The decades of conflict in Vietnam have produced countless books covering France's and America's involvement. Few, if any, focus on the South Vietnamese military and their efforts after the US pulled out in 1973. General knowledge promotes the image of a hapless, inept, and corrupt government and military. Author Veith acknowledges that this indictment is not undeserved but there is a need to accurately balance that depiction with certain capabilities and successes. He does a credible job highlighting the bravery of certain commanders, units (the 81st Airborne Rangers standout) and individuals but overall results end up speaking volumes.

Black April contains several interesting insights. Given that it had been the "least-used weapon system" of the war, one such insight was the role of armor in the final battles. The conflict became fluid so tanks and APCs became vital. Indeed, the images of T-54s breaking into Saigon's Presidential Palace are second only to the desperate helicopter departures from the US embassy. Another aspect that intrigued was how the Communists regrouped after their disasters in 1972. They learned both from strategic and tactical mistakes but more amazing is how they improved engineering, logistics and supply. This included weapon and vehicle repair, road building, petroleum pipelines, warehousing, and shipping.

The Fall of Saigon is also illuminating with over 500,000 Communist forces arrayed against 125,000 South Vietnamese. The generals of the People's Army admit the battle for the city was hard fought contrary to popular belief. However, the speed of the South's total defeat tends to erode the author's contention that they were not bunglers. Granted "bunglers" is unfair but it is difficult to argue that the political and military leadership were astute or gifted. To me, the South's fall is attributed to the North's dishonourable break with the Paris Peace accords and their inability to address the ongoing threat.

Black April is well researched including extensive interviews. Unfortunately the author misses the opportunity to employ a narrative style that would balance the preponderance of unit references and movements. This makes the read unnecessarily and overwhelmingly clinical. This history read much better when Veith inserted a first person recollection. Yet, it was still a fascinating read and a period that demands more analysis and attention.

"To begin with, this seemed a simple-enough story to tell. Two men have to kill a third man." And that man was top Nazi Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich who was an SS-Obergruppenführer, Chief of the Reich Main Security Office, and Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. It was in the latter capacity that "the man with the iron heart" was attacked in Prague in 1942 by a British-trained team of Czech and Slovak soldiers sent by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. As wild as this true story is, it is the style that author Binet chooses to tell it that dominates the book.

It is equal parts history, author confessional, and fictional gimmick (the latter is the author's admission). It is weirdly conversational and, after a time, cloying and irritating. A few examples include ..."That scene, like the one before it, is perfectly believable and totally made up" and "But no, I'm not a character either." and "Once again I find myself frustrated by my genre's constraints." If anything, this uniquely stylized genre offers too few constraints so the book ends up a strange meandering of musings mixed with actual history. Curiously it reminded me of the The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell and Europe Central by William Vollman...made even more curious as Binet references those works in this clever yet annoying ramble.

This was my second time through one of Wall Street's most amazing stories. It's depiction of the Leveraged Buyout craze of the 1980's is a cautionary tale of greed that remains unheeded. An LBO is a financial transaction and process by which "a small group of senior executives, usually working with a Wall Street partner, proposes to buy its company from public shareholders, using massive amounts of borrowed money". Colorful Ross Johnson from my hometown of Winnipeg headed RJR Nabisco and recklessly sought to unlock the value he believed investors were overlooking in the company. This organization was the 19th largest company at the time with 140,000 employees and a host of impressive brands: Oreos, Ritz crackers, Life Savers, and Winston and Salem cigarettes. The eventual transaction ended up being the largest LBO ever reaching $17 billion in value (and huge heights of controversy).

Johnson could be a fictional invention. His rise in corporate power was built on political manoeuvring, extensive expense accounts, fleets of corporate jets (RJR Nabsico had 36 pilots and 10 planes), hobnobbing, and other excesses that make for entertaining (and these days incomprehensible) reading. His desire to eschew corporate tradition and civility is at odds with a traditional, depression upbringing. But Ross was his own man and showed early signs of being an entrepreneur and dealmaker. He was also big on the social scene being president of his fraternity, varsity basketball player, and a Cadet in Canadian military officer training at the University of Manitoba. The book is replete with examples of Ross' love of partying and the good life. At one time he was a member of over twenty country clubs and always seemed able to hit the links no matter what was going on.

The book reintroduces us to the firms and players that would personify a time when financial black magic took precedent over business basics like valuable products and solid customer service (not much has changed). In it are: Henry Kravis of Kohlberg Kravis; Salomon Brothers; Jim and Linda Robinson; Lazard Freres & Co.; Jeffrey "Mad Dog" Beck; Morgan Stanley; Drexel Burnham Lambert; Forstmann Little; Goldman Sachs; Shearson Lehman; and more. The majority of the book covers the feeding frenzy that ensued once the company was in play. Greed, petty jealousies, tantrums, egos, arrogance and ignorance are all in great supply. I enjoyed the side stories covering Ted Forstmann who hated Kohlberg Kravis and John Greeniaus who was one executive capable of actual management.

Burrough and Helyar place the reader in the boardroom, limo, and bar. The book is so well researched, the narrative so engaging, and the pace so lively that it reads like a novel. It continues to influence financial and business reporting by placing emphasis on the very real human foibles that impact those worlds. It made me a bit of a junkie for similar works as I went on to read others of this genre and era including: Den of Thieves, Predator's Ball, Rainmaker, amongst others.

Connolly's Charlie Parker is but one compelling and dark character in this ongoing series. Perhaps the darkest is his imaginings of Maine and other parts of New England. He has created a shadow world that provides an amazing backdrop for the unfortunate events in which Parker perpetually finds himself. It is interesting that a former Irish journalist picked this particular part of the world and pulls it off like a local. I have read the whole series which has been strong throughout. The Burning Soul was the first I encountered that may signal tiredness and repetition. All elements are there but this one dragged and was predictable in resolution because Connolly has created a now familiar pattern. I will hang in there for the next as he is talented and should be able to rejuvenate. As a side note, I thought the State of Maine Tourism Department should set up Connolly and Stephen King themed tours...then I Googled that idea for fun and discovered there are private narrated tours of the Stephen King sites in and around the Bangor, Maine area!

This three book series commenced with a fantastic premise. The first entry, Without Warning, set in 2003 leveraged real situations of that time but then introduced "a wave of energy" that largely knocked the U.S. out as a superpower. This set in motion an extremely ambitious series covering the impact and reactions to this event. Without Warning had mystery, thrills, and a vivid post-apocalyptic setting that kept the pages turning. Unfortunately Angels of Vengeance was much like the second instalment, After America. Both became bogged down in too many competing plots, stereotypical characters, and a general lack of direction. Perplexing was the perpetually unexplained event, super spies and their organization, and many ho-hum pages given to political machinations of the new U.S. Birmingham takes on big landscapes as evidenced by his previous Axis of Time trilogy. For that he should be commended. I look forward to future efforts but hope that he tightens up his focus so less will be much more.

...provided that it is quite incredible." So said Oscar Wilde in real life and I include here as he appears in fictional form in 'Strange Affair'. Steampunk is a genre I still struggle with. This curious mix of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror, and speculative fiction can be trying and overwhelming. It is difficult to be nuanced when there is so much thrown into the stew. I actually bought this book without my normal due diligence and avoided it for a time when I realized it was Steampunk. As I discovered, it was creative, compelling, and inventive in plot sequence. Its strengths lie in atmosphere, characters (both fictional and historical), and the time travel/alternative history thread. The book is ambitious, entertaining, and has introduced a series for the Holmes/Watson coupling of Sir Richard Francis Burton and Algernon Swinburne. Congratulations to Sir Burton who must intrigue science fiction authors as I remember him too from Philip José Farmer's Riverworld novels that I enjoyed years ago.

This particular 'mission' feels as if Mr. Furst subcontracted it to someone else. It is not as dense in content and atmosphere or as tense in plot and intrigue as previous efforts. The story is less subtle signalling that what has been highly unique may be now formulaic. A substantial part of this newfound disappointment is attributed to very weak characters especially the lead, Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl. He just was not believable in thought or action. The main thread...the Reich Foreign Ministry's political warfare against France was very interesting but not properly employed. Nor was the complicity of France's far right movement and their role in appeasement, defeat, and collaboration which continues to be debated. All that being said, I remain a fan and hope for a return to classic Furst (fellow fans will be pleased to know that the Brasserie Heininger factors into Mission to Paris).

This followup to Infection was repetitious so I found myself skim reading (I get mad at both myself and the author in such cases). This was attributed to the far-out tangent concerning the Ray character, an over reliance on ancillary creatures, and the characters becoming largely wooden and predictable. Also missing was the descriptions of this new shattered, post-apocalyptic world so there was very little atmosphere compared with the earlier effort. The author seemed to have run out of steam with the conclusion relying on standard convention while at the same time leaving the series open to a new entry. If the latter happens, I will be hard pressed to pick it up.

Servant to the Tsar who has been reprieved by Stalin, Finnish Inspector Pekkala revisits some of his darker past when a murder takes place at the Borodok Gulag. The novel's format is similar to the two previous entries with Eastland leveraging flashbacks to pre-Soviet time. This allows the author to over credit the fictional Tsar with intelligence not given in actual history and to paint his interpretation of Stalin with some buffoonery. This plot involves murder, Tsarist treasure, White Russians, Czech soldiers of the former empire, and the impending Second World War. All of this should make the book move with speed, however, it was quite sluggish throughout.

Siberian Red also misses the Holmes and Watson entertainment and interchanges previously seen between Pekkala and his subordinate, Major Kirov. The latter has become a more interesting character especially as he holds his ground with Stalin. Overall, the series seriously deflated after the very first book as Pekkala's personal mysteriousness was sacrificed too quickly. Still I enjoy the period and have hope that Eastland places Pekkala and Kirov in some interesting situations as the World War Two rages...that has worked for Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther.

Espionage tales are most fertile when situated between wars. Kanon knows this and leverages post World War Two's realities and ironies of shifting enemies and alliances. So we are treated to a plot dealing with a Romanian intelligence officer who has valuable information for the Americans but may have played a horrible role in supporting the worst of Nazi policy. It is now common knowledge that the US spirited many Axis assets out of Europe to gain advantage over the Soviets.

Kanon picks Istanbul as the backdrop for the intrigue and it was the most enjoyable part of the book. He holds a genuine affection for the place but less so for the Turks themselves who come across as a little too flexible in ethics. Some of this is explained by a Turkish intelligence officer who intones, "We don't think we're a bridge. We think we're the centre. The world used to spread out from here in every direction." This suggests both an inferiority complex and the reality of becoming sandwiched between two super powers.

Spies are always fighting the next war but employ the tools from the last so victories and advantages are few. This is also attributed to human nature and self preservation but after a time deception takes its toll as the Romanian Iron Guard intelligence officer admits, "I can't switch sides again."

I appreciate the author's research into setting and historical accuracy but one must be patient as his work moves at a slow pace. He peppers this outing with a bit more action but it did not hold my interest as much as the works of Alan Furst or Charles Cumming.