Shock of War

Red Dragon Rising #3

by Larry Bond, Jim DeFelice

Under secret orders from the President, U.S. Army Major Zeus Murphy sabotages a Chinese invasion fleet on the eve of its assault against Vietnam. But after Murphy and fellow officer Win Christian are trapped behind enemy lines, Christian’s erratic behavior gives them away. The pair shoot their way out  of a Chinese airport terminal, hijack a bus, then barely escape two truckloads of soldiers before disappearing into the night. Thus starts Zeus Murphy’s personal odyssey in the latest installment of the Red Dragon Rising series.

Back in America, President Chester Greene fails to convince Congress that the Chinese invasion of Vietnam is the first step in a plan to rule Asia—and eventually go to war with the U.S. Not even the Pentagon will support the President; top-ranking officers do everything they can to sabotage his orders.

After Zeus and Christian dodge a Chinese armored division and return to Vietnam, Zeus proposes a plan to blunt the tank attack. His commanding officer orders him to stand down. Zeus disobeys in an effort to help the Vietnamese woman he’s fallen in love with. Win Christian goes with him to prove he’s not a coward…within hours, both men are alone with a company of Vietnamese soldiers on the border, staring down the barrels of Chinese main battle tanks as they drive on Haiphong, starting a countdown to all-out war with the West.

In Larry Bond's Red Dragon Rising: Shock of War, New York Times bestselling authors Larry Bond and Jim DeFelice imagine a horrifying near-future immersed in global war.

Genres: Fiction, War, Thriller, Military Fiction, Action, Military Thriller, Political Thriller

352 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2012

About the author

Larry Bond is the author of several bestselling military thrillers, including Crash Dive, Cold Choices, Dangerous Ground, Red Phoenix and the Larry Bond’s First Team and Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising series. He was a naval officer for six years, serving four on a destroyer and two on shore duty in the Washington DC area. He's also worked as a warfare analyst and antisubmarine technology expert, and he now writes and designs computer games, including Harpoon and Command at Sea. He makes his home in Springfield, Virginia.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/larrybond

Reviews

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Sheldon Lehman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the third book in this series and one you definitely couldn't read without having read at least the second one (but probably both). It wasn't as good. Individual parts of the story, like the war action, were written very descriptively, but the whole story was a little scattershot. the author mixes in characters from the previous installments just to keep up with them, but it didn't feel like they fit.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel: China invades Vietnam for its resources.
IRL, 2017: China & the U.S. might back into a war over a dispute between a functionally moronic, bloated, arrogant, mendacious tin pot leader with ridiculous hair, and Kim Jong Un.

[Dave Lieberman · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, this is my favorite book of the series. I'll admit, there are times when the heroes escape in situations that make me think of James Bond but it is fun escapism. I normally would give this book 5 stars but I am doing something that I never do when rating a book and that's taking a star off for typographical errors! Now normally, that would not be something that I would do. However, I found that this book often left off short words (a, and, the, etc.) off and I would estimate that this happened over 100 times in this book! Were there no proofreaders available that day? There were also a couple of instances where pronouns were not used correctly (I'm not talking about pronoun preferences but rather they are writing about a male character and refer to the character as a 'she'). There was also at least one time (that I can remember) where they refer to a character by the wrong name. I had to go back and reread part to see if somehow one of the characters had moved across the globe! There were just too many typos throughout the book for me to let it go.

[David Harcourt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has my blood pressure raised.

I read this book in a day, I couldn't stop myself. The story is so exciting, the action so great. I will start book four tomorrow. You will enjoy it if action battle scenes are your thing.

[Doug Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read as always

Kind of put off by all the global warming bullsh!t but you can’t argue with the way the take is spun. Very well written and worth the read. Ready for the next one.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a slow start in which we have yet another "trapped behind enemy lines" subplot (which, by the way, was the entire plot of the first and second books in this series), Bond finally hits his stride in the last 150 or so pages of the third novel in his "Red Dragon Rising" series. Dr. McArthur and Mara Duncan, our main protagonists in "Shadow of War" and "Edge of War," fade into the background a bit as Zeus Murphy, U.S. Army advisor to Vietnam, comes into his own.

There are some predicable elements, such as the cliche romantic subplots, but enough original material kept me reading. Two major battle scenes in particular were very well written, and Zeus's decision to keep assisting the Vietnamese in light of what he's experienced, despite the wishes of his American superiors, is believable.

This novel ends with two major revelations, one about the Vietnamese no-fly zone and the other about President Greene, which made me anxious to read the last book in the series, "Blood of War". I just hope the expectations Bond set in this novel are met or exceeded.

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shock of War picks up the story of China’s invasion of Vietnam following Josh’s revelations to the UN. Will this help the president garner the support he needs to support Vietnam? Meanwhile those members of the US forces in Vietnam as ‘advisors’ are getting more and more involved in the fighting and are putting their lives at risk.
The Chinese PR mechanism swings into top gear to challenge the authenticity of Josh’s evidence calling him a liar and accusing him of faking the film. Slowly and slowly it appears that they are winning the battle of public opinion and President Greene will not get the support needed to aid their one time enemy.
As the story draws to a conclusion intelligence starts to appear that maybe the Vietnamese have a dark, secret weapon that they may be on the point of using.
One more instalment to go – will the Chinese be stopped?

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third book in the series is mainly built around Zeus Murphy and his attempt to stall or stop the Chinese invasion of Vietnam. Mara and Josh are in the book a little but fade to the background when compared to the first 2 books. The last half of the book is more a conventional war book rather than being behind the lines/commando raids scenario that the first two were.

[Mark Polino · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a middle book in the Red Dragon rising series and I felt it was mediocre. The action was Ok but the book came too close to resolving the central conflict and the ended with too many open questions. In other words, it feels like there isn't enough material for the next book.

[CDR Ross E Saxon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Red Dragon Rising

Great book. Well written and accurate terms used. Somewhat farcical but adds to story line. Series recommended but as fiction with no suggestion US will become involved in hostilities portrayed.

[See · Rating 4 out of 5]

DeFeliceMilitary and technology thriller

People depending on people and courageous action and circumstances makes you feel like you're part of the story. Bond and Defilce make a good pair of authors .

[Jacqueline & Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dated prediction but an excellent read

The climate stuff reads like an outdated Al Gore prediction . But, the story is excellent, well written, and exciting. Highly recommend the book.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I missed this one of the "Red Storm" series and I'm reading it out of order...more of the story with the action in both Vietnam, China and the US

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

This third book in the series presents less structure, tension, and character development than the first two. Nevertheless, a thought-provoking read; and introduces a nascent love story.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical Larry Bond book. Makes you want to read faster so you can find out what is going to happen in the next chapter. Good action.

[Garbageman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a fast read.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow start. Fun

[Patrick Bueller · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on a theoretical war, the author seems very well informed and intelligent. An easy read.

[Ian Verhappen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the third book in the series it is a direct continuation of book 2 and would not make much sense without reading book 2

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book decent action and geo political manoeuvring. Not the best book but still pretty good.

[Erwin Pantel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Military Fiction

A good military fiction story, it got bogged down a little at times, but overall a worthwhile read I would recommend.

[Patrick Flaherty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst ending ever.

This books ends in the middle of the story. Hokie. I would not recommend to anyone. Don't won't waste any more time or money on this author.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Third book in the series. Major Zeus and his tactical battles with the Chinese invaders become the predominant narrative.