No Place to Hide: A Novel of the Vietnam War

The evacuation of Saigon during the last days of the Vietnam War is brought to vivid life in this concluding volume of Carroll's naval aviation trilogy (North SAR; Ghostrider One). Helicopter pilot Lt. Tim Boyle and his best friend, Lt. Mike Santy, find themselves in the midst of the chaos, danger and heartbreak of the efforts to keep the enemy at bay just long enough to prevent the American withdrawal from becoming a complete catastrophe. The pair's adventures here coil around two major plot lines and one minor one that occur during April 1975: an effort to reach and evacuate a Navy officer who has been leading a troop of irregulars in the mountains; the planning and implementation of the Saigon evacuation; the tensions felt by Navy wives who know all too well the probabilities of life and death. In Carroll's gifted hands, we fly in Hueys over Saigon rooftops; crawl through the jungles with the enemy in spitting distance; and feel the fatigue and frustration of professionals who know their leaders are self-serving and incompetent. Throughout, Carroll inserts technical and military details painlessly and with graceful accuracy, making this a war novel that's as authentic as it is memorable. (Aug.)