry Bond is much more smarter than most people realized. In my opinion, Larry Bond writes much more realistic battle scenes than other "techno" writers.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Yeah. Right.,
By "ggammell2" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cauldron (Mass Market Paperback)
This book's plot was a bit too creative. France and Germany allied together, with the French outsmarting the Germans in the end was too much to swallow. It started off well but then the plot was discovered. I found myself laughing a lot during the closing chapters. Nuclear attack on a US Aircraft Carrier. France and Germany would instantly become a parking lot if that ever happened. Big let down.
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