From BooklistThe third novel in Bond and DeFelices Red Dragon Rising series suffers from middle-book syndrome. Josh MacArthur testifies to the UN about the horrible events he witnessed after China invaded Vietnam. The president of the U.S. wants Congress to act, but not enough legislators believe that China is a real threat to America. Meanwhile, working on secret orders, two American soldiers, Zeus Murphy and Win Christian, find themselves trapped behind Chinese lines. The narrative jumps between on-the-ground action as Murphy and Christian try to shoot their way out of China and the political build-up to World War III. The pages fly by at a furious pace, but the story ends abruptly, almost like a television serial. This one will definitely appeal to military fiction aficionados, though really only those familiar with the series, since the majority of the novel is incomprehensible without knowledge of the two books that precede it. --Jeff Ayers The technothriller has a new ace and his name is Larry Bond. Tom Clancy, bestselling author of Without RemorseAn adrenaline-fueled, multilayered thriller that cuts right to the chase... Constant action makes this a must-read for military adventure fans. Publishers Weekly on Larry Bond's Red Dragon Rising: Shadows of WarA superb storyteller Larry Bond seems to know everything about warfare, from the grunt in the foxhole to the fighter pilots far above the Earth. The New York Times Book About the AuthorLARRY BOND is the author of numerous New York Times bestselling thrillers, including Cold Choices, Vortex, Cauldron, and The Enemy Within. He previously worked with Jim DeFelice on the Larry Bond's First Team series. A former Naval Intelligence officer, warfare analyst and anti-submarine technology expert, he makes his home in Springfield, Virginia.JIM DeFELICE is the author of many military thrillers and is a frequent collaborator with Stephen Coonts, Larry Bond, and Richard Marcinko, among other New York Times bestselling authors. His solo novels include Leopards Kill, Threat Level Black, Coyote Bird, War Breaker, and My Brother's Keeper. He lives in New York. where can i download ebooks for free Larry Bond's Red Dragon Rising: Shock of War
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. This installment needs a little more from the Vietnamese and Chinese point of viewBy Dan BergerI have mixed feelings about this series after the third of four installments.The premise is strong for a technothriller: exploring a realistic scenario in which a rising but drought-stricken China invades its historic enemy Vietnam for its rice and oil, led by a strongman leader meanwhile trying to quell a hungry and restive population at home.This is less sexy but ultimately more satisfying than the typical terrorists-stole-a-nuke plot. Bond and DiFelice get to explore in greater depth the politics constraining a dicey US intervention and the war strategizing that is among Bond's strong suits.The down side is the way this particular series is built. It's based around scientist Josh MacArthur, who witnesses Chinese atrocities just inside the Vietnamese border at the invasion's outset. His extraction from the wartorn country by CIA agent Mara Duncan so that he can bear witness occupies the first couple of books. The other premier character is Major Zeus Murphy, sent to Vietnam to bring his war-gaming expertise to bear on bolstering their defense against an overwhelmingly large enemy.I'm not that interested in MacArthur, nor any budding romance in the works between him and Duncan. Their long trek in Book 1 and the Chinese assassination attempts to stop him from testifying in Book 2 were by far as much as I wanted to read about him. The assassin's character gave us a perspective from the Chinese side, but by Book 3 that's no longer a factor.Murphy is more interesting. His considerations of how the Vietnamese might resist such an invasion and his experiences trying to communicate with a former US enemy in ambiguous and difficult circumstances are part of the appeal this series does have. His wartime romance with a lovely Vietnamese doctor add some zing, as well as the required my-relatives-died-fighting-the-US tensions any such romance would probably have.But the plot is constrained by America's tangential, so far, relationship to the conflict. The US isn't in it. Murphy has to work on the down low. His adventures in Hainan and escaping back into Vietnam, and then at the front as an "advisor", provide some decent action, but only allow a worm's-eye view of the conflict.The action revolves back to Washington where President Greene maneuvers, where MacArthur finds himself assaulted in the press by Chinese-supported members of Congress, where Duncan frets about her career. And it revolves out to sea, where destroyer Captain Dirk Silas patrols the Gulf of Tonkin to probe Chinese naval forces but with orders not to engage. The spooks plot to get some anti-tank rockets sent into Vietnam, but it's not much.We're tap-dancing around the edge of a really interesting war, but one we don't see much of through the eyes of its main combatants, China and Vietnam. It falls short of Tom Clancy's war-breaks-out plots, and also of Bond's lesser-known "Vortex" with its what-if scenario, written in the 1980s, of the South African apartheid regime invading its neighbors.In both of those you have multiple views of the hot war itself from its major participants. Here, not so much. Murphy's internal conflict, between following orders to advise Vietnam but not get directly involved in the fighting, and his growing professional and then personal loyalty to a de facto ally, are what keep the third book going, but the authors have made it bear too much of the responsibility to keep the story moving ahead.The strength of it is its realism: the US, needing to deter China but agonizing over yet another ground war in Asia, would probably temporize much like this while working secretly to support Vietnam. A Chinese invasion might go as this one does - overwhelming force slowed by Chinese commanders' hesitance to seize initiative or take risks, and creative Vietnamese resistance to a stronger invader. But it's the Chinese and the Vietnamese doing the fighting, and we need to see a little more from their point of view.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Awesome!By TrustenThis is a fantastic series. In full disclosure, I have been reading Bond's books for well over a decade, some I already own in paperback, I have 're-bought in Kindle format just to have "on the go" on my Kindle.Make sure you start with the first of this series, each book can stand on its own as a fantastic read, but you should really start from the first to enhance your reading pleasure.This novel series is about a Chinese attack on Vietnam. World wide climatic changes fishing unable to feed its population and Vietnam has a surplus of food. America, isolationist again, wants no part of a foreign war, yet the president, struggling with his own demons from time spent in the infamous Hanoi Hilton POW prison knows he must stop Chinese aggression lest they consume southeast Asia.I'll not provide spoilers that would take away from your reading pleasure, but will suffice to say, buy this series! You will not be disappointed, and in fact become hopelessly addicted to them as I have.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. great giftBy Kindle Customerdecent author in this genre i got several of these for my nephew asa gift and read a couple myself they arent bad at all