Don't Mean Nuthin'

December 1, 2014
Lealos highlights the ugliness of the Vietnam War in general, and the Phoenix program in particular, in this searing thriller focused on an American soldier, Frank Morgan (aka the Night Snake), who, in 1970, became a legendary assassin in Vietnam. (In 2014’s Pashtun, a CIA assassin in Afghanistan assumes the name of Frank Morgan in honor of the Frank Morgan of this tale, which was originally published as an e-book in 2008.) Reporting only to a man nicknamed the Viper, Morgan and a Montagnard scout, Luc Luong, carry out orders to target key enemies, including beautiful Sorbonne-educated Liem Tran, reputed to be an important Vietcong cadre chief—and the mistress of Jimmy Ky, Vice President Ky’s son. “Don’t Mean Nuthin’ ” is Morgan’s mantra, but Tran’s death hits him hard, and he vows to get the man he holds responsible—Jimmy. Readers should be prepared for frequent killing, often preceded by rape and torture, in this grim take on events in wartime Vietnam.

As his long-dormant conscience slowly revives, a Black Ops assassin wrestles with his role as a pawn in the Vietnam War in Lealos' (Pashtun, 2014, etc.) powerful novel.In 1969, Frank Morgan is an American assassin in Vietnam known as "the Night Snake." He receives his orders from an agency, Phoenix, that doesn't officially exist, is answerable to no one, and funds itself in part with money from drugs, prostitution and the sale of orphans. Morgan fits right into this world, however, as he was brought up by a father he calls "the Colonel," a militaristic lunatic who always raised him to be a soldier. At first, Morgan has little problem with taking part in dubious operations for the greater glory of the United States, although he does have nightmares that he beats back with drugs and drink. But when he kills Liem Tran, a Sorbonne-educated woman with striking green eyes, it particularly affects him, even though Phoenix says that she's a top Viet Cong cadre chief. When he learns that the mission was actually revenge for Tran's refusal to sleep with a South Vietnamese official-and that most of his other assignments may be equally bogus-Morgan goes rogue, killing people he's not assigned to terminate while letting other targets go free. Lealos presents Vietnam as a Dantean landscape from which no one ever really returns, not even the survivors. He underscores its futility through Morgan's cynical, first-person Mickey Spillane-speak, which draws every comparison by using words of war ("The only noise the M79 thumper in my chest"; "The sound was like snapping my M16 to full auto"; "The kiss lasted longer than it took between hearing the hushed thud of a mortar tube and the impact"). Overall, it's a gut-wrenchingly realistic portrayal of how violence, politics and corruption combine to destroy the souls of people and countries.A dark redemption tale, but not one for the faint of heart. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2015
The CIA's Phoenix Program operated throughout the Vietnam War, killing high-ranking VC or government officials with dubious loyalty. Frank Morgan, who once believed in the American Way as preached by his father and Lyndon Johnson, is swept up by Phoenix and becomes violent and profane in short order. He believes only in staying alive but responds faithfully when his belligerent CO, Viper, orders him to assassinate an operative named Liem. Frank kills her, then realizes the woman wasn't VC but merely inconvenient. Attempting to return to base, Frank and his squad are ambushed on orders from Viper, but Frank escapes, assassinates Viper, and goes rogue, killing the Vietnamese official who wanted Liem killed. Then he tries to stay alive for 29 days, when he has an appointment with the Freedom Bird (the flight returning servicemen stateside). Lealos makes the error common to nonveteran writers, portraying the war as even more violent and repugnant than it was, but he gets the hierarchies, the ordnance, and the slang right. Vietnam veterans, retiring in numbers now and with time to read, will mostly like it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)